While the 18th century had been a period of relative freedom for Jews in Germany, by the early 19th century they experienced the return of political and economic restrictions as a result of the Congress of Vienna of 1815. Many sought a different future and emigrated to the United States. In 1820 there were about 4,000 Jews in the United States, but by 1850, their numbers had swollen to more than 50,000. Those who came were mostly from Bavaria, the German state with the most restrictive laws. Others came from Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, and Romania. As in the case of earlier Jewish immigrants, some of these newcomers, searching for greater opportunities, found their way to Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
While not poor, these Jewish immigrants of the 1840's and 1850's had little capital, and so many started their new lives as itinerant peddlers. With ingenuity and a willingness to work hard in their adopted land, these peddlers gradually moved up to horse and buggy trading and ultimately to owning small and then larger shops. All the while, they struggled with the challenges of practicing their faith and of forging a new American identity for themselves. As is the case even today, many of these Jews never affiliated with the Jewish community, while others met informally for services.
Two leaders of Lancaster's small but growing early nineteenth century Jewish community were Jacob Herzog and Moses Geisenberger. Herzog was one of the founders of Shaarai Shomayim and its first president. Geisenberger, the owner of a dry goods store, did not join the Congregation until about 1890. One of the most wealthy and respected Jews in Lancaster, he was the patriarch of what has become the only family to maintain continuous membership in Shaarai Shomayim for six generations.
On February 25, 1855, 21 men met to establish a formal Jewish congregation in Lancaster. At another meeting a week later they chose the name "Shaarai Shomayim" (The Gates of Heaven) for their new congregation. By October the infant congregation had hired a man to be cantor and teacher for $150 a year. With much rejoicing, this new congregation received its charter from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on November 17, 1856, and went about organizing itself. Abraham Lazarus, one of the charter members, was hired for $50 a year to advise the congregation. Another, Joseph Eckstein, was paid $5 to read at Saturday morning services (which began at 7:30). Jacob Herzog, who had convened the first organizational meeting, purchased a Torah scroll and became the congregation's first president.
In those early days dues were $10 a year. Services were more or less orthodox in style. There was no rabbi and no permanent home. The young congregation first worshipped at the back of Herzog's store on North Queen Street. Later, they moved to a building on Beaver Street, and then to another on East Chestnut Street. The congregation's last temporary home was on the third floor of the Hirsh Brothers store in Penn Square where the Griest building stands today.
As the number and wealth of these Lancaster Jews increased, members raised the necessary funds to establish a synagogue. For $2000, they purchased property on the southwest corner of Orange and Christian Streets (where the Lancaster Bar Association building is today). The cornerstone was laid on December 6, 1866, and the new synagogue was dedicated on September 13, 1867.
The Lancaster press reported the dedication gala. The procession assembled on the third floor of the Hirsh Brothers store and paraded up Queen Street to the new synagogue on Orange Street. With a cornet band in the lead, members carried the congregation's two Torah scrolls. Other members and their wives and children were followed by guests which included political officials and Protestant clergy. This must have been quite an event for downtown Lancaster. Interestingly, early references to "Shaarai Shomayim" were rare as the congregation usually referred to itself as the Orange Street Synagogue.

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