Hamburg Temple
| Israelitischer Tempel (until 1938) Rolf-Liebermann-Studio since 2000 |
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Temple, 3rd venue (1931–1938), exterior
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| Basic information | |
| Location | Hamburg, Germany |
| Geographic coordinates | 53°34′38″N 9°59′28″E / 53.57733°N 9.99119°ECoordinates: 53°34′38″N 9°59′28″E / 53.57733°N 9.99119°E |
| Affiliation | Judaism |
| Rite | Reform Judaism |
| Country | Germany |
| Ecclesiastical or organizational status | synagogue |
| Status |
profaned since 1938 concert venue since 1949 |
| Heritage designation | 1982 |
| Architectural description | |
| Architect(s) | Johann Hinrich Klees-Wülbern (2nd bldg.) Felix Ascherand Robert Friedmann (3rd bldg.) |
| Architectural type | synagogue |
| Architectural style | eclectic mixture of classicism, Gothic and Moorish revivalism (2nd bldg.) modern style (3rd bldg.) |
| Groundbreaking | 1842 (2nd bldg.) 1930 (3rd bldg.) |
| Completed | 1844 (2nd bldg.) 1931 (3rd bldg.) |
| Construction cost | ℛℳ 560,000 (3rd bldg.) |
| Specifications | |
| Direction of façade | West (2nd bldg.) North (3rd bldg.) |
| Capacity | 1,200 (3rd bldg.) |
| Materials | Muschelkalk (3rd bldg.) |
The Hamburg Temple (German: Israelitischer Tempel) was first permanent Reform synagogue and the first ever to have a Reform prayer rite. It operated in Hamburg (Germany) from 1818 to 1938. On 18 October 1818 the Temple was inaugurated and later twice moved to new edifices, in 1844 and 1931, respectively.
The New Israelite Temple Society (Neuer Israelitischer Tempelverein in Hamburg) was founded on 11 December 1817 and 65 heads of families joined the new congregation. One of the pioneers of the synagogue reform was Israel Jacobson (1768–1828). In 1810 he had founded a prayerhouse, adjacent to the modern school he ran, in Seesen. On 18 October 1818, the anniversary of the Battle of Nations near Leipzig, the members of the New Israelite Temple Society inaugurated their first synagogue in a rented building in the courtyard between Erste Brunnenstraße and Alter Steinweg in Hamburg's Neustadt quarter (New Town).
Dr. Eduard Kley together with Dr. Gotthold Salomon were the first spiritual leaders of the Hamburg Temple in 1818. The first members included the notary Meyer Israel Bresselau, Lazarus Gumpel and Ruben Daniel Warburg. Later members included Salomon Heine and Dr. Gabriel Riesser, who was chairman of the New Israelite Temple Society from 1840 to 1843.
The new prayer book employed in the Temple was the first comprehensive Reform liturgy ever composed: it omitted or changed several of the formulas anticipating a return to Zion and restoration of the sacrificial cult in the Jerusalem Temple. These changes – expressing the earliest tenet of the nascent Reform movement, universalised Messianism – evoked a thunderous denunciation from Rabbis across Europe, who condemned the builders of the new synagogue as heretics. The religious service of the Hamburg Temple was disseminated at the 1820 Leipzig Trade Fair, where Jewish businessmen from German states, many other European countries, and the United States met. As a consequence, several Reform communities, including New York and Baltimore, adopted the Hamburg Temple's prayer book, which was read from left to right, as in the Christian world.
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