Greater Lynn’s Jewish community and its origins are documented in detail in the Item’s archives, including the story of pioneer Simon J. Weinberg who “is credited” in a century-old Sunday Telegram story with being the “first Jewish resident and business man in Lynn.”
Weinberg left his native Russia in 1855 and lived in a house at the corner of Essex and Johnson streets. According to the story, he opened a dry goods store at 6 Market St. and opened another store on Munroe Street.
He is credited with helping to found former synagogue Ahabat Sholom. Solomon Wyzansky brought his family to Lynn in 1858 and began to build on Weinberg’s civil work.
Edward Filene opened “dry goods” stores on Munroe Street and at Market and Tremont streets in 1878 before taking aim at Boston’s commercial market. Solomon Harris opened a tailor’s shop on Central Avenue. Harris Goldman also made a name for himself on Market Street in the clothing business. Morris Ansin opened a salvage business on Boston Street followed by Israel Zack.
German native Lewis Wolfe fought for the Confederacy at the age of 15 until he was discharged for being underaged. He reenlisted, according to a 1984 Daily Evening Item article, and was captured by Union troops and ended up serving as a drummer boy in the Union Army.
Wolfe and his wife, Bertha, moved to Lynn after the war and founded the Hebrew Benevolent Society. He owned a delicatessen and grocery on Andrew Street.
Other local Jewish community pioneers include Ezekial Borofsky, who moved to the Highlands; Abraham Grob who helped found another local synagogue. Grob and Isaac Jacobson lived in the same Commercial Street house and met shoe factory worker Abraham Jacob. The entrepreneurs, according to the Telegram story, sparked a business plan that laid the foundation for a business employing 200 workers.
“They saw shoe manufacturers throw away scraps of leather that were big enough to cut out shoe findings from and they went to them and bought up these scraps and commenced to ‘dink out tongues, stays and other findings. Their first factory was in a barn on Commercial Street.”
Ten Jewish families lived in Lynn in 1875, wrote author Nathan Gass in a 1976 Daily Evening Item article. By 1940, that population grew to 11,000 and the ” …bulk of the Lynn Jewish community lived in that area of Lynn bounded by Commercial Street and Market Street,” wrote Gass.
He listed businesses along the Summer Street shopping corridor including Jake Appel’s grocery; Slobodkin’s and Weinshel’s kosher butcheries; Bluestein’s chicken market; Reynold’s yard goods; Shultz Brothers barbershop and the Co-operative Baker, establish, according to Gass, ” … by a group of idealists to make sure there would be enough bread for the workers.”
As the local Jewish community expanded, synagogue congregations grew and established permanent locations. Temple Beth El broke ground on Breed Street in February, 1927 and expanded within 10 years into an adjacent building which was remodeled into a school.
The Lynn Hebrew School was founded in 1922 followed by Congregation Beth Jacob established at 85 Blossom St. in 1933 a year after another small congregation — Agudas Achim — was established on Shepard Street.
Under former Rabbi Israel Harburg’s leadership, Beth El expanded into a new building. Jewish residents in Swampscott and Marblehead founded a synagogue in 1947 with work on the worship house beginning in 1947. “This congregation, too, grew with such rapidity, that the construction plans were altered, and a much larger and more modern structure is now planned… ” the Daily Evening Item reported in 1952.
That was the year Ahabat Sholom outgrew its Church Street synagogue location and congregation members took steps to buy land on Ocean Street. In 1950, Temple Anshai Sfard moved from South Common and Commercial streets to the towering church building at South Common and Vine streets.
Faith life centering on synagogues was matched in the 20th century with civic life in the greater Lynn area that included the Jewish Social Service Agency’s founding and the establishment of the Jewish Community Center and the Hebrew Ladies Free Loan Society.
Temple Beth El, Anshai Sfard and Ahabat Sholom are long gone. But the buildings where Lynn Jews worshipped still stand and today they remain vibrant houses of worship shared by a variety of religious organizations.
Chag urim sameach!
Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected]