Congregation Beth Israel (Berkeley, California)
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Congregation Beth Israel (Hebrew: בית ישראל) is a Modern Orthodox synagogue in Berkeley, California, in the United States.[4] Established in 1924 as the Berkeley Hebrew Center,[5] it traces its origins to the First Hebrew Congregation of Berkeley, founded in 1909.[6] It was Berkeley's first synagogue and remains its oldest.[7] Lay-led for four decades, it hired its first rabbi, Saul Berman, in 1963.[8]
Congregation Beth Israel | |
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Hebrew: בית ישראל | |
Religion | |
Affiliation | Modern Orthodox Judaism |
Ecclesiastical or organizational status | Synagogue |
Leadership | Rabbi Yonatan Cohen |
Status | Active |
Location | |
Location | 1630 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, California |
Country | United States |
Location in Berkeley | |
Geographic coordinates | 37°51′58″N 122°16′40″W |
Architecture | |
Date established | 1909 (as a congregation) |
Completed |
|
Specifications | |
Capacity | 176 |
Materials | Cement façade; Western red cedar roof |
Website | |
cbiberkeley | |
[1][2][3] |
Berman served until 1969, and was succeeded by Yosef Leibowitz, who served for 15 years.[8][9] During the 1980s and early 1990s Beth Israel was at the vanguard of the baal teshuva movement in Modern Orthodox Judaism.[10]
In 1999 the congregation began an $8 million fund-raising campaign to build a new synagogue, a replica of the Przedbórz Synagogue, destroyed in Poland by the Nazis, during the Holocaust in 1942.[2][11][12] Difficult economic times restricted fundraising efforts, and instead the congregation completed a more modest structure in 2005.[3][2] As of 2022[update], the rabbi was Yonatan Cohen.[1]