Temple B’nai Israel/Albany Hebrew Congregation (Albany, Ga.) Records

Temple B'nai Israel has been a Reform congregation since its founding in 1854 and was a charter member of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, now the Union for Reform Judaism. In 1845-46, only ten years after the founding of Albany, three pioneer Jewish families settled there. The first families in Albany were from German extraction. In January 1854, a petition was filed in the Inferior Court of Dougherty County to incorporate the United Hebrew Society of Albany. The fourteen-year charter was granted for the purpose of purchasing property to build a synagogue, exercising religious worship according to their faith, and establishing a burial ground. In 1858, the original Jewish cemetery lot was purchased, as Jews were not allowed to be buried in the public cemetery at that time. During this period the congregation did not have its own house of worship and services were held in the Mayer Building and the Welch Building, both at Broad Avenue and Washington Street. The Albany congregation was chartered in 1876. In 1882, the first temple was built at the corner of Jefferson and Broad Streets, followed in 1886 by a building on the corner of Jefferson Street and Oglethorpe Boulevard. On March 24, 1996, the congregation broke ground for a new facility at the corner of Gillionville Road and Weymouth Drive. The new temple, was dedicated in May 1999. In 1898, the first permanent rabbi, Dr. Edmund A Landau, Sr., was hired. He was succeeded by Rabbis Martin Hinchin Kaplan, and Joseph Freedman. Following Rabbi Freedman, were Charles Lessor, David Zalonka and William Cohen. In 1987, Dr. E. E. "Zeke" Palnick moved to Albany from Little Rock, Arkansas. Rabbi Palnick retired in June, 1999, and served as Rabbi Emeritus until he passed away in 2005. Rabbi Dana Evan Kaplan came for the High Holy Days in 2001 and now serves as full time rabbi. Temple B’nai Israel continues the tradition of providing a welcoming center for the Jewish community of southwest Georgia, making the community a better place for everyone to live.