Congregation Beth Israel is a
Reconstructionist synagogue located at 542 South New Middletown Road in
Middletown Township in
Delaware County, near
Media
Media may refer to:
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data
** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising
** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, in the United States.
History
Formed in 1925 and granted a charter by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1929, Beth Israel is the first Jewish congregation founded in Media, the second-oldest in Delaware County, and the oldest Reconstructionist congregation in
Delaware Valley.
[History]
Synagogue website. Archived at the Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
. Retrieved December 25, 2009.
In 1935 the congregation bought the old Quaker school on Gayley Street in Media.
Originally
Orthodox
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
and led by lay members, Beth Israel allowed
mixed seating in the 1940s.
[
The congregation started hiring part-time rabbis from the ]Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City.["About YU]
on the Yeshiva Universi ...
Synagogue Council in 1948, and in 1957 it hired its first full-time rabbi, a Yeshiva University graduate. Jewish families became attracted to local Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
synagogues in the 1960s, and demographic changes and a deteriorating building led to a significant membership decline, with the synagogue almost failing. In 1972, Beth Israel affiliated with the Reconstructionist movement, and by the 1980s it had hired its first full-time Reconstructionist rabbi, and had outgrown its building. It moved into its current building on Middletown Road in 1997.[
, the rabbi was Linda Potemken.][
]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beth Israel (Media, Pennsylvania)
Religious buildings and structures in Delaware County, Pennsylvania
Reconstructionist synagogues in Pennsylvania
Jewish organizations established in 1925
Synagogues completed in 1997