Temple Anshe Emeth in Piqua, which was established in 1858, will celebrate the centennial of its current building with an open house, Saturday, April 15, from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.

The community is also invited to join 10 a.m. Shabbat services that day, led by Rabbinic Intern Anna Burke, with a carry-in dairy lunch to follow. The Shabbat services will also be available via Zoom.

At 1 p.m., Burke will lead the temple’s annual Judaism 101 class for the public.

The Reform congregation dedicated its building, at 320 Caldwell St. in Piqua, on April 2, 1923. According to Austin Reid’s A History of Jewish Life in the Upper Miami Valley, the new building cost approximately $20,000, about $350,000 in today’s dollars.

Leo M. Flesh, president of the Atlas Underwear Co., the Citizens Nation Bank, and board chairman of the Piqua Savings Bank, donated half of the funds in memory of his father, Henry Flesh, a founding member of the temple who had died in 1919.

As an adult, Leo M. Flesh had converted to Christianity but continued to acknowledge his Jewish lineage and support Jewish causes.

Anshe Emeth Sisterhood raised the other half of the funds — to ensure the new building was free of debt — through individual contributions, bake sales, dinners, rummage sales, and raffles.

For more information about Anshe Emeth’s programs, contact Steve Shuchat at 937-726-2116 or ansheemeth@gmail.com.

— Marshall Weiss

To read the complete April 2023 Dayton Jewish Observer, click here.