Founding the Knesseth Israel Temple

John McSweeney was an American congressman and good friend of Harold Freedlander. He spoke at the dedication of the Knesseth Israel Temple.

Daily Record Photo featuring the moment the Jewish community started building the Knesseth Israel Temple.

Photo of a plaque by the door of the Knesseth Israel Temple commemorate the cornerstone of the building in 1950.

Photo of Harold Freedlander, one of the founders of the Knesseth Israel Temple, in 1939 with his wife, Lois. Both Harold and Lois were instrumental in making the Knesseth Israel Temple a reality.

From the Daily Record, showing the extreme growth of the Knesseth Israel Temple in the 1950s.

Program shows the growth of the congregation in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as the existence of a Wooster Jewish Community Association.

Handwritten letters from John McSweeney to his friend, Harold Freedlander. McSweeney spoke at the dedication of the Knesseth Israel Temple in 1950. 

Letter from  Democratic Congressman John McSweeney to Harold Freedlander after he accepted the invitation to join the Un-American Activities Committee. McSweeney spoke at the dedication of the Knesseth Israel Temple in 1950.

In 1931, the Jewish community in Wooster was flourishing. Over twenty families, including the Freedlanders and the Licofskys, decided that it was time to start conducting formal religious services.¹  The Jewish community gathered in a small house every few weeks and on high holy days for twenty-two years, until a rabbi from Cincinnati came to Wooster and suggested that they build a Temple of their very own. In 1950, the congregation finally placed the cornerstone of their new Knesseth Israel Temple. Democratic congressman John McSweeney, a close friend of Harold Freedlander and member of the House Un-American Activities Committee, spoke at the event, saying “here in Wooster, the newly completed Church of Christ, and the new Temple represent the American spirit of free men digging into free soil to further their spiritual end.”²  Knesseth Israel Temple was completed in 1953, but with the growing number of Jewish families in Wooster, the congregation quickly felt the need to expand again by 1955.

¹ Knesseth Israel Temple, “History,” accessed June 17, 2013, http:www.kitemple.org.
² “Knesseth Israel Cornerstone Placed Sunday,” The Daily Record, September 15, 1950.