[7][8] Founded as Baith Israel in 1856,[9] the congregation constructed the first synagogue on Long Island,[2] and hired Aaron Wise for his first rabbinical position in the United States.

[11] The synagogue nearly failed in the early 20th century,[2][12] but the 1905 hiring of Israel Goldfarb as rabbi, the purchase of its current buildings, and the 1908 merger with Talmud Torah Anshei Emes re-invigorated the congregation.

[2] The famous composer Aaron Copland celebrated his Bar Mitzvah there in 1913,[13] and long-time Goldman Sachs head Sidney Weinberg was married there in 1920.

[11][24] Gershon's appointment was controversial; after a background check, the board decided by a 10–9 vote on April 6, 1856, that he had never held the position of cantor in any other congregation, and was therefore not "sufficiently acquainted with the actual requirements to fill said office", and was furthermore not "a competent reader enough to read the Sepher Torah".

[41] Though this attempt also failed, in the following year the three congregations carried out combined activities, including a picnic[43] and a celebration of the 100th birthday of Sir Moses Montefiore.

He was 24 years old when he assumed the post at Baith Israel, at the time the youngest man in New York state to be appointed to so significant a position of Jewish leadership.

[48] After Friedlander left, his name was, for reasons unknown, deleted from the synagogue histories, and the financial records and minute books dating from his tenure were removed from Baith Israel's archives.

[47] In 1889, the congregation again renovated the synagogue building, repairing it and replacing the roof, increasing the seating capacity, adding a new vestibule and double entrance way, and redecorating the interior.

[21] In 1889 Baith Israel asserted it was "the only orthodox congregation in the city",[50] and that year the board forced the resignation of a Mr. J. Folkart, for transgressing the laws of Yom Kippur.

[2] The congregation decided that the Boerum location was part of the problem, and made the bold decision to sell it, buy new premises, and hire a rabbi[2] (the synagogue had, for many years, run without one).

[2] Goldfarb was a talented musician, known to this day as composer of popular tunes for the songs "Shalom Aleichem" and "Magein Avot" used in most Ashkenazi synagogues.

[53] In his Kol Nidre sermon of 1905, Goldfarb emphasized the need for a Talmud Torah (providing inexpensive Jewish education for primary school children), and it was immediately founded.

[59] In 1908,[60] Baith Israel merged with Degraw Street's Talmud Torah Anshei Emes Synagogue, a growing congregation that had become too large for the row house in which it held services.

[12][53] Nevertheless, the combined membership was still not large;[36] in 1911, the year the congregation renovated the recently acquired synagogue building,[12] the Talmud Torah had only 45 students, 10 of them the children of non-members.

[36] The sisterhood had grown to 42 members by 1913; that year 11 men were accepted as new congregants, including "a dentist, an optician, a druggist, a lawyer, a butler and two store owners and a roofer"—in general, middle class occupations.

The Copland family was active in the synagogue; his father Harris became treasurer and chairman of the Talmud Torah in 1905,[13] had helped purchase the current building,[10][14] served as president of the congregation from 1907 to 1910,[63] and was made a life trustee in 1936.

[56] In his memoirs, Copland would later describe Goldfarb as "a composer of liturgical music and the possessor of a fine baritone voice ... a sensitive human being and an effective leader of the congregation".

[13][56] By 1916, the congregation had installed 10 stained glass windows, electric lighting, a new pulpit, and two large bronze menorahs, and employed six people.

[64] Sidney Weinberg, who rose from the job of assistant porter to head Goldman Sachs from 1930 to 1969, was married at Baith Israel Anshei Emes in 1920.

[62] Nevertheless, the Great Depression brought difficult times; officers were no longer paid their salaries, and were informed in 1932 that they would have to "wait indefinitely" to receive their back wages.

[67] Though the Centennial Celebrations of 1956 "provided a brief burst of energy for the Congregation and produced funds to maintain the Synagogue",[21] during this period the choir was disbanded, the Sunday School and Talmud Torah closed, and paid staff reduced.

[17] In 1979, Raymond Scheindlin, a Ph.D. in Arabic literature from Columbia University, and professor of medieval Hebrew poetry at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTSA), became the part-time rabbi of the congregation,[12] replacing Howard Gorin, who had served since 1976.

[22][71] Scheindlin had become a member in 1974, after joining the faculty of the JTSA and moving to Brooklyn Heights, and from that point on read the Torah every week and served as cantor.

[12] In 1994 the buildings' stained glass windows, parapet tower, and brownstone were repaired, landscaping redone, and, with a grant from the Sol Goldman Charitable trust, the bimah and vestibule were refurbished.

[73] Baith Israel Anshei Emes' move to egalitarianism culminated in August 1988, when Debra Cantor was hired as its first female rabbi, making it the first synagogue in the Northeastern United States to be led by a woman.

[79] After raising over $2 million more,[34] including a $54,000 grant from the Jewish Communal Fund,[80] in 2003 the congregation began re-building the three-story school/community center from the ground up, leaving only the historic facade.

[18] Though the sanctuary also needed extensive repairs, the renovations of the school/community center were undertaken first because the congregation decided "a venue for social functions is at the heart of every cohesive religious group".

[82] Nearly 300 households were members by 2006,[17] and in the same year, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation awarded the synagogue a grant of $350,000 for exterior restoration of the sanctuary.

[18] In 2007 the New York Landmarks Conservancy's Sacred Sites Program awarded Congregation Baith Israel Anshei Emes grants totaling $17,500, for copper roof and masonry restoration.