Temple Beth El, also known as Temple Beth-El, is a Reform

Reform Judaism

Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...

 synagogue

Synagogue

A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...

 currently located in Bloomfield Township, Michigan

Bloomfield Township, Michigan

Bloomfield Township is the name of some places in the U.S. state of Michigan:*Bloomfield Township, Huron County, Michigan*Bloomfield Township, Missaukee County, Michigan*Bloomfield Township, Oakland County, Michigan...

. Beth El was founded in 1850 in the city of Detroit, and is the oldest Jewish congregation

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...

 in Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

.

In 1982, its two former buildings in Detroit, at 3424 and 8801 Woodward Avenue, were listed on 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...

.

Early years

In 1850, Sarah and Isaac Cozens arrived in Detroit and moved into a house near the corner of Congress and St. Antoine street. At the time, there were only 60 Jews in Detroit (out of a population of over 21,000) and no synagogues. Sarah urged her co-religionists to establish a congregation, and on September 22, 1850, twelve Jewish families came together at the Cozens's home to found the "Bet El Society" (a Michigan Historical Marker now commemorates this site). The congregation engaged the services of 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...

 Samuel Marcus of New York.

Rabbi Marcus conducted services in the Orthodox

Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...

 mode, first in the Cozens's home and later in a room above a store on Jefferson Avenue. In 1851, the congregation was legally incorporated, and the next year, the first Constitution was adopted. In 1854, Rabbi Marcus died of cholera, and Rabbi Leibman Adler was hired.

In 1856, the congregation adopted a new set of by-laws including a number of innovations from the then-emerging Reform Judaism. Although the congregation was slowly growing, due in part to the influx of Jews to Detroit, some members of the congregation were unhappy with the reforms. In 1860, the new by-laws were debated and re-affirmed. However, the introduction of music into the worship service in 1861 caused a split, with 17 of the more Orthodox members of the congregation leaving to form Congregation Shaarey Zedek

Congregation Shaarey Zedek

Congregation Shaarey Zedek is a Conservative synagogue located at 27375 Bell Road in the Detroit suburb of Southfield, Michigan.-History:...

. The remaining congregants adopted a new set of by-laws in 1862, introducing greater reforms.

Temple Beth El was one of the thirty-four congregations involved in the founding of 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...

) in 1873, and immediately became officially affiliated with the organization. In 1889, Beth El hosted the Eleventh Council of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, at which the Central Conference of American Rabbis

Central Conference of American Rabbis

The Central Conference of American Rabbis , founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada, the CCAR is the largest and oldest rabbinical organization in the world....

 was founded.

In 1861, the congregation moved into a new temple on Rivard Street. In 1867, they purchased a spacious building on Washington Boulevard and Clifford Street, where services were held until 1903. A number of rabbis served at Beth El, none staying for long until the tenth rabbi, Louis Grossman, arrived in 1884, immediately after his graduation from 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...

. Grossman was the first American-born rabbi of Beth El, and he organized a number of reforms, including the adoption of the 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:...

.

Leo M. Franklin Years

Rabbi Grossman resigned in 1898, and the congregation hired Leo M. Franklin

Leo M. Franklin

Leo Morris Franklin was an influential rabbi from Detroit, who headed that city's Temple Beth El from 1899 to 1941.- Early life :...

, a young Rabbi from Omaha and another Hebrew Union graduate. The choice proved fortuitous, as Franklin served the congregation for over forty years. Franklin organized the United Jewish Charities (an umbrella organization to coordinate philanthropic activities), began the Woman's Auxiliary Association (later the Sisterhood of Temple Beth El), and assumed editorship of the Jewish American, Detroit's first English-Jewish weekly. He also instituted an interdenominational community Thanksgiving service and established a student congregation (the forerunner of the Hillel Society) at the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

.

Under Franklin's leadership, Temple Beth El grew rapidly. In 1902, the congregation authorized a new building on Woodward

M-1 (Michigan highway)

M-1, commonly known as Woodward Avenue, named for Augustus B. Woodward, is a north–south state trunkline in the US state of Michigan. Until a few years ago, the northern terminus of M-1 was at BL I-75 and BUS US 24 in Bloomfield Township between the city limits of Bloomfield Hills and...

 near Eliot. The building was designed by the young (and then relatively unknown) Beth El congregant Albert Kahn. Beth El used this building until 1922; it is currently Wayne State University

Wayne State University

Wayne State University is a public research university located in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in the city's Midtown Cultural Center Historic District. Founded in 1868, WSU consists of 13 schools and colleges offering more than 400 major subject areas to over 32,000 graduate and...

's Bonstelle Theatre

Temple Beth-El (Bonstelle Theatre)

The Bonstelle Theatre is a theater operated by Wayne State University, and is located at 3424 Woodward Avenue . It was originally built in 1902 as the Temple Beth-El, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.-Construction:When Rabbi Leo M...

. In 1922, with a congregation of over 800 families, a new temple was built at Woodward and Gladstone; Albert Kahn again designed the building. The building currently houses the Lighthouse Cathedral

Temple Beth-El (Lighthouse Cathedral)

The church building at 8801 Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan is a historic building. It was built in 1921 as Temple Beth-El. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.-Architecture:...

.

Later years

Rabbi Franklin retired in 1941 and was replaced by B. Benedict Glazer. After Glazer's untimely death in 1952, Richard C. Hertz was elected to lead the congregation.

Once again, in 1973, the membership outgrew its facilities. With the movement of many of the congregants to the northern suburbs, Beth El built a new temple in Bloomfield Township

Bloomfield Township, Michigan

Bloomfield Township is the name of some places in the U.S. state of Michigan:*Bloomfield Township, Huron County, Michigan*Bloomfield Township, Missaukee County, Michigan*Bloomfield Township, Oakland County, Michigan...

 at Telegraph

Telegraph Road (Michigan)

In the U.S. state of Michigan, US Highway 24 , also known as Telegraph Road, is a major north–south state trunkline highway; it is mostly divided highway. The total length is approximately and is signed as US 24 in its entirety...

 and 14 Mile Roads. The facility was designed by Minoru Yamasaki

Minoru Yamasaki

was a Japanese-American architect, best known for his design of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, buildings 1 and 2. Yamasaki was one of the most prominent architects of the 20th century...

.

Temple Beth El currently has a membership of almost 1500 families and is led by Rabbi Daniel B. Syme.

External links

• Photographs from the Rabbi Leo M. Franklin archives: these include period photographs of the buildings used by Temple Beth El throughout their history.