By Cindy Mindell

STAMFORD – Temple Beth El may have started nine decades ago by a handful of founders, but today the congregation boasts several hundred families, a reflection of the city-to-suburb migration of this Jewish community.
Over the weekend of Apr. 8-10, Beth El will wrap up its yearlong 90th anniversary celebration.

Circa 1938

The congregation first came together just before the High Holy Days in 1920, at a private home in what is now downtown Stamford. Fifty families comprised the original membership roster, renting space in the Hebrew Institute on Greyrock Place, a building that later became the JCC. The new congregation chose the name Temple Beth El and purchased land for a cemetery on Roxbury Road.
The congregation was initially led by several visiting rabbis, among them Rabbi Max Arzt, a young graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) who would become one of the most influential figures in Conservative Judaism and vice chancellor of JTS.
Beth El’s first building committee was formed in 1922, and in 1924 the congregation purchased land on Prospect Street, where the Buckingham condominium now stands. The new facility was completed in September 1927, in time for Rosh Hashanah services.
It would be 40 years before Beth El outgrew its home in the heart of Stamford’s Jewish community. The congregation’s clergy-members spanned the denominational spectrum, including the Reform rabbi David Pearlman, who served for 25 years; the Orthodox Rabbi Alex Goldman, who led for nearly 30 and retired to active emeritus status; and Sidney G. Rabinowitz, hired in 1970 as Beth El’s first full-time cantor, retiring in 2002 to active emeritus status.

Current home on Roxbury Avenue.

By the early ‘70s, membership at the Conservative synagogue had grown to almost 500 families. The congregation purchased land close to its cemetery on Roxbury Road and broke ground for the current synagogue building in April 1972. Fixtures from the original sanctuary, including pews, stained-glass windows, Ark, bimah furnishings, and lighting fixtures were installed in the new worship space, where High Holy Day services were held the following year.
Rabbi Joshua Hammerman was hired as Beth El’s first assistant rabbi in 1987, and was promoted to associate rabbi later that year. In 1992, he became spiritual leader of the congregation. Cantor George Mordecai joined the clergy in 2010. In 1997, the congregation hired its first executive director and fulltime education director.
The 90th-anniversary festivities conclude over the weekend of Apr. 8-10. On Friday, Kabbalat Shabbat services feature Cantor Mordecai and Rabbi Hammerman, followed by a congregational Shabbat dinner, festive oneg, and performance by comedian Johnny Lampert. Saturday services will be followed by a congregational luncheon honoring past presidents of the congregation, Sisterhood, and Men’s Club. On Sunday, Cantor Mordecai and guest musicians and spiritual leaders present “From Baghdad to Beth El,” a musical telling of the Mordecai family journey from Iraq to Australia to the U.S. The program includes music from many different Jewish cultures, ranging from Israel and North Africa to Argentina and North America. Guest musicians include Dan Nadel, Israeli Flamenco guitarist; Israeli musician Dafna Mor, who plays recorder and nye, a Middle Eastern reed flute; Israeli accordionist Uri Sharlin; master Middle Eastern percussionist Yochai Cohen; and TBE congregant Katie Kaplan, vocalist. Visiting spiritual leaders include Rabbi Roly Matalon and Cantor Ari Priven of B’nai Jeshurun in New York; and Rabbi Aubrey Glazer of the Jewish Community Center of Harrison, N.Y.
For ticket and weekend program info visit www.tbe.org, or call (203) 322-6901.