It received a $2,000 (today $73,000) bequest from the estate of New Orleans philanthropist Judah Touro, and used it to purchase a lot on Second Street, but did not feel financially secure enough to build a synagogue, and eventually sold the property.

[19] The Touro funds eventually enabled the members to lease the Farmers and Merchants Bank building at Main and Exchange streets in late 1857, which they converted to a synagogue.

[27] Born and raised in the Netherlands, Peres had been a child prodigy who, before turning eighteen, had edited a Hebrew grammar, as well as a volume of proverbs written in five languages.

For example, at a congregational meeting in January 1860, they gathered money from the members present and B'nai Israel's treasury to assist suffering Moroccan Jews, and created a committee to raise funds throughout Memphis on their behalf.

[35] Tuska reformed services at B'nai Israel, removing piyyutim (liturgical poems) in 1861, adding an organ and mixed-gender choir in 1862, and confirmation ceremonies in 1863.

[53] In 1875, he asked the congregation if he could abandon wearing the traditional head covering while leading the prayers;[54] in response, the members resolved that all men would be required to remove their hats during services.

[51] When Tennessee's first Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Children was formed in 1880, he became its first vice-president,[57] and in 1889, he led the fundraising for Memphis's first civilian hospital, St. Joseph's, a Catholic institution.

[66] In 1872, Children of Israel purchased land on Adams Avenue, with the intent of building a new synagogue there, but financial pressures delayed the project, and in 1880 the congregation decided to sell the property and find a better one.

[78] The congregation acquired land on Poplar Avenue at Montgomery Street, 2 miles (3.2 km) east of their existing location, and began constructing a new synagogue there.

At a 1914 rally he stated "Taxation without representation is tyranny ... [The] purpose of this meeting ... is to shock the people of Memphis into a realization that the question of equal suffrage is not child's play.

Persons, a black man accused of raping and decapitating a sixteen-year-old white girl, had been burned alive in front of a crowd of thousands in Memphis, and his remains dismembered, scattered, and displayed.

[85] Fineshriber called a congregational meeting to protest the lynching, convinced the membership to endorse a public condemnation of it, and acted as secretary to a group of clergymen who issued a statement decrying the practice.

[90] In 1922, in response to the attempt by William Jennings Bryan and his followers to ban the teaching of evolution in universities and public schools, Fineshriber devoted three Friday night sermons to discussing it.

In 1916, the congregation eliminated the observance of the eighth days of Passover and Sukkot, required all worshipers to stand when mourners stood to recite the kaddish, and restored the Orthodox practice of blessing and naming babies in the synagogue as part of the services.

[96] Entrance was through three sets of double-doors, and carved into the entablature was the biblical verse fragment "THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF" (Leviticus 19:18).

[120] The congregation was heavily involved in World War II, with many members serving in the armed forces, including Dudley Weinberg, who had succeeded Cohn as assistant rabbi.

Though he initially resisted the idea of having a cantor, he eventually accepted a limited role for one, and in 1971 Thomas Schwartz was hired as Temple Israel's first full-time cantor/musical director in 80 years.

[135] The Civil Rights Movement sparked extremist antisemitism in the South, and "Communist Jews" were blamed for destroying democracy following the United States Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education.

It helped provide food for hungry schoolchildren, primarily in black schools, and later expanded its efforts to include the distribution of free or discounted clothing and footwear.

According to professor of women's and gender studies Kimberly K. Little, this "marked the first occasion where Temple Israel opened its doors to community–based programs; its prior charitable work focused on Jewish community outreach".

[141] Other Temple Israel members supported the civil rights movement: senior business executives convinced stores to hire black salespeople, Herschel Feibelman chaired the Memphis War on Poverty Committee, and Marvin Ratner left a partnership at a prominent local law firm to form, along with two white and two black lawyers, Memphis's first integrated law firm.

[127] In January 1965, Memphis mayor William B. Ingram asked Wax to join his Community Action Committee, a group that tried to get federal funding for anti-poverty programs and job training for black youths.

Though the committee created a number of helpful programs, disagreement over the mayor's role in choosing members and controlling funds led to the group's dissolution in January 1966.

[145] After being contacted by black ministers, Wax arranged a meeting on February 18 between Loeb, local union leaders, and Jerry Wurf, head of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

[147] Temple Israel member Dreifus used her past support for Loeb in his 1967 mayoralty campaign as a means of trying to force him to resolve the strike, and act as a representative of both white and black Memphians.

In addition, since the 1950s Memphis's Jewish community had been steadily moving from the downtown, where Temple Israel's Poplar Avenue building was located, to the eastern suburbs; by 1957 over half of the members, and three-quarters of those with children in the congregational school, lived there.

[9] The building's interior art work was designed by Efrem Weitzman, including the Torah ark, most ritual objects, stained glass, mosaics, and tapestries.

Over 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2) of space, including the social hall, was renovated, and a 25,000 sq ft (2,300 m2) early childhood and family center addition was built, creating a U-shaped wing around a courtyard.

Architect Walt Reed of The Crump Firm said he kept the emphasis on "simple, geometric, contemporary forms" that existed in the original building, as well as using the same copper roofing and detailing materials.

[168] During Danziger's tenure, assistant rabbis included Alan Greenbaum (1977–1981), Harry Rosenfeld (1981–1984), Constance Abramson Golden—Temple Israel's first female rabbi—(1984–1986), and Marc Belgrad (1986–1991).