Chizuk Amuno Congregation

Chizuk Amuno Congregation
Location within Maryland
Basic information
Location	Pikesville, Maryland
Geographic coordinates	39°23′35″N 76°42′51″W / 39.3929343°N 76.7142540°W / 39.3929343; -76.7142540Coordinates: 39°23′35″N 76°42′51″W / 39.3929343°N 76.7142540°W / 39.3929343; -76.7142540
Affiliation	Conservative Judaism
Status	Active
Leadership	Rabbi Ronald J. Shulman, Rabbi Deborah Wechsler, Hazzan Emanuel C. Perlman
Website	www.chizukamuno.org
Architectural type	Synagogue

Chizuk Amuno Congregation (Hebrew: ק"ק חזוק אמונה) is a large Jewish house of worship affiliated with Conservative Judaism. It is located in Pikesville, Maryland. The congregation's name comes from the Hebrew "Chizzuq 'Emunah", meaning "strengthening the faith". The word "Amuno" is a variant of the Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation of "'Emunah".

Chizuk Amuno, which defines itself as "a traditional, Conservative, egalitarian congregation" that strongly supports the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. Chizuk Amuno uses as its guiding principle the three pillars of world as stated in Pirkei Avoth 1:2, "Torah: Life-Long Learning," "Avodah: Worship and Observance", and "Gemilut Hasadim: Acts of Loving Kindness." Chizuk Amuno also seeks perform tikkun olam, repairing the world and encourages its congregants to lead an ethical, Jewish life.

Chizuk Amuno descended from the "Green Street synagogue", founded by a small group of Jews on April 1, 1871, in Baltimore, Maryland.

In 1876, the congregation moved into its first permanent home of distinctive Moorish design on Lloyd Street across Watson Street to the south from the original historic Lloyd Street Synagogue designed in Greek Revival style by noted local architect Robert Cary Long, Jr. in 1845 for the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation in the east downtown Baltimore neighborhood of Jonestown, later known as Old Town. Under the spiritual guidance Rev. Dr. Henry W. Schneeberger, the "first American-born, ordained rabbi", the congregation grew greatly and soon moved in 1895 to nearby McCulloh Street in the Bolton Hill neighborhood (Md. Route 129) after selling its Lloyd Street building to the B'nai Israel ("Sons of Israel") congregation which had been founded 1873 by recently immigrated Russian Jews. The building is now next door to and part of the Herbert Bearman campus of the Jewish Historical Society of Maryland now known as the Jewish Museum of Maryland in 1985 along with the original Lloyd Street Synagogue, both of which are now on the National Register of Historic Places.