Temple Beth El is a

Reform Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

located at in Bloomfield Township, Oakland County,

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, in the United States. Beth El was founded in 1850 in the city of

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, and is the oldest Jewish congregation in

. Temple Beth El was a founding member of the Union for Reform Judaism (originally the Union of American Hebrew Congregations) in 1873, and hosted the meeting in 1889 during which the Central Conference of American Rabbis was established. In 1982, its two former buildings in

, at 3424 and 8801

Woodward Avenue A woodward is a Game warden, warden of a wood. Woodward may also refer to: Places ;United States * Woodward, Iowa * Woodward, Oklahoma * Woodward, Pennsylvania, a census-designated place * Woodward Avenue, a street in Tallahassee, Florida, which b ...

, were listed on the

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Early years

In 1850, Sarah and Isaac Cozens arrived in Detroit and moved into a house near the corner of Congress and St. Antoine streets. 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 "Beth El Society", commemorated by a Michigan Historical Marker at this site.Michigan Historical Marker
: First Jewish Religious Services Informational Designation. The congregation engaged the services of

Rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

Samuel Marcus of New York. Rabbi Marcus conducted services in the Orthodox mode, first in the Cozens's home and later in a room above a store on Jefferson Avenue. In 1851, the congregation legally incorporated, and adopted its first constitution the following year. In 1854, Rabbi Marcus died of

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

, and the congregation chose Rabbi Leibman Adler, the father of Chicago School architect, Dankmar Adler, as his successor. Rabbi Adler fostered the temple's involvement the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

. Fanny Butzel Heineman, Emil S. Heineman, and Mark Sloman were among the people who helped freedom seekers who crossed the

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into

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from 1854 to 1861. 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 (/Help:IPA/English, ʃaʔaˈʁeiː ˈtsedek/; , Romanization, romanized: ''Sha'arei tzedek'', transl. 'Gates of Righteousness') is a Conservative Judaism, Conservative synagogue in the Detroit suburb of Southfield, Michi ...

. The remaining congregants adopted another 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 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 was founded. In 1861, the congregation moved into a new temple on Rivard Street. In 1867, it 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 remained for long until Louis Grossmann, the tenth rabbi, arrived in 1884, immediately after his graduation from

Hebrew Union College Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language until ...

. Grossmann was the first American-born rabbi of Beth El, and he organized a number of reforms, including the adoption of the '' Union Prayer Book''.

Leo M. Franklin years

Rabbi Grossmann resigned in 1898, and the congregation hired Leo M. Franklin, 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 The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

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

near Eliot Street. The building was designed by the young (and then relatively unknown) Beth El congregant Albert Kahn. Beth El used this building until 1922 when it was sold for use as a theater and remodeled by architect C. Howard Crane. It currently houses

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public university, public research university in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 375 programs. It is Michigan's third-l ...

's Bonstelle Theatre. In 1922, the congregation of over 800 families moved to another Albert Kahn structure at Woodward and Gladstone. The building currently houses the Bethel Community Transformation Center.

Later years

Rabbi Franklin retired in 1941 and was replaced by B. Benedict Glazer. After Glazer's untimely death in 1952, the congregation elected Richard C. Hertz as leader who served until 1982. 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 at

Telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

and 14 Mile Roads. The facility was designed by

Minoru Yamasaki was an American architect, best known for designing the original World Trade Center in New York City and several other large-scale projects. Yamasaki was one of the most prominent architects of the 20th century. He and fellow architect Edward ...

Present day

Temple Beth El currently has a membership of approximately 1,000 families and is led by Senior Rabbi Mark Miller, Associate Rabbi Megan Brudney, and Cantor Rachel Gottlieb Kalmowitz. The Temple remains at the forefront of current trends in Jewish worship and program, innovative lifelong education, and a commitment to interfaith relations and active work in the broader community.

Architecture

Temple Beth El has been the congregation for two well-known architects. The first is Albert Kahn, who designed both the 1902 and 1922 temple buildings.

's firm designed the 1973 temple building. The firm also designed the ill-fated Pruitt-Igoe complex in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

, and the World Trade Center in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. According to the congregation, the World Trade Center towers and the Beth El temple were being designed at the same time, and the models for both were physically adjacent to each other while they were being refined and constructed. Yamasaki was said to have designed the current Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Hills to resemble a tent as early temporary Jewish Synagogues during the Jewish Exodus from Egypt were located in tents. The current Temple Beth El has many architectural features for which Yamasaki is known for; including poured concrete pillars, a natural skylight running the length of the building and large windows at ground level accommodating views of the surrounding natural landscape. Yamasaki has been credited for giving Latvian architect Gunnar Birkerts his start, which has resulted in numerous award-winning projects, many of which are around

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and Corning, New York.

Notable members

* Dankmar Adler, architect and co-principal of

Adler & Sullivan Adler & Sullivan was an architectural firm founded by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan in Chicago. Among its projects was the multi-purpose Auditorium Building in Chicago and the Wainwright Building skyscraper in St Louis. In 1883 Louis Sullivan ...

, a Chicago architectural firm * Albert Kahn, architect who designed the 1902 and 1922 synagogues

References

External links

*
Photographs from the Rabbi Leo M. Franklin archives
these include period photographs of the buildings used by Temple Beth El throughout its history. {{DEFAULTSORT:Beth El (Detroit 1850 establishments in Michigan 20th-century synagogues in the United States Albert Kahn (architect) buildings Beaux-Arts architecture in Michigan Beaux-Arts synagogues Buildings and structures in Oakland County, Michigan Jewish organizations established in 1850 Jews and Judaism in Detroit Minoru Yamasaki buildings Modernist architecture in Michigan Modernist synagogues National Register of Historic Places in Detroit National Register of Historic Places in Oakland County, Michigan Neoclassical architecture in Michigan Neoclassical synagogues Reform synagogues in Michigan Religious buildings and structures in Detroit Synagogues completed in 1867 Synagogues completed in 1902 Synagogues completed in 1922 Synagogues completed in 1973 Synagogues on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan