Congregation Beth Israel (Worcester, Massachusetts)

Beth Israel was founded in 1924 as an Orthodox synagogue. The congregation initially worshiped at 835 Pleasant Street, in a house that had room for up to 75 worshipers. That same year it also founded a Sunday school. at a cost of $75,000 (today $). The new building's sanctuary could accommodate 500 people. After World War II the congregation grew rapidly, from 242 member families in 1945, to 451 in 1953; by then the Hebrew school had 261 children in it. In 1945 the congregation voted to become Conservative, and in 1949 formally joined the United Synagogue of America (now United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism). Herbert Ribner served as rabbi from 1948 to 1955, and was followed by Abraham Kazis in 1955. In 1957, Beth Israel was the second largest of Worcester's eleven Jewish congregations, with 532 member families; the largest, the Reform Temple Emanuel, had 1,340 member families (42 families were members of both). ==Jamesbury Drive building==

In 1953, Beth Israel purchased of land on Jamesbury Drive for $42,000 (today $), and began construction of their current building on it in 1958. Completed in 1959, the building cost $735,000 (today $), of which over $300,000 (today $) was mortgaged. The building had a main sanctuary that sat 476, a chapel with seating for 110, and a social hall that could accommodate up to 950 people. For the High Holidays, the sanctuary could be expanded into the social hall, providing seating for 1,450. The mortgage was retired in 15 years. The structure at 835 Pleasant Street was sold on September 10, 1959 to the Orthodox Shaarai Torah Synagogue, to serve as its west side branch. Kazis was succeeded as congregational rabbi by Baruch Goldstein in 1971. A native of Mława (then in East Prussia), Goldstein had been sent to Auschwitz concentration camp in 1942. His entire family perished in the Holocaust, but he survived and emigrated to the United States, where he became a rabbi. Goldstein was succeeded by Jay Rosenbaum in 1986. A graduate of New York University and Rutgers University, he had been ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTSA) in 1980. ==1990s to present==

In the early 1990s, the congregation still numbered around 530 member families. She was succeeded in 2010 by Elise Barber, a fifth year cantorial student at Hebrew College. In 2014, Beth Israel hired its first female rabbi, Aviva Fellman. == Leadership ==

Rabbinical Baruch Goldstein served as Educator from 1952 to 1964 and Assistant Rabbi from 1971 to 1973. He served as the rabbi of Temple Emmanuel in Wakefield, Massachusetts from 1964-1971. Cantorial ==Notes==