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Congregation Beth Israel (Meridian, Mississippi)

For similarly named synagogues, see Beth Israel.
Congregation Beth Israel
A single-story building with a high peaked reddish-brown shingled roof, a large triangular paned window divided by white strips, yellowish eaves, and some brown brick facades. In front of it are walkways surrounded by an open poles and a lighted horizontal covering. A well-kept grass lawn is in front of that, with a number of trimmed green shrubs and bushes all around, one of which on the right has bluish blossoms. In front of the lawn, an asphalt parking area, with spots marked in blue and blue signs indicating handicapped parking. Behind the building, an open slope with some telephone wires and then behind that, a continuous stand of tall deciduous trees.
Temple Beth Israel in 2010, from the southwest
Religion
AffiliationReform Judaism
Ecclesiastical or organisational statusSynagogue
LeadershipRabbi Barry Altman (part-time)
StatusActive
Location
Location57th Circuit and 14th Avenue, Meridian, Mississippi
CountryUnited States
Congregation Beth Israel (Meridian, Mississippi) is located in Mississippi
Congregation Beth Israel (Meridian, Mississippi)
Location in Mississippi
Geographic coordinates32°25′14″N 88°41′31″W / 32.420466°N 88.692048°W / 32.420466; -88.692048
Architecture
Date established1868 (as a congregation)
Completed
  • 1879 (22nd Avenue)
  • 1906 (11th Street)
  • 1964 (57th Ct. and 14th Ave)
Website
congregationbethisraelmeridianms.blogspot.com

Congregation Beth Israel is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Meridian, Mississippi, in the United States. Founded in 1868 and a member of the Union for Reform Judaism, the congregation's first permanent house of worship was a Middle Eastern-style building constructed in 1879. The congregation moved to another building built in the Greek Revival style in 1906, and in 1964 moved to a more modern building, out of which they still operate.

The congregation was initially made up of only ten families but grew to include 50 members by 1878. By the time their second building was built in 1906, the congregation included 82 members, and Meridian as a whole had grown to include 525 Jewish residents by 1927. By the 2000s there were fewer than forty, mostly elderly Jews remaining in the city, however, and the congregation no longer has a full-time rabbi. Former rabbis include Judah Wechsler, after whom the Wechsler school was named, and William Ackerman, whose wife Paula Ackerman became the first woman to perform rabbinical duties in the country after her husband's unexpected death.

In 1968, the education building of the new complex was bombed by members of the Ku Klux Klan. Pieces of glass were salvaged from the destruction and are now incorporated into the front windows of the current synagogue building. The congregation owns and maintains a historic cemetery at 19th Street and 15th Avenue which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

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