Home - Temple Emanuel Gastonia

Shalom & Welcome

Join a vibrant Jewish community close to home.

Worship

Fridays at 7:30 p.m.

320 S. South Street
Gastonia, NC 28052

Join us

You may not be able to live in a traditional Jewish neighborhood like your grandparents did, but you can belong to a vibrant and inclusive Jewish community right near home.

Temple Emanuel’s historic 1929 downtown Gastonia building is just a short drive from the fast-growing Charlotte suburbs of Belmont, Cramerton and McAdenville, as well as all of Gastonia and its neighboring towns of Bessemer City, Dallas, Kings Mountain and Lincolnton,

We’re small enough that everyone knows your name, close by so you can attend weekly, and serious about advancing Jewish learning, raising new generations of Jewish children and helping to repair the world around us.

We are also proud of our diversity, including interfaith families, people of color, Jews from Hispanic countries and our support of members who are economically stressed.

And… we’re growing! We’ve added over 20 new families and individuals in the past six months, and more are on the way. If you’re looking to join a Jewish congregation – or know someone who is – send us an email at templeemanuel12@gmail.com.

OUR HISTORY

Explore Jewish life in Gastonia, North Carolina

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One of the South’s oldest synagogues outside of a big city, Temple Emanuel was founded in 1913 by Jews attracted to Gastonia by its burgeoning textile industry. Some became successful mill owners. Others were shopkeepers and workers.

By 1929, they raised enough funds to erect our handsome building. Equal in size and stature to established local churches, the Temple, proudly topped by a Star of David, was a symbol of Jewish strength in the face of the rampant anti-Semitism of the era.

Almost as soon as the building was finished, the Great Depression hit. The Temple would have lost its home, were it not for the grit of these pioneering Jewish families who freely volunteered their services and whatever cash they could spare in those difficult times.

Today, much of the textile industry has moved overseas and the founding families have dispersed. But the Temple is growing once again, thanks to Jewish professionals and executives working in Charlotte and living in the attractive communities of Gaston County.