The Vilna Congregation is a synagogue located in the Society Hill section of Center City Philadelphia. The synagogue is home to an active congregation with Shabbat and holy day services, is affiliated with Lubavitch of Center City, and is the location of a proposed Center City community mikvah. Menachem Schmidt is the rabbi of the synagogue.HistoryThe Vilna Congregation began in 1904 as a Landsleit shul for Lithuanian Jewish immigrants in Philadelphia. The congregation held services in rented rooms until 1915, when the building on 509 Pine Street was purchased by the Shapiro family. The building was registered as a synagogue on February 1, 1922. Prior to its purchase by the Shapiro family in 1915, the building was the residence of Julius Taussig. The Shapiro family was in the hardware business in the 1920s, at which time the women members organized the Sara Shapiro Sisterhood. The stone above the front doorway reads, "בית הכנסת בני אברהם אבא ב'ר יהודה שאפירא ואנשי ווילנה נוסדה בשנת תרס׳", (translated as The Avraham Aba Bar Shapira and Men of Vilna Synagogue established in the year 5665.Joseph Hillel Snapir (1884-1971
