The First Minyan and Synagogue
Before they had a synagogue of their own, the first members of the Niagara Falls community would go to Niagara Falls, New York, to celebrate the Jewish holidays. By around 1918, there were enough Jews to form a minyan. In that year, the group bought an old house to use as their first synagogue. In 1922, Letters Patent for the “B’nai Yankev” (B’nai Jacob) Congregation were drawn up and signed by Myer Salit, Louis Wertman, Sam Greenspan, Hyman Ornstein and Harry Kamisky. Myer Salit and Jacob Rosberg together donated a Torah.
Myer Salit, H. Kaminsky, Louis Wertman and J. Cohen served as early synagogue presidents. Among the business items to be looked after by the synagogue board was the question of paying for the children’s education. In 1927-28, funds to pay the teacher were raised in part through a winter dance, which raised a profit of $137.65. Before the congregation was able to hire a full time rabbi, the community would invest in the services of a prayer leader only for the High Holiday services. In the fall of 1928, this role was entrusted to a Mr. Nobelman, who was paid $50. Other items on the agenda at the end of the 1920s were the purchase of $1000 in insurance on the contents of the synagogue. By the late 1920s, a janitor was hired at $5 per month and a “Modern Judaean Club” was formed. Holidays were celebrated in the synagogue by young and old. At Purim, presents were given to the children.
Prayers were held at 5:30 in the evening and 7:30 in the morning on Shabbat. In these early years, the congregation could still not be sure there would be a minyan, as just nine men had expressed a commitment to attending services. Mr. Nobelman was given a list of members and the responsibility for recruiting the tenth man every week.
In the spring of 1928, the community considered either renovating or replacing its shul building. A building fund was established and they quickly gathered $3100 in pledges out of the $6000 considered necessary to rebuild. By 1936, the original synagogue building was no longer able to accommodate the community, which then numbered some 30 families. The old building was torn down in that year and a new one put up in its place.
