Oak Street Building
In 1944, the congregation purchased its current synagogue property at 27th and Oak Street, and in 1945 purchased additional land for a cemetery. The cemetery was consecrated in July, 1946.
Beth Israel's first building was designed by Toronto architect Harold Solomon Kaplan of Kaplan and Sprachman. The architecture, according to R.W. Liscombe, displayed a "stylistic simplification of academic and historical motifs". Erected at 4350 Oak Street near West 27th Avenue, it opened in 1948, and dedicated on September 11, 1949. Its stained-glass windows have been documented by The Institute for Stained Glass in Canada.
David C. Kogen, a future vice-chancellor of the JTS, was rabbi from 1946 to 1955 or 1956. He was succeeded by Berthold A. Woythaler, a native of Danzig, in 1956. Woythaler had fled Nazi Germany in 1936, after attending the University of Berlin, and subsequently graduated from the JTS in New York. He served as Beth Israel's rabbi until 1963.
Wilfred Solomon joined as rabbi in 1964. He had previously served as the last rabbi of Keneseth Israel Synagogue of Spokane, Washington, before it merged with Spokane's oldest synagogue, Temple Emanu-El, to become Temple Beth Shalom. The following year the synagogue amended its constitution to allow women as members, with voting rights. By the end of the decade, led by Solomon, Beth Israel had 650 member families, and was the largest synagogue in Vancouver.
The chapel was refurbished in 1970. In 1970, the synagogue was spray-painted with swastikas, and Elie Wiesel spoke there. By 1978, Beth Israel had 660 member families, and was the largest synagogue in British Columbia. Jeffrey Hoffman served as assistant rabbi from 1981 to 1984.
Read more about this topic: Congregation Beth Israel (Vancouver)
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