User:Mrhuff/Anshe Emet Congregation of Chicago

Anshe Emet Congregation of Chicago is a Conservative Jewish congregation located in the Lake View neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.

Anshe Emet is an Illinois Religious Corporation, duly incorporated by that name on December 28, 1934, pursuant to the Religious Corporation Act, 805 ILCS 110/0.01-51, upon the filing in the office of the Recorder of the County of Cook in the State of Illinois of an affidavit made by Hyman N. Kohn, chairman of the meeting of members held on December 13, 1934, for the purpose of electing the new corporation's first trustees, solemnly affirming the election, according to the usages and customs of the congregation, of five of its members as its first trustees and the adoption of the corporate name.

Name
Although the congregation did not adopt "Anshe Emet Congregation of Chicago" as its corporate name until 1934, it has gone by some variant of that name since its founding in 1873. The name "Anshe Emet" comes from Exodus 18:21: "Moreover you shall provide from all the nation able people, such as fear God, people of truth, hating unjust gain …."

Predecessor Corporation
The congregation was first duly incorporated by the name "Congregation Anshe Emes" on May 31, 1890, upon the filing in the office of the Recorder of the County of Cook in the State of Illinois of an affidavit made by Joseph H. Hollander, president of the meeting of members held on April 14, 1890, for the purpose of electing the new corporation's first trustees, solemnly affirming the election, according to the usages and customs of the congregation, of three of its members as its first trustees and the adoption of the corporate name. However, when Hyman N. Kohn assumed office as president of the congregation in 1934, Congregation Anshe Emes owed secured debt of over two hundred thousand dollars and insecured debts totaling over fifty thousand dollars. (Two hundred fifty thousand dollars in 1934 had the same buying power as over four million dollars in 2009. ) To free the congregation from its overly burdensome debt and restore its fiscal health, President Kohn incorporated Anshe Emet Congregation of Chicago, which purchased all of the assets of the financially distressed Congregation Anshe Emes in January 1935.

Synagogue
The congregation purchased its current synagogue at the southwest corner of North Pine Grove Avenue and West Grace Street in Chicago, Illinois, in February 1926 from the North Chicago Hebrew Congregation, now known as Temple Sholom, for three hundred fifteen thousand dollars (a sum equivalent to nearly 3.85 million in 2009 dollars ).