Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel (Philadelphia)

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel" Philadelphia – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may interest only a particular audience. Please help by spinning off or relocating any relevant information, and removing excessive detail that may be against Wikipedia's inclusion policy. (December 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel
Keneseth Israel synagogue entrance
Religion
Affiliation	Reform Judaism
Ecclesiastical or organizational status	Synagogue
Leadership	Rabbi Benjamin P. David
Status	Active
Location
Location	8339 Old York Road, Elkins Park, Greater Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19027
Country	United States
Location just outside the city limits of Philadelphia
Geographic coordinates	40°05′09″N 75°07′38″W / 40.0859°N 75.1273°W / 40.0859; -75.1273
Architecture
Style	Synagogue
Date established	1847 (as a congregation)
Completed	1891 (North Broad Street) 1956 (Elkins Park)
Website
kenesethisrael.org[dead link]

Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel, abbreviated as KI, is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 8339 Old York Road, Elkins Park, just outside the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Founded in Philadelphia in 1847, it is the sixth oldest Reform congregation in the United States, and, by 1900, it was one of the largest Reform congregations in the United States. The synagogue was at a number of locations in the city before building a large structure on North Broad Street in 1891, until 1956 when it moved north of the city to suburban Elkins Park.

The congregation has been led by eight rabbis since its first rabbi commenced in 1861 – and most have been prominent both in the Reform Jewish movement and in other areas of American culture. Rabbi David Einhorn was the most prominent Jewish opponent of slavery when the Civil War began, and from that point on KI was known as the "Abolitionist Temple." Its third rabbi, Joseph Krauskopf was the founder of the Delaware Valley University^[1] and was a friend of President Theodore Roosevelt. The fifth rabbi, Bertram Korn was the author of the leading book on Jewish participation in the American Civil War, served as chaplain in the Naval Reserves, and was the first Jewish Chaplain to achieve the rank of a Flag officer in any of the armed forces, when he became a Rear Admiral in 1975. The sixth rabbi, Simeon Maslin served as president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis from 1995 to 1997.^[2] The current rabbi, Lance Sussman is an historian and the author of numerous books on American Jewish history.

Prominent members of the congregation include Judges Arlin Adams, Edward R. Becker, Jan E. DuBois, and Horace Stern, members of the Gimbel family, and businessmen Lessing Rosenwald, William S. Paley, Simon Guggenheim, and Walter Hubert Annenberg. Albert Einstein accepted an honorary membership in 1934.