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Salem, Massachusetts has had a Jewish community since the colonial era. According to the Jewish Journal, “Early records show that some residents of Salem in the late 1600s were Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal whose families escaped the infamous Inquisitions of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. By the mid-1800s, Jews from Russia and Germany were arriving. Greater numbers of Jews from Russia and Eastern Europe settled in Salem beginning in the 1880s, as immigrants fleeing Czarist oppression and seeking opportunities for better lives…” The first Jewish officeholder in Salem was merchant, David Conrad, elected as an alderman in 1867.
By the first half of the 20th century, multiple centers of Jewish life had developed in Salem. Two prominent areas were the Historic Derby Street Neighborhood and the Boston Street neighborhood near the Salem/Peabody line, where a shul opened at 165 Boston Street.
In December 1898, a congregation was founded to serve residents of the Historic Derby Street Neighborhood. It was organized by Eastern European Jewish merchants including members of the Filene family, who owned Filene’s department stores. It was initially known as the Orthodox Congregation Sons of Jacob and rented several locations throughout the city, including halls at 4 Derby Square and a location on Washington Street. In 1899, the congregation purchased land on Buxton Road in Danvers, Massachusetts for the creation of the Sons of Jacob Cemetery.
In 1903, the congregation purchased the former Calvary Baptist Church on lower Essex Street between Union and Herbert streets. Max Winer, owner of Winer’s Specialty Shop, a clothing store, on Lafayette Street served as the first president. Rabbi Joseph Jacobson traveled to Salem to lead the congregation.
Salem resident, Max Goldberg purchased a plot of land in 1936 at the corner of Lafayette and Ocean streets for use as a community center. By 1939, the Salem Hebrew School was listed at 289 Lafayette Street. In 1940, an additional plot of land adjacent to Goldberg’s was purchased by Ben Axelrod for the congregation. This site was used as a Jewish Community Center for 16 years and was used during World War II by the Red Cross and the Civilian Defense.
As the economy improved following World War II, Jewish residents living in the Historic Derby Street Neighborhood began to relocate to larger homes in South Salem.
In 1948, the Sons of Jacob Congregation became an affiliate of the United Synagogue of America. After a successful fundraising campaign, the Temple Shalom at 287 Lafayette Street was completed in 1952. The brick building was constructed in the Neoclassical style with a gable front featuring two squared columns. At its highest membership, the temple was attended by more than 300 families.
Salem elected Samuel E. Zoll, the city’s first Jewish mayor in 1970. He left the mayoral office in 1973, before the end of his second term, when he accepted his first judicial appointment.
In 1998, Temple Shalom celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Sons of Jacob Congregation, which at the time was the oldest on the North Shore.
After a dip in attendance to under 100 families, Temple Shalom voted to merge with Temple B’nai Abraham in Beverly, Massachusetts in 2012. This decline in membership was consistent across the country with only 31% of American Jews reporting that they belonged to a synagogue.
In an interview with the Boston Globe, Thomas Cheatham, said “I think Salem is losing a lot. It’s losing a Jewish presence that’s been a good neighbor for many years, and it’s sad for the city and sad for us…” Cheatham was chairman of the group planning Temple Shalom’s future, and a past temple president.
In May 2014, Temple Shalom held its last service for members. The Lafayette Street building was sold to a developer who leased it to Salem State University for classroom space.
Artifacts from the synagogue building were incorporated into the Temple B’nai Abraham building. Items included the sanctuary’s eternal light, memorial plaques, and an ark where the Torah scrolls were kept. Additionally, members of B’nai Abraham filmed a tour of Salem’s Temple Shalom for the American Jewish Historical Society.
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