Retell Your Family History

The Lifelong Learning Committee has revived the Historical Committee and is embarking on a long-term project to collect the family histories of members of our congregation. Judy Block, current member of the Board of Trustees and former Bulletin editor, will serve as Chair of the Historical Committee.  We hope to conduct personal interviews and prepare a written record of congregants’ family histories.   To this end, we ask members of the congregation to come forth and volunteer to tell their stories—these members will be our “interviewees.”  In addition, we need people to serve as “interviewers.”  These are members who will help the interviewee tell his or her personal story by asking appropriate questions and guiding the discussion. We hope to offer training for those who volunteer to be interviewers. 

We have divided up the project into the following categories:  (1) congregants with a European background, particularly those whose lives were impacted by the Holocaust; (2) congregants from non-European countries; and (3) congregants who are native Schenectadians or from other areas of the Capital District.  In the first phase of this project, we are particularly eager to collect the stories of our more senior members (age 70 and up), especially those of European background.  To guide you in compiling family information, we suggest you consider the following categories listed below (and on the temple website, www.cgoh.org, under About Us then History), which are helpful parameters used in genealogical research:

1. names (English, Hebrew, Yiddish, other foreign language, maiden)
2. birthdates
3. addresses
4. religion
5. education (schools attended, courses studied, date of graduation)
6. occupation (known places of employment), Social Security numbers and documents
7. life cycle events (such as bar or bat mitzvah or marriage), dates and locations
8. citizenship (country of origin, year of emigration, year of naturalization)
9. military service
10. interests, hobbies, and honors
11. natural or adopted children
12. divorce records
13. death and burial records and cemetery headstones

Eventually, the Historical Committee will work toward the goal of compiling the information we collect into a database of genealogical information.  We also hope to enhance our congregational archives, develop a permanent binder of family histories, hold exhibits of photo collections, memorabilia, and ritual objects, and plan special congregational events focused on family history.  For more information or to volunteer to tell your story or to be an interviewer, please contact the Temple office at 374-8173, or email Kathy Laws at klaws@cgoh.org , or call Judy at 370-1235 during evening hours.

Congregation Gates of Heaven is the oldest Jewish Congregation in Schenectady, New York. The first few Jewish families of Schenectady worshiped in private homes for several years until they organized a congregation in 1854. Two years later they had it incorporated as Congregation Shaarai Shamayim (Gates of Heaven). Immediately after its organization the congregation purchased a burial plot. The constitution of the congregation was recorded in 1862.

The first synagogue building, on East Ferry Street, was purchased in 1865; a new synagogue was erected on North College Street in 1892 as more Jewish families moved to the city. Until about 1890, our congregation was the only Jewish congregation in Schenectady. From its original orthodoxy, the congregation gradually turned toward a more liberal form of Judaism. In 1892 when the congregation moved to the College Street synagogue, a modern ritual was adopted. The congregation became affiliated with the Union of America Hebrew Congregations in 1907.

In 1920 the former Christian Science Temple on Parkwood Boulevard was purchased. Fifteen years later, an addition was built doubling the seating capacity of the Temple, which served our congregation until it moved into its beautiful new home on Eastern Parkway and Ashmore Avenue in 1956.

The originally incorporated name Congregation Shaarai Shamayim, was officially changed to Congregation Gates of Heaven in 1920.

The congregation has carried on a rich program of religious and cultural activities through a history of nearly a century and half. Its growth has been most phenomenal in the last decades. Integral parts of this achievement are the affiliated organizations: the Temple Sisterhood, organized in 1897 as the Ladies Auxiliary; the Temple Brotherhood, originally the Men's Club in 1924; and the Temple Youth groups, the TI's and TAPS.

The Religious School, started in 1882, is divided into a Hebrew Department meeting two afternoons a week and general Judaic Studies on Sunday mornings.