The synagogue is home to an active congregation with Shabbat and holy day services, a Hebrew school, adult education, and community programming.

As a condition of the sale, the Unitarian Society removed the graves from the church yard; they were reinterred at Fernwood Cemetery in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania.

[7] Henry Morias updated his history of the Jews of Philadelphia to include the creation of Kesher Israel that year:"Bene Ya'acob" Congregation and Chebrah Rodephe Tsedek, Anshe Szager ... united during August, 1894-5654, and substituted, for their respective names, "Kesher 'Israel" (The Bond of Israel).

While the total loss was $1,500, no one was hurt and congregants who lived nearby helped retrieve holy objects from the building.

[11] Rabbi Ivan Caine led Kesher Israel on a part-time basis in the mid-1970s, splitting his time with Society Hill Synagogue also in the neighborhood.

The synagogue during this period held morning as well as afternoon services but struggled to secure a minyan of ten men.

[16] Harry Boonin chronicled the history of the synagogue and published the book The Life and Times of Congregation Kesher Israel in 2007.