ABSTRACT
Like most newcomers, San Francisco's Jews were attracted to California by the lure of gold; unlike their peers, they avoided mining. Within the internal confines of San Francisco's Jewish community, and despite acceptance of change, old world regional schisms persisted. Bavarian Jews, the self-styled elite of the city's Jewry, set themselves apart and formed the Congregation Emanu-EL Others, mostly Poles and Poseners, belonged to a rival congregation, Sherith Israel. The large dome of Sherith Israel conveyed a dignified "lofty" presentation of Judaism, "yet without any attempt at scraping the sky." Oriental color schemes and explicit symbols of Judaism appeared primarily within the secluded confines of central prayer hall. In contrast to the revisionist Sherith Israel and Emanu-El, the more traditional congregations of Ohabei Shalom and Beth Israel resisted the use of architecture as counterpoise to the ethnocentricity of religious emblems. When the members of Ohabei Shalom built a new house of worship in 1894, they relied heavily on Moresque architecture.
