Congregation Sons of Jacob raising funds for synagogue improvements

Congregation Sons of Jacob
THE HISTORIC Congregation Sons of Jacob synagogue at 24 Douglas Ave. in Providence is in need of new windows and its ceiling murals need repair from water damage. Harold Silverman, synagogue president, has started a capital campaign to raise funds for the improvements. /PBN PHOTO/MARY MACDONALD

PROVIDENCE – The historic Congregation Sons of Jacob synagogue has survived construction of an interstate highway near its Smith Hill location, and the gradual distribution of original congregants and their families to the suburbs.

While the building, at 24 Douglas Ave., continues to operate as an active, functioning synagogue, albeit to a much smaller group than when the neighborhood was home to one of the city’s largest populations of Jewish immigrants, it could benefit from some repairs.

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Harold Silverman, the synagogue’s president and a longtime congregant, recently began a capital campaign to raise funds for building improvements. His hope is to identify and contact by mail the descendants of congregants who established and maintained the synagogue, to supplement existing donations. A list of 201 veterans of World War II, all congregants of the synagogue, is a starting point.

Named in 2016 to the Providence Preservation Society’s annual list of the most endangered historical properties, the synagogue needs new windows most immediately, Silverman said. An estimate has put the window replacement at $125,000.

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In recent years, the roof of the synagogue has been replaced, and the building is secure and insured. “We have enough funds to continue,” Silverman said. But the delicate hand-painted murals that cover the ceiling of its two-story sanctuary need repair. Previous water damage has corroded portions of the plaster.

Long-term, the goal of the congregation is to establish a Jewish cultural and history museum at the synagogue that could showcase the immigrant experience of Rhode Island, Silverman explained. The synagogue, completed in 1906 and expanded in 1912 and 1920, is one of the last remaining structures in Smith Hill built by its then-predominantly Russian Jewish population. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Beyond the facilities, Silverman said he hopes to add to the documents and artifacts that the synagogue already has, to memorialize the culture of the congregation.

“We are eagerly searching for stories, photographs, documents and artifacts pertaining to the Sons of Jacob Synagogue, and to immigrant life in the Smith Hill neighborhood,” he said.

Mary MacDonald is a PBN staff writer.

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