History or comments

The oldest temple providing continuous, uninterrupted Saturday morning services at the same location in northeast Los Angeles.

Description: Temple Beth Israel is the oldest temple providing continuous, uninterrupted Saturday morning services at the same location in northeast Los Angeles since 1930. The building was founded by 13 immigrant women, designed by Gerson C. Cohen, a USC student, built by Abe Goldberg (carpenter) and congregants, with the sanctuary later remodeled by Jerome Share in a mid-Century Art Deco style.

In the early 1920s a Jewish woman by the name of Esther Weinstein was among a group of women who formed a core to raise funds to establish a Conservative congregation. One of the sources she used to locate prospective Jewish members was a list she obtained from the postman of Jewish sounding names of people living in the neighborhood. The women wanted to form the congregation for religious purposes, for the Jewish education of their children and for social purposes. From the list as well as other sources the congregation was born. It incorporated in 1923 and began functioning in temporary quarters until building its present building in 1930.