Congregation Beth Israel (Scottsdale, Arizona)
Encyclopedia
Congregation Beth Israel is a Jewish
congregation located at 10460 North 56th Street in Scottsdale, Arizona
. Formally incorporated in 1920, it affiliated with the Reform movement
in 1935.
Abraham Lincoln Krohn was rabbi
of Beth Israel from 1938 to 1953, and during his tenure the congregation grew from under 100 to almost 600 member families. He was succeeded by Albert Plotkin, who served for almost 40 years.
Beth Israel's original building in Downtown Phoenix
, constructed in 1921–1922, is listed on both the city’s historic property register and the National Register of Historic Places
. After being sold in 1949, it housed churches until 2002, when the Jewish community repurchased it. In 2007 the Arizona Jewish Historical Society started a $4 million campaign to restore it and convert it into a museum.
, Beth Israel was the oldest synagogue in the Phoenix metropolitan area
, and the largest in Arizona
, with over 900 member families. The senior rabbi was Stephen Kahn, the assistant rabbi was Rony Keller, and the cantor
was Jaime Shpall.
was David L. Liknaitz, and its first president was Charles Steinberg. Liknaitz would serve until 1924.
Services were held in a number of temporary locations. In 1915 and 1917 respectively the local chapters of the B'nai B'rith
and the National Council of Jewish Women
were formed. Together they purchased a church in 1921, and converted it for use as a Phoenix's first synagogue
by the Phoenix Hebrew Center Association. The Association soon became defunct, and the building was taken over by the Congregation Beth Israel.
That year the congregation raised $14,000 (today $) and hired the architectural firm Lescher, Kibbey and Mahoney to design and construct a synagogue building near Central Avenue and Culver Street, in Downtown Phoenix
. The building, a simple, stucco
ed, gable-end-to-the-street Mission Revival Style
structure, was constructed in 1921–1922, and an annex added in 1930.
At the time the building was constructed, the Phoenix area had only 120 Jewish residents. The synagogue served as a cultural center for the Jewish community, including hosting communal Passover Seder
s, at a time when Jews faced discrimination at hotels and other places of public gathering.
During the 1920s the synagogue had difficulty keeping rabbis. Most would only stay for a few years, and one in particular was suspected of being a charlatan; "[t]he rabbi college where he claimed he attended had no record of him." A.I. Goldberg served from 1924 to 1925, Adolph Rosenberg from 1926 to 1929.
In 1930, the congregation became divided over the need for the Jewish community to hire a shochet to ritually slaughter animals for kosher
meat, and over whether the synagogue should hire a Reform or Conservative rabbi. More traditional members broke away to form the Beth El Congregation, affiliated with Conservative Judaism
.
That year Samuel Dodkin Hurwitz was hired as Beth Israel's rabbi. Born in Krychaw, Belarus in 1901, his family emigrated to the United States in 1903. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati
in 1926, and was ordained at Hebrew Union College
in 1929. His first pulpit, from 1929 to 1930, was Temple Emanuel
in Davenport, Iowa. In 1934 he was appointed to the board of the Phoenix Public Library
. In 1935 he left Beth Israel to become rabbi at Temple Beth El in Benton Harbor, Michigan.
Philip W. Jaffa, ordained at Hebrew Union College in 1928, joined as rabbi in 1935. He adopted the Reform movement
's Union Prayer Book
and its religious school curriculum, and added choir music to the services. That year much of the synagogue building was destroyed by a fire, and Jaffa's whole library was lost. The congregation re-built the structure, extensively remodeling the sanctuary, and added a religious school building/classroom annex. Jaffa would serve until 1938.
, Krohn was one of eight children of Russian Jews who had immigrated to the United States. His first career was as a social worker, but during a chance meeting, Stephen Samuel Wise
was "so impressed with Krohn's compassion, intellect and eloquence [that] he strongly urged him to consider a career in the rabbinate." Krohn entered Wise's Jewish Institute of Religion
in 1926, and graduated as a rabbi in 1930. He then served as assistant rabbi of Temple Sholom in Plainfield, New Jersey
for a year, then as senior rabbi at Temple Albert in Albuquerque, New Mexico
for almost seven years, before joining Beth Israel.
Krohn was heavily involved in the community. According to Ira Morton of the Arizona Jewish Historical Society:
During Krohn's tenure the congregation began calling itself "Temple Beth Israel", and under his leadership the synagogue flourished.
During World War II
, Beth Israel provided religious services for servicemen stationed at Luke Air Force Base
, and hosted dances for the military personnel there. In 1942, the congregation started its Judaica library, which initially consisted of 60 works on one shelf.
By the late 1940s, the congregation had increased in size to approximately 300 families, and had outgrown its original facilities. The congregation moved to a more suburban location at Eleventh and Flower in 1949, and formalized its relationship with the Reform movement by joining the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now the Union for Reform Judaism
). The Central Avenue and Culver Street building was sold to the Southern Baptist Convention
, and housed the First Chinese Baptist Church until 1981, and then the Iglesia Bautista Central. By 2001 it was on the market again, and the Jewish community raised $540,000 (today $) to purchase it in 2002. The building is listed on both the city’s historic property register and the National Register of Historic Places
.
When Krohn stepped down as rabbi in 1953 due to poor health, the congregation had grown to 538 families. Krohn had also been active in interfaith
work, and in June, 1958 was named Man of the Year by the National Conference of Christians and Jews at its annual dinner. He was, however, too ill to attend, and died five months later.
, his parents were immigrants from Russia. After getting an undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame
, he entered Hebrew Union College in 1943 – on academic probation, because he had taken no Hebrew at Notre Dame. He was ordained by Hebrew Union College in 1948, graduating with a Master of Hebrew Letters. Plotkin had started his rabbinic career as assistant rabbi of Temple De Hirsch in Seattle, his first pulpit after ordination. There he met his future wife Sylvia Pincus, whose family were long-time members of Temple De Hirsch. They married a year later, and shortly after moved to Spokane, Washington
, where Plotkin became senior rabbi at Temple Emanuel.
During his tenure at Beth Israel, Plotkin was heavily involved in Phoenix's Jewish and non-Jewish communities. He was a strong Zionist at Hebrew Union College, at a time when the movement was unpopular there, and was later a staunch supporter of Israel. He was an advocate for civil rights, and a supporter of the arts. He founded the Jewish Studies program at Arizona State University
and taught there, and volunteered for 25 years as a chaplain at Phoenix Veterans Hospital. In 1972, the National Conference of Christians and Jews awarded him the National Award for Brotherhood.
Beth Israel added a "cultural and educational wing" to its Flower Street building in 1967, and in it Sylvia Plotkin founded a Jewish museum. The museum had three galleries: one "house[d] artifacts from a Tunisian synagogue, a second [held] a Judaica collection that chronicle[d] the history of Arizona Jewry and a third [was] used for exhibitions." Sylvia Plotkin would direct the museum until her death in 1996, acquiring and mounting many exhibitions there. Renamed the "Sylvia Plotkin Judaica Museum" the day before her death, it was "one of the largest and most respected synagogue museums in the United States." After Plotkin's death, Pamela Levin became the museum's director; she had begun working with Plotkin as a volunteer in 1985, and eventually earned a degree in museum studies.
Albert Plotkin would himself go on to serve as the congregation's rabbi for almost 40 years, retiring in 1992, and becoming rabbi emeritus. He loved opera
music, and two years after retiring, he sang professionally with the Arizona Opera
. The Plotkins' daughter Debra would become the founding artistic director of the Toronto Jewish Film Festival, and their daughter Janis was, for 21 years, one of the main forces behind the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
, and its executive director from 1994 to 2002.
Plotkin was succeeded by Kenneth Segel in 1992, and the following year Howard Tabaknek joined as cantor
. In 1997, the congregation moved to its current location at 10460 North 56th Street and Shea Boulevard. The 45000 square feet (4,180.6 m²) building had a main sanctuary that seated 500, and a chapel that seated 300. The Torah ark was decorated with "fused glass surrounded by colored glass".
Tabaknek left to join Temple Shalom in Succasunna, New Jersey
in 2000, and was replaced by Andrew Meyer as cantor and Michael Sokol as "cantorial soloist". Meyer had previously served for five years as spiritual leader of Temple Beth Emeth in Scottsdale, Arizona
. Sokol, who grew up in Phoenix and had his Bar Mitzvah at Beth Israel, was a professor of voice and opera at University of California, Santa Barbara
, and sang with New York's Metropolitan Opera
for three years.
Segel would serve as rabbi for until 2002, moving to Temple Beth Or in Montgomery, Alabama
.
.
For financial reasons, Levin's job as museum director was reduced from 25 to 12 hours per week in 2004, and the position made volunteer in 2005. By then, the museum had 8,000 visitors a year, regular traveling exhibits, and the number of artifacts in it had grown to over 1,000.
In 2005, the congregation purchased a 1.25 acre (0.5058575 ha) lot across the street from its building, and the house on it, to accommodate future growth. At that time the synagogue had over 900 member families.
That year the congregation also reverted to its original name of "Congregation Beth Israel". In Kahn's view, "To me, a 'congregation' represents people and community while the word "temple" represents a place or building. I would like us to be about the people."
The Arizona Jewish Historical Society undertook a $4 million campaign in 2007 to raise the funds needed to restore the original synagogue building and other related structures to create the Cutler-Plotkin Jewish Heritage Center. The plan was for the Center to include a museum and other public spaces that would be used to show the connection between the history of the Jewish community as part of Arizona's history. A $150,000 grant had been received in May of that year from the Arizona State Heritage Fund. By August 2008 much of the work of the first phase – the restoration of the sanctuary and annex – had been completed, and $2.1 million of the $2.6 million required for the work had been raised.
In 2007, Beth Israel opened the Phoenix metropolitan area
's first mikvah
(ritual bath). It was, according to local Modern Orthodox
rabbi Darren Kleinberg, "the first time in Jewish history that a mikvah has been built and approved under the auspices of Reform, Conservative and Orthodox rabbis."
The congregation also hired Jaime Shpall as cantor that year, replacing Bruce Benson, who left in 2006. Shpall, who graduated as a cantor from the Hebrew Union College in 1997, had previously served as cantor of Congregation Beth Israel
in Austin, Texas
. Plotkin died in February 2010.
, Beth Israel was the oldest Reform congregation in the Phoenix metropolitan area, and the largest in Arizona
. The senior rabbi was Stephen Kahn, the assistant rabbi was Rony Keller, and the cantor was Jaime Shpall. The congregation also owned and operated Camp Charles Pearlstein, a Jewish overnight camp in Prescott National Forest
near Prescott, Arizona
, the only Jewish camp in the area.
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
congregation located at 10460 North 56th Street in Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2010 the population of the city was 217,385...
. Formally incorporated in 1920, it affiliated with the Reform movement
Reform Judaism (North America)
Reform Judaism is the largest denomination of American Jews today. With an estimated 1.5 million members, it also accounts for the largest number of Jews affiliated with Progressive Judaism worldwide.- Reform Jewish theology :Rabbi W...
in 1935.
Abraham Lincoln Krohn was rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
of Beth Israel from 1938 to 1953, and during his tenure the congregation grew from under 100 to almost 600 member families. He was succeeded by Albert Plotkin, who served for almost 40 years.
Beth Israel's original building in Downtown Phoenix
Downtown Phoenix
Downtown Phoenix is the central business district of Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It is located near the geographic center of the Phoenix metropolitan area or Valley of the Sun. Phoenix, being the county seat of Maricopa County and the capital of Arizona, serves as the center of politics,...
, constructed in 1921–1922, is listed on both the city’s historic property register and the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. After being sold in 1949, it housed churches until 2002, when the Jewish community repurchased it. In 2007 the Arizona Jewish Historical Society started a $4 million campaign to restore it and convert it into a museum.
, Beth Israel was the oldest synagogue in the Phoenix metropolitan area
Phoenix Metropolitan Area
The Phoenix metropolitan area, often referred to as The Valley of the Sun, is a metropolitan area, centered on the city of Phoenix, that includes much of the central part of the US state of Arizona...
, and the largest in Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, with over 900 member families. The senior rabbi was Stephen Kahn, the assistant rabbi was Rony Keller, and the cantor
Hazzan
A hazzan or chazzan is a Jewish cantor, a musician trained in the vocal arts who helps lead the congregation in songful prayer.There are many rules relating to how a cantor should lead services, but the idea of a cantor as a paid professional does not exist in classical rabbinic sources...
was Jaime Shpall.
Early years, first building
Jewish settlers in Phoenix began gathering for High Holiday services as early as 1906. A formal congregation was established by Barnett E. Marks, a lawyer from Chicago, who held services in a room over Melczer's saloon, and also organized a Sunday School to provide a Jewish education for his two sons. By 1918 the congregation was calling itself "Emanuel", and holding services in English and Hebrew on the Jewish Festivals. In 1920, the congregation incorporated as "Congregation Beth Israel". Its first rabbiRabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
was David L. Liknaitz, and its first president was Charles Steinberg. Liknaitz would serve until 1924.
Services were held in a number of temporary locations. In 1915 and 1917 respectively the local chapters of the B'nai B'rith
B'nai B'rith
B'nai B'rith International |Covenant]]" is the oldest continually operating Jewish service organization in the world. It was initially founded as the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith in New York City, on , 1843, by Henry Jones and 11 others....
and the National Council of Jewish Women
National Council of Jewish Women
The National Council of Jewish Women defines itself as a grassroots organization of volunteers and advocates who turn progressive ideals into action...
were formed. Together they purchased a church in 1921, and converted it for use as a Phoenix's first synagogue
Oldest synagogues in the United States
The designation of the oldest synagogue in the United States requires careful use of definitions, and must be divided into two parts, the oldest in the sense of oldest surviving building, and the oldest in the sense of oldest congregation...
by the Phoenix Hebrew Center Association. The Association soon became defunct, and the building was taken over by the Congregation Beth Israel.
That year the congregation raised $14,000 (today $) and hired the architectural firm Lescher, Kibbey and Mahoney to design and construct a synagogue building near Central Avenue and Culver Street, in Downtown Phoenix
Downtown Phoenix
Downtown Phoenix is the central business district of Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It is located near the geographic center of the Phoenix metropolitan area or Valley of the Sun. Phoenix, being the county seat of Maricopa County and the capital of Arizona, serves as the center of politics,...
. The building, a simple, stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
ed, gable-end-to-the-street Mission Revival Style
Mission Revival Style architecture
The Mission Revival Style was an architectural movement that began in the late 19th century for a colonial style's revivalism and reinterpretation, which drew inspiration from the late 18th and early 19th century Spanish missions in California....
structure, was constructed in 1921–1922, and an annex added in 1930.
At the time the building was constructed, the Phoenix area had only 120 Jewish residents. The synagogue served as a cultural center for the Jewish community, including hosting communal Passover Seder
Passover Seder
The Passover Seder is a Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted on the evenings of the 14th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, and on the 15th by traditionally observant Jews living outside Israel. This corresponds to late March or April in...
s, at a time when Jews faced discrimination at hotels and other places of public gathering.
During the 1920s the synagogue had difficulty keeping rabbis. Most would only stay for a few years, and one in particular was suspected of being a charlatan; "[t]he rabbi college where he claimed he attended had no record of him." A.I. Goldberg served from 1924 to 1925, Adolph Rosenberg from 1926 to 1929.
In 1930, the congregation became divided over the need for the Jewish community to hire a shochet to ritually slaughter animals for kosher
Kashrut
Kashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit" Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus) is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed...
meat, and over whether the synagogue should hire a Reform or Conservative rabbi. More traditional members broke away to form the Beth El Congregation, affiliated with Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...
.
That year Samuel Dodkin Hurwitz was hired as Beth Israel's rabbi. Born in Krychaw, Belarus in 1901, his family emigrated to the United States in 1903. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati is a comprehensive public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, and a part of the University System of Ohio....
in 1926, and was ordained at Hebrew Union College
Hebrew Union College
The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion is the oldest extant Jewish seminary in the Americas and the main seminary for training rabbis, cantors, educators and communal workers in Reform Judaism.HUC-JIR has campuses in Cincinnati, New York, Los Angeles and Jerusalem.The Jerusalem...
in 1929. His first pulpit, from 1929 to 1930, was Temple Emanuel
Temple Emanuel (Davenport, Iowa)
Temple Emanuel is a Reform synagogue located on the east side of Davenport, Iowa, United States. Organized in 1861, it is the oldest Jewish congregation in Iowa. It has a membership of 150 families, and it is affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism .-History:Among the first 500 residents of...
in Davenport, Iowa. In 1934 he was appointed to the board of the Phoenix Public Library
Phoenix Public Library
The Phoenix Public Library is a municipal library system serving Phoenix, Arizona, and operated by the City of Phoenix. There are 16 branches currently in operation citywide, anchored by the flagship Burton Barr Central Library on the northern edge of downtown Phoenix...
. In 1935 he left Beth Israel to become rabbi at Temple Beth El in Benton Harbor, Michigan.
Philip W. Jaffa, ordained at Hebrew Union College in 1928, joined as rabbi in 1935. He adopted the Reform movement
Reform Judaism (North America)
Reform Judaism is the largest denomination of American Jews today. With an estimated 1.5 million members, it also accounts for the largest number of Jews affiliated with Progressive Judaism worldwide.- Reform Jewish theology :Rabbi W...
's Union Prayer Book
Union Prayer Book
The Union Prayer Book was a siddur published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis to serve the needs of the Reform Judaism movement in the United States.-History:...
and its religious school curriculum, and added choir music to the services. That year much of the synagogue building was destroyed by a fire, and Jaffa's whole library was lost. The congregation re-built the structure, extensively remodeling the sanctuary, and added a religious school building/classroom annex. Jaffa would serve until 1938.
Krohn era
Abraham Lincoln Krohn became Beth Israel's rabbi in 1938, replacing Jaffa, who was not well. At the time, the congregation had 100 or fewer member families, and 64 children in the religious school. Born in 1893 and named after Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, Krohn was one of eight children of Russian Jews who had immigrated to the United States. His first career was as a social worker, but during a chance meeting, Stephen Samuel Wise
Stephen Samuel Wise
Stephen Samuel Wise was an Austro-Hungarian-born American Reform rabbi and Zionist leader.-Early life:...
was "so impressed with Krohn's compassion, intellect and eloquence [that] he strongly urged him to consider a career in the rabbinate." Krohn entered Wise's Jewish Institute of Religion
Jewish Institute of Religion
The Jewish Institute of Religion was an educational establishment created by Rabbi Stephen S. Wise in 1922 in New York City. While generally incorporating Reform Judaism, it was separate from the previously established Hebrew Union College...
in 1926, and graduated as a rabbi in 1930. He then served as assistant rabbi of Temple Sholom in Plainfield, New Jersey
Plainfield, New Jersey
Plainfield is a city in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population increased to a record high of 49,808....
for a year, then as senior rabbi at Temple Albert in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
for almost seven years, before joining Beth Israel.
Krohn was heavily involved in the community. According to Ira Morton of the Arizona Jewish Historical Society:
The organizations he served in the capacity of president or board member include B'nai Brith, the Urban LeagueNational Urban LeagueThe National Urban League , formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of African Americans and against racial discrimination in the United States. It is the oldest and largest...
, the MaricopaMaricopa County, Arizona-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*73.0% White*5.0% Black*2.1% Native American*3.5% Asian*0.2% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.5% Two or more races*12.7% Other races*29.6% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
Mental Health Association and Child Guidance Clinic, Phoenix Public Library, Phoenix Elementary School District, the American Red CrossAmerican Red CrossThe American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...
, the Roosevelt Council of Boy Scouts, the United Fund (later changed to United Way) and the Jewish Family Service (now Jewish Family & Children's Service), which Krohn founded. Krohn also served as president of the Valley of the Sun Symphony Orchestra, which later became the Phoenix SymphonyPhoenix SymphonyThe Phoenix Symphony is a major United States symphony orchestra based in Phoenix, Arizona.Founded in 1947 when Phoenix had a population of less than 100,000, the orchestra began as an occasional group of musicians performing a handful of concerts each year...
, moderator of a Phoenix town hall lecture series, lecturer in biblical literature at Arizona State UniversityArizona State UniversityArizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
and as a civilian chaplain for neighboring military bases and hospitals during World War II.
During Krohn's tenure the congregation began calling itself "Temple Beth Israel", and under his leadership the synagogue flourished.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Beth Israel provided religious services for servicemen stationed at Luke Air Force Base
Luke Air Force Base
Luke Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located seven miles west of the central business district of Glendale, in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. It is also about west of Phoenix, Arizona....
, and hosted dances for the military personnel there. In 1942, the congregation started its Judaica library, which initially consisted of 60 works on one shelf.
By the late 1940s, the congregation had increased in size to approximately 300 families, and had outgrown its original facilities. The congregation moved to a more suburban location at Eleventh and Flower in 1949, and formalized its relationship with the Reform movement by joining the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now the Union for Reform Judaism
Union for Reform Judaism
The Union for Reform Judaism , formerly known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations , is an organization which supports Reform Jewish congregations in North America. The current President is Rabbi Eric H...
). The Central Avenue and Culver Street building was sold to the Southern Baptist Convention
Southern Baptist Convention
The Southern Baptist Convention is a United States-based Christian denomination. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination and the largest Protestant body in the United States, with over 16 million members...
, and housed the First Chinese Baptist Church until 1981, and then the Iglesia Bautista Central. By 2001 it was on the market again, and the Jewish community raised $540,000 (today $) to purchase it in 2002. The building is listed on both the city’s historic property register and the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
When Krohn stepped down as rabbi in 1953 due to poor health, the congregation had grown to 538 families. Krohn had also been active in interfaith
Christian-Jewish reconciliation
Reconciliation between Christianity and Judaism refers to the efforts that are being made to improve understanding of the Jewish people and of Judaism, to do away with Christian antisemitism and Jewish anti-Christian sentiment...
work, and in June, 1958 was named Man of the Year by the National Conference of Christians and Jews at its annual dinner. He was, however, too ill to attend, and died five months later.
Plotkin and Segel eras
By 1955, Phoenix's Jewish population had grown to over 3,000 families, and the city still had two Jewish congregations, Beth Israel and Beth El. That year, with the support of Krohn, Albert Plotkin joined Beth Israel as rabbi. Born in 1920 and raised in South Bend, IndianaSouth Bend, Indiana
The city of South Bend is the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 316,663...
, his parents were immigrants from Russia. After getting an undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
, he entered Hebrew Union College in 1943 – on academic probation, because he had taken no Hebrew at Notre Dame. He was ordained by Hebrew Union College in 1948, graduating with a Master of Hebrew Letters. Plotkin had started his rabbinic career as assistant rabbi of Temple De Hirsch in Seattle, his first pulpit after ordination. There he met his future wife Sylvia Pincus, whose family were long-time members of Temple De Hirsch. They married a year later, and shortly after moved to Spokane, Washington
Spokane, Washington
Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
, where Plotkin became senior rabbi at Temple Emanuel.
During his tenure at Beth Israel, Plotkin was heavily involved in Phoenix's Jewish and non-Jewish communities. He was a strong Zionist at Hebrew Union College, at a time when the movement was unpopular there, and was later a staunch supporter of Israel. He was an advocate for civil rights, and a supporter of the arts. He founded the Jewish Studies program at Arizona State University
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
and taught there, and volunteered for 25 years as a chaplain at Phoenix Veterans Hospital. In 1972, the National Conference of Christians and Jews awarded him the National Award for Brotherhood.
Beth Israel added a "cultural and educational wing" to its Flower Street building in 1967, and in it Sylvia Plotkin founded a Jewish museum. The museum had three galleries: one "house[d] artifacts from a Tunisian synagogue, a second [held] a Judaica collection that chronicle[d] the history of Arizona Jewry and a third [was] used for exhibitions." Sylvia Plotkin would direct the museum until her death in 1996, acquiring and mounting many exhibitions there. Renamed the "Sylvia Plotkin Judaica Museum" the day before her death, it was "one of the largest and most respected synagogue museums in the United States." After Plotkin's death, Pamela Levin became the museum's director; she had begun working with Plotkin as a volunteer in 1985, and eventually earned a degree in museum studies.
Albert Plotkin would himself go on to serve as the congregation's rabbi for almost 40 years, retiring in 1992, and becoming rabbi emeritus. He loved opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
music, and two years after retiring, he sang professionally with the Arizona Opera
Arizona Opera
Arizona Opera is an opera company which operates in both Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona.Arizona Opera was established in 1971 as the Tucson Opera Company, under founding general director James P. Sullivan, and presented its first production, of Rossini's The Barber of Seville, in 1972. By 1976 the...
. The Plotkins' daughter Debra would become the founding artistic director of the Toronto Jewish Film Festival, and their daughter Janis was, for 21 years, one of the main forces behind the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
San Francisco Jewish Film Festival is the oldest and largest Jewish film festival in the world. The three-week summer festival is held in San Francisco, California, usually at the Castro Theater in San Francisco and other cinemas in San Francisco, Berkeley, San Rafael, and Palo Alto, and features...
, and its executive director from 1994 to 2002.
Plotkin was succeeded by Kenneth Segel in 1992, and the following year Howard Tabaknek joined as cantor
Hazzan
A hazzan or chazzan is a Jewish cantor, a musician trained in the vocal arts who helps lead the congregation in songful prayer.There are many rules relating to how a cantor should lead services, but the idea of a cantor as a paid professional does not exist in classical rabbinic sources...
. In 1997, the congregation moved to its current location at 10460 North 56th Street and Shea Boulevard. The 45000 square feet (4,180.6 m²) building had a main sanctuary that seated 500, and a chapel that seated 300. The Torah ark was decorated with "fused glass surrounded by colored glass".
Tabaknek left to join Temple Shalom in Succasunna, New Jersey
Succasunna-Kenvil, New Jersey
Succasunna-Kenvil is a census-designated place and unincorporated area located within Roxbury Township, in Morris County, New Jersey. As of the United States 2000 Census, the CDP population was 12,569.-History:...
in 2000, and was replaced by Andrew Meyer as cantor and Michael Sokol as "cantorial soloist". Meyer had previously served for five years as spiritual leader of Temple Beth Emeth in Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2010 the population of the city was 217,385...
. Sokol, who grew up in Phoenix and had his Bar Mitzvah at Beth Israel, was a professor of voice and opera at University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
, and sang with New York's Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
for three years.
Segel would serve as rabbi for until 2002, moving to Temple Beth Or in Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
.
Recent events
Stephen Kahn became Beth Israel's rabbi in July 2003. By then, membership was approximately 1,000 families. The congregational library, which was open to the public, had grown to over 20,000 volumes, making it one of the largest Judaica libraries in the Southwestern United StatesSouthwestern United States
The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...
.
For financial reasons, Levin's job as museum director was reduced from 25 to 12 hours per week in 2004, and the position made volunteer in 2005. By then, the museum had 8,000 visitors a year, regular traveling exhibits, and the number of artifacts in it had grown to over 1,000.
In 2005, the congregation purchased a 1.25 acre (0.5058575 ha) lot across the street from its building, and the house on it, to accommodate future growth. At that time the synagogue had over 900 member families.
That year the congregation also reverted to its original name of "Congregation Beth Israel". In Kahn's view, "To me, a 'congregation' represents people and community while the word "temple" represents a place or building. I would like us to be about the people."
The Arizona Jewish Historical Society undertook a $4 million campaign in 2007 to raise the funds needed to restore the original synagogue building and other related structures to create the Cutler-Plotkin Jewish Heritage Center. The plan was for the Center to include a museum and other public spaces that would be used to show the connection between the history of the Jewish community as part of Arizona's history. A $150,000 grant had been received in May of that year from the Arizona State Heritage Fund. By August 2008 much of the work of the first phase – the restoration of the sanctuary and annex – had been completed, and $2.1 million of the $2.6 million required for the work had been raised.
In 2007, Beth Israel opened the Phoenix metropolitan area
Phoenix Metropolitan Area
The Phoenix metropolitan area, often referred to as The Valley of the Sun, is a metropolitan area, centered on the city of Phoenix, that includes much of the central part of the US state of Arizona...
's first mikvah
Mikvah
Mikveh is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism...
(ritual bath). It was, according to local Modern Orthodox
Modern Orthodox Judaism
Modern Orthodox Judaism is a movement within Orthodox Judaism that attempts to synthesize Jewish values and the observance of Jewish law, with the secular, modern world....
rabbi Darren Kleinberg, "the first time in Jewish history that a mikvah has been built and approved under the auspices of Reform, Conservative and Orthodox rabbis."
The congregation also hired Jaime Shpall as cantor that year, replacing Bruce Benson, who left in 2006. Shpall, who graduated as a cantor from the Hebrew Union College in 1997, had previously served as cantor of Congregation Beth Israel
Congregation Beth Israel (Austin, Texas)
Congregation Beth Israel is a Reform synagogue located at 3901 Shoal Creek Boulevard in Austin, Texas. Organized in 1876 and chartered by the state of Texas in 1879, it is the oldest synagogue in Austin....
in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. Plotkin died in February 2010.
, Beth Israel was the oldest Reform congregation in the Phoenix metropolitan area, and the largest in Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
. The senior rabbi was Stephen Kahn, the assistant rabbi was Rony Keller, and the cantor was Jaime Shpall. The congregation also owned and operated Camp Charles Pearlstein, a Jewish overnight camp in Prescott National Forest
Prescott National Forest
The Prescott National Forest is a 1.25 million acre United States National Forest located in north central Arizona in the vicinity of Prescott. The forest is located in the mountains southwest of Flagstaff and north of Phoenix in Yavapai County, with a small portion extending into southwestern...
near Prescott, Arizona
Prescott, Arizona
Prescott is a city in Yavapai County, Arizona, USA. It was designated "Arizona's Christmas City" by Arizona Governor Rose Mofford in the late 1980s....
, the only Jewish camp in the area.