The 100th anniversary of the establishment of an organized Jewish community in Detroit will be marked by the Jews here this year, the Jewish News of Detroit, reported. The first “minyan” of ten males over the age of 13 was achieved in 1850, although historical documents record the existence of Jews in the Detroit region as early as 1763, when two Jewish traders were captured by Indians on the warpath.
In the first city directory published in Detroit, no name which can be recognized with certainty as Jewish is listed. This directory was published in 1837 and listed 1,100 persons. The second, which appeared in 1845, named two, while the 1850 listing carried three Jewish-owned firms and five other individuals.
The first organized religious services were held in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Cozens early in 1850 and until September 22, 1850, when the Beth El Society was organized and Michigan’s first congregation, Temple Both El, was formed. In 1861, because of the Reform tendencies within Beth El, a section of the congregation withdrew and formed the Congregation Sharrey Zedek, today one of America’s leading Conservative synagogues.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
