Congregation Beth Israel (Berkeley, California)

For similarly named synagogues, see Beth Israel.
Congregation Beth Israel
Hebrew: בית ישראל
Religion
AffiliationModern Orthodox Judaism
Ecclesiastical or organizational statusSynagogue
LeadershipRabbi Yonatan Cohen
StatusActive
Location
Location1630 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, California
CountryUnited States
Congregation Beth Israel (Berkeley, California) is located in Oakland, California
Congregation Beth Israel (Berkeley, California)
Location in Berkeley
Geographic coordinates37°51′58″N 122°16′40″W / 37.86609°N 122.27791°W / 37.86609; -122.27791
Architecture
Date established1909 (as a congregation)
Completed
  • 1924 (Bancroft & Jefferson)
  • 2005 (Bancroft Way)
Specifications
Capacity176
MaterialsCement façade; Western red cedar roof
Website
cbiberkeley.org
[1][2][3]

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]

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, the rabbi was Yonatan Cohen.[1]

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