Temple Israel is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 130 Riverside Drive in Dayton, Ohio, in the United States.

Strongly influenced by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, it rapidly modernized its services, and, in 1873, was a founding member of the Union for Reform Judaism.

[1] The congregation sold its existing building in 1893, and constructed a larger one at First and Jefferson,[3] later severely damaged by the Great Dayton Flood of 1913.

[4] In 1927, the congregation moved to still larger, multi-purpose premises at Salem and Emerson Avenues, outside downtown Dayton, and began to use the name "Temple Israel",[1][5] adding a new sanctuary to the building in 1953.

[1][4][6][8][9][10] It also hired its first Torah reader, a "Mr. Wendel",[11] and purchased—for $100 (today $3,700)—a small piece of land for a cemetery on what is now Rubicon Street.

There Kehillah Kodesh B'nai Yeshurun purchased for $1,500 (today $37,000)[15] its first owned premises, the building of a Baptist church whose congregation was moving to Main Street.

[1][4][8] The structure required "extensive remodeling", and Lebensburger, as building chairman, led the campaign to raise the necessary $9,000 (today $223,000).

In the 1870s the congregation removed yahrzeit candles from the sanctuary, and added family pews and a mixed choir (men and women together).

[1][6] By 1889 B'nai Yeshurun had outgrown its original cemetery, and the congregation purchased 8 acres (3.2 ha) on West Schantz Avenue in Oakwood.

According to Leonard Spialter, president of the Dayton Jewish Genealogical Society, "if you were dead, you could be buried in Oakwood, but if you were alive, you couldn’t live there".

These included Delbanco (1862–63), Moses Bauer (1863–64), L. Liebman (1864–67), Abraham Blum (1868–69), Leon Leopold (1870–72), Ben Weil (1872–76), Ephraim Fischer (1876–81), Godfrey/Gottheil Taubenhaus (later rabbi of Congregation Beth Elohim of Brooklyn, New York) (1881–85), and Israel Saenger (1885–89).

In 1881 the congregation's "language of record" was changed from German to English, and in 1889 the synagogue hired its first American-trained rabbi, Max Wertheimer.

Due to financial difficulties, he and one brother grew up in the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York, where he later worked to help pay for his schooling.

His major goal during his ministry was to acquire larger premises outside downtown Dayton, which was realized in 1927[30] when the congregation moved to a new building at Salem and Emerson Avenues.

[1][5][8] Besides the main sanctuary, which had seating for 600 people, the structure included a social hall and kitchen, classrooms, and offices.

"[34] During Witt's tenure, Dayton experienced an influx of Jewish immigration, and the original German-Jewish constituency of the congregation became more diverse.

[35] In 1942, during World War II, he took a leave of absence from the UAHC to volunteer for the armed forces as a U.S. Navy chaplain.

[1][6] Like his predecessors, he was very active in Dayton's civic life, serving on the boards of a large number of community organizations.

[37] Ruslander was possibly Dayton's then "best known clergyman of any faith", and during his tenure Temple Israel experienced rapid growth.

By the end of the 1960s membership increased to 1,100 families, and Temple Israel hired Howard R. Greenstein and Joseph S. Weizenbaum as assistant rabbis.

[4] Bloom strongly believed that Temple Israel should relocate to a more central location, as the Jewish community of Dayton had by then spread throughout Miami Valley.

[4] Gruber also served on the steering committee for the UAHC Department of Jewish Family Concerns from 1995 to 2002, working on "the inclusion of people with disabilities and special needs".

[41] Gruber moved to Central Synagogue of Nassau County in Rockville Centre, New York in 2002, and Michael Remson served as interim rabbi.