Anshei Sfard (Louisville, Kentucky)

Anshei Sfard, officially affiliated with the Orthodox Union (OU), was one of two Orthodox synagogues (the other being Chabad of Kentucky) in Louisville, Kentucky. Located at 3700 Dutchman's Lane, the synagogue offered Shabbat, and Yom Tov services; events; and a mikveh. Prayer services were conducted in Nusach Ashkenaz.

The congregation was founded by a group of Russian Jewish immigrants in June 1893. In 1897 and 1898 it occupied a private home owned by Jacob Brownstein on Eighth Street, and for the next few years met in a three-story building at 716 W. Walnut Street (now called Muhammad Ali Boulevard). In 1903 it purchased the former B'rith Sholom synagogue at 511 South First Street. This building no longer exists, but it was located at a spot that would be across First Street from what is today The Brown School. The synagogue was forced to move due to the construction of the I-65 interstate highway. The synagogue purchased a 17.5 acres (7.1 ha) lot adjacent to the Jewish Community Center and held its groundbreaking ceremony in April 1957. In 1971 Anshei Sfard absorbed another Orthodox congregation, Agudath Achim, bringing its membership up to 300 families. When another Orthodox congregation, Keneseth Israel, became Conservative in 1994, Anshei Sfard remained as the only Orthodox congregation in Louisville.

On October 18, 2015 the synagogue held a contentious meeting to discuss the sale of the synagogue, resulting in police being called by a member to ensure his safety.

In August 2017, it was announced the synagogue had been sold to an out of state land developer, with plans to demolish the building. The Synagogue's life span had been over 119 years.

In 1903 the Orthodox synagogues in Louisville, under the umbrella of a Vaad HaEr (community council), hired a chief rabbi to act as spiritual leader for all of the city's synagogues, in addition to supervising kashrut, a mikveh, and a Talmud Torah. In the 1910s Anshei Sfard went ahead and hired its own rabbi, Rabbi Z. Klavansky, which caused it to be snubbed by the chief rabbi and the other Orthodox congregations in the city. A second synagogue hired its own rabbi in 1927, causing further divisiveness in the city. The post of chief rabbi of Louisville was finally abolished in 1937.

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