Congregation Ahabot Sholom (Lynn, Mass.) Records

Maurice E. Eberson led prominent officers of Lynn’s Hebrew Benevolent Society to form Congregation Ahabat Sholom in 1899. Incorporated in 1901, the congregation then purchased a plot of land and raised money for a synagogue. The building was constructed in the dominant German Romanesque style of synagogues in the Boston area, reflecting the Eastern European cultural ties of Boston’s Jewish immigrant communities at the turn of the century. Lynn’s Mayor Henry Eastham laid the cornerstone during ceremonies held in 1903, where he and officers of the congregation were also the principle speakers. Ahabat Sholom was completed and officially dedicated in 1905, during a ceremony presided over by the congregation’s first cantor, Benjamin Gordon. One of several Jewish Orthodox congregations in the early 1900s, Congregation Ahabat Sholom practiced tenets that were “the most modified of any of the Jewish congregations in Lynn.”

Rabbi Samuel Zaitchik joined the congregation in 1947, after serving in the U.S. Army as a military chaplain during World War II and earning a Master’s degree in Jewish philosophy at Harvard University. As the congregation’s spiritual leader until 1997, Zaitchik oversaw its expansion and shepherded its development over several decades. In the 1950s, the congregation doubled in size, prompting the construction of a new synagogue on Ocean Street to accommodate its growth. Though early to mid-20th century Jewish immigration to the congregation was characterized by arrivals from Eastern Europe and Germany, the latter half of the century saw a rise in the number of Russian Jews. Rabbi Zaitchik’s spearheaded efforts to aid the Soviet Jewry, primarily during the 1980s and 1990s. After Rabbi Zaitchik’s retirement in 1997, Rabbi Avraham Kelman assumed his leadership position, continuing in the congregation’s Orthodox traditions. Declining membership by the early 2000s reduced the congregation’s financial strength to support Rabbi Kelman’s contract. As a result, Rabbi Kasriel Laker became the congregation’s interim rabbi in 2014.

May 1, 1892

Lynn’s Hebrew Benevolent Society dedicates their synagogue at the corner of Monroe and Market Street.

1899

Several members of Lynn’s Hebrew Benevolent Society organize Congregation Ahabat Sholom.

October 30, 1901

Congregation Ahabat Sholom is incorporated.

November 7, 1903

Mayor Henry Eastham of Lynn lays the corner stone for Ahabat Sholom.

1905

Ahabat Sholom (Church Street Synagogue) is completed and dedicated.

1911

The congregation inaugurates a Hebrew school system, headed by instructor Max Forman.

1947

Rabbi Samuel Zaitchik joins the congregation as its spiritual leader.

1960-62

The Ocean Street Synagogue is constructed.

1997

Rabbi Zaitchik retires.

1998

Rabbi Avraham Kelman leads the congregation.

2014

Rabbi Kasriel Laker assumes interim leadership of the congregation.