Congregation B’nai Jeshurun dedicated its first temple on this site on Thanksgiving Day, November 30, 1893, with Rabbi Edward Levy of Selma officiating. Isaac Marx, the first Jew to settle in Demopolis, lighted the perpetual lamp. The larger wooden synagogue, crowned by a Moorish-influenced dome, was demolished in 1958 after construction of a new temple within its shell. The congregation was founded in 1858 by immigrants from central Europe who began arriving in the 1840s and established businesses that operated in the community until 2002, when Rosenbush Furniture Company closed after 107 years of operation. After the establishment of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the congregation became associated with the Reform movement. B’nai Jeshurun means “Children of Righteousness,” a poetic name for the Jewish people often used in the Bible to designate the ideal character of Israel. The congregation’s cemetery on East Jefferson Street was established in 1878, and dedicated rabbis who led the congregation included Lewis Mayer, the brothers Jacob and George Bley, and Jerome Levy.