A refuge in the country.

One of the sweetest treasures in Connecticut sits on Rt. 138 in Lisbon. Built in 1936 by Orthodox Jewish immigrant families, the colonial revival style building served the small, but devout Polish and Russian immigrant Jews who lived in Lisbon and surrounding towns.

The synagogue is the epitome of simplicity, and is an example of a small country Jewish house of worship. It measures 20 feet by 30 feet with a five by nine foot central projecting tower and sits on a fieldstone foundation. The interior is simple; a single room with an antechamber under the tower, plain pine floors, painted walls and long wooden benches.

The fifteen families who founded the synagogue came from Russia and Poland, fleeing persecution throughout Eastern Europe. Some were merchants, but most were farmers. Another group later joined them, German refugees from the Holocaust. Though there were ideological and cultural differences between them, in the Anshei Israel Synagogue they all found refuge.

The congregation’s membership dwindled throughout the 1940’s and 50’s, which limited services to holidays. The synagogue finally closed in 1987, when it could no longer steadily gather a minyan.

In the 1990’s a former member worked to secure its recognition on the National Register of Historic Places and in 1998 the remaining members, anxious to preserve the synagogue, agreed to turn the building over to the Town of Lisbon. Since 1998, the Lisbon Historical Society has assumed responsibility for its up keep. It has been repaired, repainted and preserved.

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