Temple B’nai Abraham was founded in Newark in 1853 by Jewish immigrants from the Posen region of Poland. Its monumental Classical Revival synagogue opened in 1924 and eventually served a congregation of thousands. Rabbi Joachim Prinz, expelled from Nazi Germany, became its spiritual leader in 1939 and later emerged as an important Jewish voice in the American civil rights movement. The congregation moved to suburban Livingston in 1973, leaving its former Newark home largely vacant.