Bet Shira Congregation | |
---|---|
Religion | |
Affiliation | Conservative Judaism |
Ecclesiastical or organizational status | Synagogue |
Leadership | Rabbi Jesse Charyn |
Status | Active |
Location | |
Location | 7500 SW 120th Street, Miami, Florida |
Country | United States |
Location within Miami | |
Geographic coordinates | 25°39′31″N80°19′2″W / 25.65861°N 80.31722°W |
Architecture | |
Type | Synagogue |
Date established | 1985 (as a congregation) |
Completed | 1988 (in current location) |
Website | |
www |
Bet Shira Congregation is a Conservative synagogue located at 7500 SW 120th Street in Miami, Florida, in the United States. [1]
In February 1985, a nucleus of families left Congregation Beth David to form a new congregation, Bet Shira. [2] [3] The membership grew to 300 families in the weeks that followed. The name "Bet Shira" (House of Song) was selected to reflect the upbeat and dynamic character of the founders. [3] In May 1988, the Letty Roth Synagogue Complex was dedicated as was the Arin Stacey Appplebaum Sanctuary. [4] [5]
In January 1990, Mark Kula, a graduate of the Cantor Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City, became Bet Shira's new cantor. [6] In August 1992, Hurricane Andrew badly damaged the synagogue. [7] [8]
In 2005, the synagogue was serving 500 families. [4] That year, Sam Rosen of Bet Shira Congregation was chosen as co-winner of the Jewish community's Teacher of the Year, Excellence in Teaching Award by the Center for the Advancement of Jewish Education. [9] In 2007, the synagogue acquired a Torah scroll that during World War II had been smuggled out of the Polish town of Tarnów, when it was invaded by Nazis and its Jewish population destroyed, and protected by monks in a monastery near Kiev until the Soviet Union collapsed. [10]
Bet Shira holds an annual "Mitzvah day" every year, where volunteers, and members engage in activities such as: Beautification of community sites, planting trees at homes of the disabled and elderly as part of a "Treemendous Miami" project; blood drives; and many clothing, food, toy and medical supply drives to benefit the Miami community. [11] [12] [13]
The synagogue's Early Childhood Center was also a site of "Project Kavod", a three-year pilot program in improving the culture of employment in early childhood, by the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education, which was launched in 2004. [14] [15]
For the holiday of Sukkot, Bet Shira erects what is believed to be the first and only drive-through Sukkah, [16] a tent in the parking lot of the synagogue that it calls the "McBet Shira Sukkah", allowing the community to participate in the celebration of the holiday from the convenience of their cars. [17] [18] Members of the public can drive into the sukkah, park, lower their car window, and say the blessings for the holiday, including shaking a lulav and an etrog, as volunteers hand them snacks at the end of their visit. [17] The idea, put into effect first in 2009, is credited to Cantor Mark Kula, who noted that cars are "integral" to people's lifestyles. [16] He explained that “We sit as we drive; this way, we can sit in our cars in the Sukkah." He also commented that "Perhaps realizing the fragility of the Sukkah will encourage us to drive more carefully.” [19] [20]
David H. Auerbach was the founding rabbi of the synagogue. He is from Montreal, Canada, and had served as rabbi of Ahavat Achim synagogue in Atlanta, Georgia, and then senior rabbi of Beth David Congregation in Miami prior to the founding of Bet Shira. Since his retirement in 2005, he served as the rabbi emeritus of the synagogue, until his passing in September 2016. In 2005, Rabbi Auerbach was followed as rabbi by Micah Caplan, [21] until 2010. In July 2010, Brian Schuldenfrei assumed the post of senior rabbi. Schuldenfrei had been associate rabbi at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, California. [22]
Mark Kula, brother of Rabbi Irwin Kula, assumed the post of cantor in 1989. Mark and his father Morton Kula are the only father and son that have been ordained as cantors by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York. Prior to coming to Miami, Mark was the assistant cantor of New York’s Park Avenue Synagogue. In 2013 Mark was appointed the Rabbi of the congregation and served as Rabbi until 2018.
In 2008, the synagogue appointed Renée Rittner as its education director. [23]
in 2019, Ben Herman was hired as Bet Shira’s rabbi.
The synagogue has an active religious school that serves students from pre-school through the Bar and Bat Mitzvah training.
The congregation is a conservative synagogue and is affiliated with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. As implied by its name (House of Song), Bet Shira values music and its incorporation into daily and ritual life. Although regular services are held in traditional style, without musical instruments, it is a custom of the synagogue to conduct services throughout the year accompanied by musical instruments. [24]
In February 1988, an improperly drawn swastika [25] and anti-Semitic slogans and "Jesus Lives; You Can't Kill Him" and "Accept Hitler, Respect Christ" were plastered across the synagogue, and 30 windows were smashed. [26] [27] In response, a neighboring church put a Star of David on its lawn, and its parish donated $1,000 towards repairing the windows. [26] [28] [29] Miami Sunset High School students painted over the anti-Semitic slurs spray-painted by the vandals. [30] Four teenagers, three of whom were football players at Miami Palmetto High School, were sentenced for having vandalized the synagogue to 200 hours of community service and ordered to pay the $14,800 ($38,100 today) in damages. [31] [32]
Two years later, on five occasions in six weeks vandals shot at windows at the synagogue. [33] [34] Three teenagers, two of them students at Palmetto High School, were arrested for shooting out the windows. [35]
Shemini Atzeret is a Jewish holiday. It is celebrated on the 22nd day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei in the Land of Israel, and on the 22nd and 23rd outside the Land, usually coinciding with late September or early October. It directly follows the Jewish festival of Sukkot which is celebrated for seven days, and thus Shemini Atzeret is literally the eighth day. It is a separate—yet connected—holy day devoted to the spiritual aspects of the festival of Sukkot. Part of its duality as a holy day is that it is simultaneously considered to be both connected to Sukkot and also a separate festival in its own right.
Hoshana Rabbah is the seventh day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, the 21st day of the month of Tishrei. This day is marked by a special synagogue service, the Hoshana Rabbah, in which seven circuits are made by the worshippers with their lulav and etrog, while the congregation recites Hoshanot. It is customary for the scrolls of the Torah to be removed from the ark during this procession. In a few communities a shofar is sounded after each circuit.
Hebrew school is Jewish education focusing on topics of Jewish history, learning the Hebrew language, and finally learning their Torah Portion, in preparation for the ceremony in Judaism of entering adulthood, known as a Bar or Bat Mitzvah. Hebrew school is usually taught in dedicated classrooms at a synagogue, under the instruction of a Hebrew teacher, and often receives support from the cantor for learning the ancient chanting of their Torah portion, and from the rabbi during their ceremony since they must read from a Torah scroll, which has no Hebrew vowels, and very close together text and minimal line spacing; making it very challenging for almost anyone to read from.
Congregation Baith Israel Anshei Emes, more commonly known as the Kane Street Synagogue, is an egalitarian Conservative synagogue at 236 Kane Street in the Cobble Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City, New York, United States. It is the oldest continuously operating synagogue in Brooklyn.
The Lincoln Square Synagogue is a Modern Orthodox congregation and synagogue located at 180 Amsterdam Avenue between West 68th and 69th Streets in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.
A sukkah or succah is a temporary hut constructed for use during the week-long Jewish festival of Sukkot. It is topped with branches and often well decorated with autumnal, harvest or Judaic themes. The book of Vayikra (Leviticus) describes it as a symbolic wilderness shelter, commemorating the time God provided for the Israelites in the wilderness they inhabited after they were freed from slavery in Egypt. It is common for Jews to eat, sleep and otherwise spend time in the sukkah. In Judaism, Sukkot is considered a joyous occasion and is referred to in Hebrew as Z'man Simchateinu, and the sukkah itself symbolizes the fragility and transience of life and one's dependence on God.
Central Synagogue is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue at 652 Lexington Avenue, at the corner with 55th Street, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The current congregation was formed in 1898 through the merger of two 19th-century synagogues: Shaar Hashomayim and Ahawath Chesed. The synagogue building was constructed from 1870 to 1872 for Ahawath Chesed. As of 2014, Angela Buchdahl is Central's senior rabbi.
Congregation Beth Israel is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 10460 North 56th Street in Scottsdale, Arizona, in the United States. Incorporated in 1920, the congregation affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism in 1935.
Temple Israel is a synagogue affiliated with Reform Judaism located at 477 Longwood Avenue, in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. Founded in 1854 as Adath Israel, the congregation is the largest Reform synagogue in New England.
Stephen Wise Temple is a large Reform Jewish congregation in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in the United States. Founded in 1964 by the late Rabbi Isaiah Zeldin, with 35 families, the congregation grew rapidly. At various times in its history it has been stated to be the largest, or one of the largest, Jewish congregations in the world, at one time having a membership of approximately 3,000 families, six rabbis, two cantors and two cantorial interns, and four schools on three campuses. As of 1994, it was the second-largest synagogue in the United States. The congregation was founded as the Stephen S. Wise Temple, in honour of Stephen Samuel Wise; and 2014 it was renamed as the Stephen Wise Temple.
The Free Synagogue of Flushing is a Reform Jewish congregation and historic synagogue located at 41-60 Kissena Boulevard in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens in New York City, New York, United States. The synagogue's establishment is based on the free synagogue movement, started by Stephen Samuel Wise. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.
Makom Solel Lakeside is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 1301 Clavey Road, in Highland Park, on the North Shore of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. The congregation traces its roots through the Lakeside Congregation for Reform Judaism, formed in 1955, and Congregation Solel, formed in 1957. The two Reform congregations merged in 2019 and currently serve more than 500 households.
Temple Israel is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 2004 East 22nd Place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the United States. Founded in 1914, the congregation affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism in 1915, and constructed its first building on the corner of 14th and Cheyenne Streets in 1919. Early rabbis included Jacob Menkes, Charles Latz, Samuel Kaplan, Jacob Krohngold, and Benjamin Kelsen.
Beth Shalom Reform Synagogue is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located on Auckland Road, in the City of Cambridge, England, in the United Kingdom.
East Meadow Beth-El Jewish Center (EMJC) is a Conservative synagogue located at 1400 Prospect Avenue, East Meadow, on Long Island, New York, in the United States. Temple Beth-El of Bellmore, New York, consolidated with East Meadow Jewish Center to create East Meadow Beth-El Jewish Center. Rabbi Dr. Ronald L. Androphy has been the rabbi of the synagogue since 1983.
Temple Beth Sholom is a Conservative synagogue located at 1901 Kresson Road in Cherry Hill, Camden County, New Jersey, in the United States. TBS was founded in 1940 and moved to its current building in Cherry Hill in 1989.
Temple Emanuel is a Reform Jewish synagogue located at 12166 Conway Road, near the corner of New Ballas Road, in Creve Coeur, Missouri, in the United States. Organized in 1956, it is affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism (UAHC). It has a membership of 300 families.
Steven Blane is an American rabbi, cantor and recording singer-songwriter.
Beth El Congregation is a Conservative Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 8101 Park Heights Avenue, in Pikesville, an outer suburb of greater Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States. The congregation was established in 1948.
Temple Ahavat Shalom Northridge is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 18200 Rinaldi Place, in Northridge, in San Fernando Valley, Southern California, in the United States. The congregation was established in 1965 and is affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism.