Beth El congregation still going strong after 100 years
A local congregation thinks it may have found a formula for staying young at age 100.
While not the fountain of youth, it’s a model that seems to have been successful for the congregation of Beth El, a Jewish synagogue tucked away in Scott Township just across the municipal line from Mt. Lebanon.
At a time when synagogues and other religious centers across the country are closing, Beth El is thriving in its centennial year. With 400 plus families and 1,300 to 1,400 members, Beth El is “doing fine financially and membership and programming wise,” according to Rabbi Alex Greenbaum, the congregation’s spiritual leader along with his wife, Amy.
Beth El – translated to mean the House of God – dates back to 1917 when Rebecca Ruderman, a mother of eight, saw the need for a local religious school for Jewish children in the Beechview area and helped form the Jewish Mothers Club. The group’s primary purpose was the organization of a formal Hebrew curriculum.
In the early years, classes were held in a series of vacant stores. It wasn’t long before the male members of the community also gathered for prayer and High Holiday services. Eventually, members met to charter an Orthodox synagogue. By 1920, the congregation purchased its first lot at 1910 Broadway in Beechview, the site on which the first synagogue was built in 1927.
Through the years, the congregation grew to the point where a groundbreaking ceremony in 1962 led to a second synagogue eventually built off Cochran Road in Scott, the congregation’s current home. Beth El’s original synagogue at 1910 Broadway later became the Carnegie Library of Beechview, but the building was later demolished to make way for a newer one.
The congregation’s official birth date is July 6, 1917, when the Jewish Criterion, a Pittsburgh area newspaper, published an article titled “Beechview Women Form Organization,” a reference to the Jewish Mothers Club. Even so, the Centennial planning committee scheduled its first event on May 7, a sold-out tribute dinner to honor Rabbis Alex and Amy Greenbaum for their 15 years of service to Beth El.
“Amy and I met when we both entered the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York 26 years ago,” Rabbi Alex said. “At the time, female rabbis were a new thing, and we became the first husband and wife team.”
Now considered a modern, conservative congregation, Alex said, in today’s age they’ve moved beyond labels.
“Even though we have the word conservative in out name and are under the umbrella of the conservative movement, we actually are a modern liberal synagogue,” he said.
The rabbi attributes the congregation’s success to its people and being lay-led. To underscore his point, he mentioned that every Saturday morning, 10 to 15 people lead the services. The year before he arrived at Beth El, there was no rabbi and the people performed the services, ceremonies and weddings themselves.
“I feel that our future is bright,” he said. “We’re always trying to be innovative and modern and adapt to the reality of the times. The key is finding a balance between tradition and change, but ultimately to do what is right. Above all, we try to put people above everything else. This has always been a successful model for us.”
Throughout the centennial year, all the arms of the congregation will be celebrating in their own ways. In April, the Sisterhood Centennial Shabbat invited all the past presidents in for the service and honored them by having them pass the Torah from one to another.
In coming months, the Men’s Club and Spiegel Religious School’s teachers will have a special Shabbat as well. On Aug. 27, the congregation will celebrate “The Picnic of the Century” with games, food and color wars at Mingo Creek County Park in Washington County.
On Sept. 16, the congregation will dedicate a display case built by the Minsky family that will hold the congregation’s original charter.
“Howard (Buddy) Minsky had been our archivist for years and was responsible for preserving many of our photos and artifacts,” said Deborah Scheimer, co-chair of the centennial committee along with her husband, Alan, and Aliza Gelb. “The charter was included in a time capsule from the Beechview shul (synagogue), which will now be installed in the Minsky display case.”
The culminating event of the centennial is a “Party of the Century,” scheduled for April 27 and 28 next year. The Kabbalat Shabbat Services on April 27 will be followed by a class reunion of all the school’s students, parents, teachers and administrators.
The morning services on April 28 will feature a number of speakers. That evening, the party will include honored guests, a video commemorating the congregation’s 100-year history, a few speakers, a band and a catered dinner.
“Many participants have been working hard to make the centennial year a memorable one,” Scheimer said. “Since our beginning, we’ve grown and adapted and try to be inclusive and welcoming to everyone. That’s one way we get to remain young – even at 100.”