Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek

{{short description|Reform synagogue in Connecticut, US}} {{For|similarly named synagogues|Beth Shalom (disambiguation){{!}}Beth Shalom}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox religious building | name = Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = | image_upright = 1.4 | alt = | caption = | religious_affiliation = [[Reform Judaism]] | tradition = | sect = | district = | prefecture = | province = | region = | deity = | rite = | festival =  | organisational_status = [[Synagogue]] | ownership = | governing_body = | leadership = {{nowrap|Rabbi Marci L. Bellows}} | bhattaraka = | patron = | consecration_year = | functional_status = Active | religious_features_label = | religious_features = | location = 55 East Kings Highway, [[Chester, Connecticut|Chester]], [[Connecticut]] 06412 | locale = | municipality = | cercle = | state = | country = United States | map_type = Connecticut | map_size = 250 | map_alt = | map_relief = 1 | map_caption = Location in [[Connecticut]] | grid_name = | grid_position = | sector = | territory = | administration = | coordinates = {{coords|41.4167|-72.4401|region:US-CT_type:landmark|format=dms|display=it}} | coordinates_footnotes = | heritage_designation = | architect = {{ubl|[[Sol LeWitt]]|Stephen Lloyd}} | architecture_type = Synagogue | architecture_style = | founded_by = | creator = | funded_by = | general_contractor = | established = {{nowrap|1998 {{small|(as a merged congregation)}}}} {{bulleted list|1915 {{small|(Rodfe Zedek)}}|{{circa|1930s}} {{small|(Beth Israel)}}}} | groundbreaking = | year_completed = 1998 | construction_cost = | date_demolished =  | facade_direction = | capacity = | length = | width = | width_nave = | interior_area = | height_max = | dome_quantity = | dome_height_outer = | dome_height_inner = | dome_dia_outer = | dome_dia_inner = | minaret_quantity = | minaret_height = | spire_quantity = | spire_height = | site_area = | temple_quantity = | monument_quantity = | shrine_quantity = | inscriptions = | materials = | elevation_m =  | elevation_footnotes = | nrhp = | designated = | added = | refnum = | delisted1_date = | website = {{url|cbsrz.org}} | module =  | footnotes = }} '''Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek''' ([[transliterated]] from [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] as "House of Peace; Pursuers of Justice"), is a [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] [[Jewish]] congregation and [[synagogue]], located at 55 East Kings Highway, in [[Chester, Connecticut|Chester]], [[Connecticut]], in the United States. The congregation is noted for the architecture of its "spectacular" building.<ref>{{cite news |work=Columbia Daily Spectator |date=April 10, 2007 |title=Small-town Artist With a Big-time Legacy |author=Sweeney, Ginia |url=http://remote.columbiaspectator.com/2007/04/10/small-town-artist-big-time-legacy |access-date=2009-05-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708175752/http://remote.columbiaspectator.com/2007/04/10/small-town-artist-big-time-legacy |archive-date=2011-07-08 }}</ref>

==History==

Congregation Rodfe Zedek was founded in [[Moodus, Connecticut|Moodus]] in 1905. The fledgling congregation purchased and worshipped in a small, eighteenth-century house before building its first, modest synagogue in 1915.

Congregation Beth Shalom was founded in the 1930s. Calling itself the Jewish Community Center of Middlesex County, it worshipped at first in the home of chicken farmer and founder Isadore Romanof, then in a room in the Deep River Public Library in [[Deep River, Connecticut|Deep River]]. In 1942 the congregation purchased a former church building for use as a synagogue.

The two congregations merged in the 1990s and in 1998 began plans to build a new synagogue.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cbsrz.org/about_us.htm |title=History |access-date=2009-05-13 |work=Congregation Rodfe Zedek |date= |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080820072701/http://www.cbsrz.org/about_us.htm |archive-date=2008-08-20 }}{{self-published-inline|date=January 2024}}</ref>

==Building==

The congregation's building was designed by a congregation member, the noted artist [[Sol LeWitt]] in close collaboration with architect Stephen Lloyd. LeWitt conceived the "airy" synagogue building, with its shallow dome supported by "exuberant wooden roof beams" an homage to the [[Wooden synagogues]] of eastern Europe.<ref>{{cite news |title=Sol LeWitt: A Jewish Artist's Leap Into the Unknown|author=Ivry, Benjamin |work=[[The Forward]] |date=May 8, 2009 |url=http://forward.com/articles/105238/ |access-date= }}</ref><ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite news |title=ART; Art Takes a Prominent Spot In Chester's New Synagogue |author=Zimmer, William |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=December 9, 2001 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/09/nyregion/art-art-takes-a-prominent-spot-in-chester-s-new-synagogue.html |access-date= |url-access= }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Synagogue architecture in America: faith, spirit & identity |author=Stolzman, Henry |author2=Stolzman, Daniel |author3=Hausman, Tami |publisher=Images Publishing |location= |year=2004 |pages=241–3 |isbn= }}</ref> The spacious foyer is designed to be used as an art gallery, and has hosted exhibits by contemporary artists including [[Jane Logemann]].<ref name="nytimes.com"/>

== See also == {{stack|{{portal|Judaism|Connecticut}}}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{oweb|http://www.cbsrz.org/}}

[[Category:1998 establishments in Connecticut]] [[Category:20th-century synagogues in the United States]] [[Category:Buildings and structures in Middlesex County, Connecticut]] [[Category:Chester, Connecticut]] [[Category:Jewish organizations established in 1998]] [[Category:Reform synagogues in Connecticut]] [[Category:Synagogues completed in 1998]]