Early history
Abraham Zinnamon and Benjamin Appel established the Beth Sholom Jewish Center. After seeing a Yiddish newspaper in Appel's hands, Zinnamon approached him with the idea of forming a Jewish Center. The first founders' meeting of Beth Sholom Center took place on April 6, 1942. On June 3, 1942, they leased a building at 761 41st Street for the new Center.
A charter of the State of Florida was granted shortly thereafter. Rabbi Samuel Machtai, the "Radio Rabbi", conducted the first High Holy Days Services in 1942. The service was held in a storefront, where 20 Miami Beach Jewish families gathered to provide a house of worship for themselves and for the Jewish servicemen that had served during WWII. [3]
The Beth Sholom Jewish Center hired Rabbi Leon Kronish as a full-time rabbi on August 9, 1944, at the 36th meeting of the board of directors, held in the home of its chairman, Charles Tobin. Rabbi Leon Kronish was installed in the North Beach Elementary School auditorium by Rabbi Stephen Samuel Wise, president of the Jewish Institute of Religion.
Chase Avenue expansions
The Temple Beth Sholom congregation moved in 1953 to a two-story house called the Chase Avenue Hotel at 4141 Chase Avenue. It was remodeled into a place of worship, with a capacity of 700. [4] The membership grew from 40 households to more than 750 by 1955. By the late 1960s, the membership included more than 1200 families. [5]
In 1956, the temple sanctuary and banquet hall were designed in the Modernist style by Jewish American architect Percival Goodman, comprising a series of parabolic arched domes and modeled on the work of Erich Mendelsohn. In 1961, the religious school and auditorium were added. [4]
In 1967, Temple Beth Sholom began its development as a cultural center for the Greater Miami Area, in keeping with Kronish's vision of the Temple as a place for community as well as worship. In 1969, Rabbi Harry Jolt, zechertzadiklivracha, who had recently retired from his pulpit in Ventnor, New Jersey, was asked by Rabbi Kronish to become Auxiliary Rabbi and assist in the cultural and adult education programs of the Temple.
In 1984, the school was refurbished, and the administrative wing was completed. [4] In 2003, the school building was refurbished once again. A new two-story facility was created that included a youth center, offices, a chapel, a welcome center, classrooms, meeting spaces, and an art gallery. The temple is also surrounded by outdoor spaces, including play areas, a meditation garden, and a palm plaza. The Temple Beth Sholom buildings and campus have grown from the 1940s "laundry-horse stable" building to the present complex at the corner of Chase Avenue and Arthur Godfrey Road in Miami Beach. [6]
Recent history
In 1985, the temple engaged Gary Glickstein, a young scholar who had served as rabbi of Temple Sinai in Worcester, Massachusetts since 1977, to serve as the Senior Rabbi. [7] Glickstein served on the advisory board of the Greater Miami Coalition for a Drug-Free Community, was past chairman of the President's Advisory Committee on Jewish Studies at Barry University, and has served as the vice chairman of Miami Mission 1000 and Mega Mission Two. He was a past president of the Rabbinic Association of Greater Miami. Nationally, he was Chairman of the UJA National Rabbinic Cabinet, past Chair of the National Rabbinic Cabinet of Israel Bonds, and a past Treasurer of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. He was also the co-chair of the Synagogue/Federation Relations Committee of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. [8]
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