Temple Beth-El (Jersey City, New Jersey)

Temple Beth-El is a Reform synagogue in Jersey City, New Jersey. located on Kennedy Boulevard in the Bergen Section.

At end of the Civil War (c. 1864-65), a group of Jews in Jersey City began to meet in study and prayer in the Orthodox Jewish tradition downtown at 96 Montgomery Street, and then a group moved nearby to York St. They formalized this community under the name of the Isaac Ephraim Congregation, then Beth Israel Congregation, and finally Temple Beth-El in 1871.

Earliest Temple records date back to 1891.

Some years later a group of congregants left B'nai Ephraim to found a branch of Reform Judaism in the city. The Reform members moved for a time to a former Christian church at Grove and Montgomery streets. Its spiritual leader, Rabbi J. Schweizer, sought to lead "a more liberal interpretation of Jewish faith" ("Will Build") making changes in temple practices. He held Friday services at 8:15 PM rather than sundown and Saturday services at 10:00 AM to accommodate a larger number of men and women and started a popular Sunday school. His founding of a Young People's Hebrew Association and Helping Hands Society gave the temple greater visibility in the community for its charitable programs and was increasingly popular with the new Jewish settlement in Jersey City. An 1892 newspaper article comments on Rabbi Schweizer's lectures delivered in English rather than Hebrew: "He argues that English is the language with which his congregation is most familiar, and he intends to so conduct the service, that even the stranger within the gate may understand him. Finally Rabbi Schweizer also introduced an organ and a choir" ("Will Build A Temple." Evening Journal 26 January 1892).

Rabbi Schweizer eventually led the reform members to leave B'nai Ephraim to the orthodox congregants. They set out to build a new synagogue at York Street between Varick and Monmouth streets, where it purchased two lots in 1891. The new Reform synagogue was named Temple Beth-El, meaning House of God, and looked to become the center of Reform Judaism in Jersey City.

In 1914 Temple Beth-El appointed Rabbi/Doctor Maurice Thorner of the Jewish Reform movement as their spiritual leader; he brought the temple into the Union of American Hebrew Congregations that represents the Reform branch of Judaism. In an interview in 1996, Rabbi Kenneth Brickman explained that Temple Beth-El "was philosophically Reform, but was always spiritually more traditional than other Reform congregations" (Quoted in Hileman). Its Reform practices included confirmation and wearing of yarmulkes in temple. The Congregation's liberal roots can also be seen throughout the years, including the resolution that passed overwhelmingly at the Annual Meeting on October 19, 1921, that elected a slate including three women to the board of trustees.Since 1921, women have served on its elected board of trustees, Blanche Dorfman becoming its first woman president in 1984.

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