Explore "Grand Rapids History: 'The Jewish Connection'" this Thursday evening.

Discover the captivating history of early West Michigan Jewish immigrants when Temple Emanuel opens its doors for an archival tour and interesting program titled "Grand Rapids History: The Jewish Connection" this Thursday evening.  

Temple Emanuel Rabbi Michael Schadick will present an overview of local Jewish history in a program sponsored by the Grand Rapids Historical Society. It will be followed by a discussion of the Temple's significant archival historical collection led by the Temple's Archivist Barbara Robinson and Exhibit Director Peg Finkelstein. Sponsored by the Grand Rapids Historical Society, the free event begins at 7 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 10 at Temple Emanuel, 1715 E. Fulton Street. It is open to the public and will be followed by a reception.

During his presentation, Rabbi Schadick will refer to materials from the Peg and Mort Finkelstein Archive as he untangles the history of Jewish institutions in Grand Rapids and illustrates how the accounts of immigrants from different parts of Europe to the United States illuminates differences among Orthodox, Reform, and Conservative Judaism today.

Rabbi Schadick will recall the institutional merger of Ahavas Achim and Beth Israel to form Ahavas Israel and explore the waves of European immigrants that exemplify the differences among the Jewish groups today.

Before the program starts, attendees are welcome to roam the exhibit halls and to visit the archive. Temple Emanuel houses numerous historical artifacts, including a 350-year-old Torah confiscated by the Nazis in Czechoslovakia, and a progression of materials illustrating local Jewish history. They have been created by Peg Finkelstein who, with her husband Mort, endowed the Temple Emanuel archive.

Documents at Temple Emanuel indicate that Grand Rapids' first Jewish settler, a German immigrant Julius Houseman, arrived in 1852. However, the death of a French Jewish fur trader here in 1857 suggests that Houseman was not the first Jewish adventurer to set foot in West Michigan.

Houseman was very successful in his new homeland, becoming a city alderman, the city's first Jewish mayor and a West Michigan representative for the 48th Congress of the United States. In 1857, Houseman was also among the founders of Temple Emanuel, the fifth oldest Reform congregation in the nation.

Find more information at the Temple's website, www.templeemanuelgr.org and the Grand Rapids Historical Society's website at www.grhistory.org.