{{Short description|Reform synagogue in San Francisco, California}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox religious building | name = Congregation Am Tikvah | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = | image_upright = 1.4 | alt = | caption = The synagogue building, in | religious_affiliation = [[Judaism]] | tradition = | sect = | district = | prefecture = | province = | region = | deity = | rite = [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative]] and [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] | festival = <!-- or |festivals= --> | organisational_status = [[Synagogue]]<!-- or |organizational_status= --> | ownership = | governing_body = | leadership = Rabbi Chayva Lehrman | bhattaraka = | patron = | consecration_year = | functional_status = Active | religious_features_label = | religious_features = | location = 625 Brotherhood Way, [[San Francisco, California]] 94132 | locale = | municipality = | cercle = | state = | country = United States | map_type = San Francisco Bay Area | map_size = 250 | map_alt = | map_relief = 1 | map_caption = Location in [[San Francisco Bay Area]], [[California]] | grid_name = | grid_position = | sector = | territory = | administration = | coordinates = {{coord|37.713723|-122.474835|region:US-CA_type:landmark|format=dms|display=it}} | coordinates_footnotes = | heritage_designation = | architect = | architecture_type = [[Synagogue architecture]] | architecture_style = | founded_by = | creator = | funded_by = | general_contractor = | established = 2021 {{small|(merged congregation)}}<br/>{{endash}} 1949: B’nai Emunah<br/>{{endash}} 1969: Beth Israel-Judea {{bulleted list|1860 {{small|(as Beth Israel)}}|{{nowrap|1953 {{small|(as Temple Judea)}}}}}} | groundbreaking = | year_completed = {{ubl|1879 {{small|(BI: Turk Street)}}|1891 {{small|(BI: Geary Street #1)}}|1908 {{small|(BI: Geary Street #2)}}|1964 {{small|(TJ: Brotherhood Way)}}|1976 {{small|(BE: Taraval Street)}}}} | construction_cost = | date_demolished = <!-- or |date_destroyed= --> | 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 = <!-- or |elevation_ft= --> | elevation_footnotes = | nrhp = | designated = | added = | refnum = | delisted1_date = | website = {{URL|amtikvah.org}} | module = <!-- for embedding other infobox templates --> | footnotes = <ref name="Ilsley-Greene2023"/><ref name=History/> }} '''Congregation Am Tikvah''' ('People of Hope') is a combined [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative]] and [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] [[Jewish]] congregation and [[synagogue]] located at 625 Brotherhood Way in [[San Francisco, California]], in the United States.<ref name=Contact>{{cite web |url=http://www.bij.org/contact_us/index.html |title=Contact Us |work=Beth Israel Judea |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080715012718/http://www.bij.org/contact_us/index.html |access-date=June 11, 2010|archive-date=July 15, 2008 }}{{self-published inline|date=January 2024}}</ref><ref name=URJwebsite/> The congregation was formed in 2021 as the result of the merger of the Conservative B'nai Emunah and the Reform '''Beth Israel Judea''' congregations,<ref name="Wilensky2020">{{cite news |author=Wilensky, David A.M. |url=https://jweekly.com/2020/12/16/mazel-tov-its-a-merger-two-historic-san-francisco-synagogues-become-one/ |title=Mazel tov — it's a merger! Two historic San Francisco synagogues become one |work=[[J. The Jewish News of Northern California]] |date=December 16, 2020 |access-date=January 21, 2024 }}</ref> with the latter formed in 1969 through a merger of the Conservative Congregation Beth Israel and the Reform Temple Judea.<ref name=OlitzkyRaphael>{{cite book |author-link=Kerry Olitzky |author=Olitzky, Kerry M. |author2=Raphael, Marc Lee |title=The American Synagogue: A Historical Dictionary and Sourcebook |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group|Greenwood Press]] |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-313-28856-2 }}</ref>{{rp|62–63}} The congregation is affiliated with both the [[Union for Reform Judaism]] and the [[United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism]].
'''Beth Israel''' was founded in 1860 as an [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] congregation.<ref name=Kahn2002>{{cite book |author=Kahn, Ava Fran |title=Jewish Voices of the California Gold Rush: A Documentary History, 1849–1880 |publisher=[[Wayne State University Press]] |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-8143-2859-0 }}</ref>{{rp|188}} Members worshiped in leased premises, first on Sutter Street, and then a larger space on Mission Street.<ref name=OlitzkyRaphael/>{{rp|62}} In 1879 the congregation completed its first building on Turk Street, but soon outgrew it, and in 1891 constructed a new synagogue building on Geary Street. In 1908 it constructed a larger synagogue building on Geary Street, where it remained until 1969. By this time the congregation had moved to Conservative Judaism.<ref name=OlitzkyRaphael/>{{rp|63}}<ref name=Rosenbaum2009/>{{rp|212–213}} The congregation's rabbis were M. Wolf (1860–1874), A. (Nahum) Streisand (1874–1878), Aron J. Messing (1878–1890), Meyer Solomon Levy (1890–1916), Herman Lissauer (1916–1926), and Elliot M. Burstein (1927–1969).<ref name=OlitzkyRaphael/>{{rp|63}}<ref name=Landman/> Joseph Rabinowitz was [[hazzan|cantor]] from 1891 to 1943.<ref name=Rosenbaum2009/>{{rp|212–213}}
'''B'nai Emunah''' was founded in 1949 by mostly [[History of the Jews in Germany|German Jews]] who had fled to [[Shanghai]] in the late 1930s. After [[World War II]], some of the Shanghai Jews settled in San Francisco.<ref>{{cite news |author=Mirsky, Maya |date=August 17, 2022 |url=https://jweekly.com/2022/08/17/75-years-ago-this-week-san-francisco-was-port-of-hope-for-jewish-refugees-from-shanghai/ |title=75 years ago this week: San Francisco was 'Port of Hope' for Jewish refugees from Shanghai |work=JWeekly |access-date=January 21, 2024 }}</ref>
'''Temple Judea''' was founded in 1953, the first Reform synagogue built in San Francisco in almost 125 years. Its first rabbi was Robert W. Shapiro, and he was succeeded by Irving Reichert and then Herbert Morris in 1962. In 1964 Temple Judea completed a synagogue building at 625 Brotherhood Way.<ref name=History/><ref name=OlitzkyRaphael/>{{rp|63}}
Beth Israel and Temple Judea merged in 1969 as Congregation Beth Israel-Judea, adopting practices from both congregations, and moving to Temple Judea's building. Morris became the rabbi of the combined congregation, and Burstein became rabbi emeritus.<ref name=OlitzkyRaphael/>{{rp|63}} Morris retired in 1998, was succeeded by Evan Goodman. Goodman left in 2006, and was succeeded by Rosalind Glazer.<ref name=History/><ref name=Wall2006>{{cite news |author=Wall, Alexandra J. |url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/29420/after-13-years-in-bay-area-rabbi-goodman-heads-for-n-y/ |title=After 13 years in Bay Area, Rabbi Goodman heads for N.Y. |work=[[J. The Jewish News of Northern California]] |date=May 31, 2006 |access-date= }}</ref>
Beth Israel-Judea and B'nai Emunah congregations merged in 2021, affiliating with both the Conservative and Reform organizations and worshiping in the former Beth Israel-Judea synagogue building, located on Brotherhood Way. Rabbi Sami Barth was appointed as interim rabbi during the merger;<ref name="Wilensky2020"/> and, in 2023, Rabbi Chayva Lehrman was appointed to lead the merged congregation.<ref name="Ilsley-Greene2023">{{cite news |author=Ilsley-Greene, Lillian |url=https://jweekly.com/2023/06/05/emotional-ceremony-marks-end-of-bnai-emunah-as-torah-scrolls-are-carried-to-their-new-home/ |title=Emotional ceremony marks end of B'nai Emunah as Torah scrolls are carried to their new home |work=[[J. The Jewish News of Northern California]] |date=June 5, 2023 |access-date=January 21, 2024 }}</ref>
==Early history== ===Congregation Beth Israel=== ====Early premises==== Congregation Beth Israel was founded as an [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] synagogue<ref name=Kahn2002/>{{rp|188}} in San Francisco in 1860, and subsequently became "the first [[Conservative Judaism|conservative congregation]] west of Chicago".<ref name=History>{{cite web |url=http://bij.org/about/history.html |title=Our History |work=Beth Israel Judea |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080820234140/http://bij.org/about/history.html |access-date=June 11, 2010|archive-date=August 20, 2008 }}{{self-published inline|date=January 2024}}</ref><ref name=OlitzkyRaphael/>{{rp|62}} From 1860 to 1874 the congregation worshiped in a leased building on Sutter Street between Dupont and Stockton Streets.<ref name=OlitzkyRaphael/>{{rp|62}} During this period the [[rabbi]] was M. Wolf.<ref name=OlitzkyRaphael/>{{rp|63}}<ref name=Landman>{{cite book |author-link=Isaac Landman |author=Landman, Isaac |chapter=San Francisco |title=The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia |volume=9 |publisher=Universal Jewish Encyclopedia Co. Inc. |year=1943 |page=357 }}</ref> Beth Israel then leased a larger building on Mission Street, between Fifth and Sixth Streets for four years,<ref name=OlitzkyRaphael/>{{rp|63}} led by A. (Nachum/Nahum) Streisand.<ref name=OlitzkyRaphael/>{{rp|63}}<ref name=Landman/><ref name=Sherman1996p207>{{cite book |author=Sherman, Moshe D. |title=Orthodox Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary and Sourcebook |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]] |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-313-24316-5 |page=207 }}</ref> Born in [[Grand Duchy of Posen|Posen]] in 1819, Streisand had been a student of [[Akiva Eiger]], and had served as a ''[[maggid]]'' (itinerant preacher) in Ukraine and in Posen. In 1869, he emigrated to the United States, where he served as rabbi of New York City's (then) Orthodox Congregation Shaare Zedek. He moved from New York to San Francisco in 1874 to take the position of rabbi at Beth Israel.<ref name=Sherman1996p207/> Streisand was succeeded by Aron J. Messing in 1877 or 1878,{{efn|Streisand served until 1878, and was succeeded that year by Messing.<ref name=OlitzkyRaphael/>{{rp|63}} Messing served at Beth Israel from 1877 to 1890.<ref name=Kahn2002/>{{rp|188}} Also, described as 'Rabbi Congregation "Beth Israel"'.<ref>{{cite book |author=Messing, Aron J. |title=A Hebrew Primer for the Hebrew Free School of San Francisco |publisher=M. Weiss Printer and Publisher |location=San Francisco |year=1887 |page= |isbn= }}</ref><ref name=Landman/>}} and died in San Francisco in January 1879.<ref name=Sherman1996p207/>
Messing was also born in Posen, in 1839<ref name=APJ1868>{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jJsTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA147 |title=Eminent Hebrew Clergymen |journal=American Phrenological Journal |date=April 1868 |page=147 }}</ref> or 1840,<ref name=Kahn2002/>{{rp|188}} and studied divinity at the [[University of Graz]].<ref name=APJ1868/> He emigrated to the United States in 1866, to serve as rabbi of New York City's Beth Israel Bikur Cholim.<ref name=APJ1868/>{{efn|Messing first moved to Chicago.<ref name=Kahn2002/>{{rp|188}}}} In 1870 he moved to San Francisco's [[Congregation Sherith Israel (San Francisco, California)|Congregation Sherith Israel]], but could not convince the members to become Orthodox, and returned to Chicago three years later. He returned to San Francisco to serve at the then-Orthodox Beth Israel.<ref name=Kahn2002/>{{rp|188}} When he joined Beth Israel, it had eighty member families, and within a year that had more than doubled. Beth Israel was considered a "[[History of the Jews in Poland|Polish]]" congregation at the time, but had many [[German Jews|German-Jewish]] members, and Messing gave his sermons in German.<ref name=Kahn2002/>{{rp|496}}
Though services were traditional, the congregation instituted "strict rules of decorum",<ref name=Kahn2002/>{{rp|149}} which were given in some detail in its 1878 constitution.<ref name=Kahn2002/>{{rp|195}} These included prohibitions against gathering outside the sanctuary, talking during services, entering or leaving at various times during the services, praying out loud or with "all manner of intonations", wearing the ''[[tallit]]'' over the head, taking off the ''tallit'' before the end of services, or bringing in children under 6 years of age. The constitution also detailed exactly when congregants had to stand during the services.<ref name=Kahn2002/>{{rp|195–196}}
To accommodate continued growth, the congregation built its first synagogue on Turk Street between Jones and Taylor Streets, and dedicated it in 1879.<ref name=OlitzkyRaphael/>{{rp|62}} The congregation outgrew the Turk Street building and, in 1891, built a new synagogue at 1411 Geary Street, near Octavia.<ref name=OlitzkyRaphael/>{{rp|63}}<ref name=refAJYearBookV9>{{cite web |author=[[American Jewish Committee]] |url=http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1907_1908_3_Directories.pdf |title=Directory of National Organizations |work=[[American Jewish Year Book]] |publisher=[[Jewish Publication Society]] |volume=9 |year=1908 |page=134 }}</ref>
====Geary Street==== Messing had served as rabbi until 1890, and was succeeded that year by M.S. (Myer Solomon) Levy.<ref name=Landman/> Levy was born in England in January 1852 and raised there, the son of Rabbi Solomon Levy of Borough Synagogue in London.<ref name=AJYearBookV5>{{cite web |author=[[American Jewish Committee]] |url=http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1903_1904_3_SpecialArticles.pdf |title=Special Articles |work=[[American Jewish Year Book]] |publisher=[[Jewish Publication Society]] |volume=5 |year=1904 |isbn= }}</ref>{{rp|75}} Myer Solomon had been ordained in England as an Orthodox rabbi before he was twenty, and moved to Australia as a young man.<ref name=LevyDetail>See [[#refIsaac2009|Isaac (2009)]], p. 15.</ref><ref name=Rosenbaum1987/>{{rp|22}}<ref name=Rosenbaum2009>{{cite book |author-link=Fred Rosenbaum |author=Rosenbaum, Fred |title=Cosmopolitans: A Social and Cultural History of the Jews of the San Francisco Bay Area |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-520-25913-3 }}</ref>{{rp|66}} An early supporter of [[Zionism]],<ref name=Rosenbaum1987>{{cite book |author-link=Fred Rosenbaum |author=Rosenbaum, Fred |chapter=San Francisco-Oakland: The Native Son |editor=Brinner, William M. |editor2-link=Moses Rischin |editor2=Rischin, Moses |title=Like All the Nations?: The Life and Legacy of Judah L. Magnes |publisher=[[State University of New York Press]] |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-88706-507-1 }}</ref>{{rp|22}}<ref name=Rosenbaum2009/>{{rp|108}} he had served as a rabbi in Melbourne before moving to California in 1872<ref name=AJYearBookV5/>{{rp|75}} or 1873,<ref name=Rosenbaum1987/>{{rp|22}} where he served as the rabbi of Temple Emanu-El (then Bickur Cholim) in [[San Jose, California|San Jose]].<ref name=LevyDetail/> He then served at the [[Temple Sinai (Oakland, California)|First Hebrew Congregation of Oakland]] for ten years, but found the congregation not traditional enough for him, and moved to Beth Israel.<ref name=Rosenbaum2009/>{{rp|66, 108}}<ref name=OlitzkyRaphael/>{{rp|54}}<ref name=Zarchin1964/>{{rp|128}}<ref name=Rosenbaum1987/>{{rp|23}} At Beth Israel he "organized a Hebrew School and a Sunday School, a sisterhood, and a men's club".<ref name=Zarchin1964>{{cite book |author=Zarchin, Michael Moses |title=Glimpses of Jewish Life in San Francisco |publisher=[[Judah L. Magnes Museum]] |year=1964 |isbn= }}</ref>{{rp|128}} During his tenure, the congregation's religious orientation was [[Modern Orthodox Judaism|Modern Orthodox]].<ref name=Rosenbaum2009/>{{rp|212–213}}
Joseph Rabinowitz joined Beth Israel as [[hazzan|cantor]] the year the synagogue building at 1411 Geary Street was constructed. A "rich baritone" from a "famous family of Lithuanian cantors", he sang at Beth Israel until 1943. Despite Beth Israel's traditionalism, he was accompanied by both a mixed choir (that [[Kol isha#Female singing voice|included women]]), and [[Synagogue#Denominational differences|an organ]].<ref name=Rosenbaum2009/>{{rp|212–213}}
In 1905, the congregation started construction of an even larger synagogue building on 1839 Geary Street between Fillmore and Steiner Streets.<ref name=OlitzkyRaphael/>{{rp|63}}<ref name=AJYearBookV21>{{cite web |author=[[American Jewish Committee]] |url=http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1919_1920_5_Directories.pdf |title=Directories |work=[[American Jewish Year Book]] |publisher=[[Jewish Publication Society]] |volume=21 |year=1920 |page=344 }}</ref> It was nearing completion when it was destroyed by the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake]].<ref name=OlitzkyRaphael/>{{rp|63}} At the time, the congregation had 200 member families, and an income of $15,800 (today ${{formatnum:{{inflation|US|15800|1908|r=-4}}}}). Services were held on ''[[Shabbat]]'' and the [[Jewish holiday]]s. The congregational school had 250 students and five teachers.<ref name=refAJYearBookV9/> The members re-built at the 1839 Geary Street location, and dedicated the building in 1908.<ref name=MagnesBIJPapers>{{cite web |url=http://www.magnes.org/wjhc/finding-b.htm |title=Congregation Beth Israel Judea records, 1862-1999 |work=Collection description |publisher=[[Judah L. Magnes Museum]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090912211957/http://www.magnes.org/wjhc/finding-b.htm |access-date=June 11, 2010 |archive-date=September 12, 2009 }}</ref> An "imposing brick-and-steel" structure, it had an "elaborate wood-carved ''[[Bema#Judaism|bimah]]''" and stained-glass windows. Known as the Geary Street Temple, it was "the most visible symbol of traditional Judaism in the city for more than half a century".<ref name=Rosenbaum2009/>{{rp|212–213}}
Herman Lissauer succeeded Levy as [[rabbi]] in 1916,<ref name=OlitzkyRaphael/>{{rp|63}}<ref name=Landman/> the year he graduated from the [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America]] (JTSA).<ref name=deHaas1946>{{cite book |editor-link=Jacob de Haas |editor=de Haas, Jacob |title=The Encyclopedia of Jewish Knowledge |publisher=Behrman |year=1934 |isbn= |page=251 }}</ref> By 1919, the congregation had 325 member families. The congregational school held classes five days a week, and had 250 students and twelve teachers.<ref name=AJYearBookV21/> Lissauer would serve until 1926, then move to San Francisco's [[Congregation Emanu-El (San Francisco, California)|Congregation Emanu-El]], and subsequently become head of the [[Warner Bros.]] Research Department.<ref name=Andersen1995>{{cite journal |author=Andersen, Fred |title=The Warner Bros. Research Department: Putting History to Work in the Classic Studio Era |journal=The Public Historian |volume=17 |number=1 |edition=Winter |year=1995 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |pages=51–69 |doi=10.2307/3378351 |jstor=3378351 }}</ref>
Lissauer was succeeded in 1927 by Elliot M. (Maurice) Burstein, who would remain rabbi at Beth Israel for over four decades.<ref name=OlitzkyRaphael/>{{rp|63}} Born in [[New Haven, Connecticut]] in 1899, Burstein graduated from [[Columbia College, Columbia University|Columbia College]] in 1919. He was ordained at the JTSA in 1923, where he also earned a Master of Hebrew Literature degree.<ref name=Zarchin1964/>{{rp|116}} Burstein was politically liberal and a [[Zionism|Zionist]],<ref name=Rosenbaum2009/>{{rp|212–213}} and served for five years as the president of the Zionist Organization of San Francisco.<ref name=Zarchin1964/>{{rp|116}} During his tenure, Beth Israel "gravitated towards Conservative Judaism".<ref name=Rosenbaum2009/>{{rp|212–213}}
===Temple Judea=== '''Temple Judea''' was founded in 1953, the first Reform synagogue built in San Francisco in almost 125 years. Robert W. Shapiro was the congregation's first rabbi. In 1957 it purchased land on Stanley Drive, and convinced the city to change the street's name to Brotherhood Way.<ref name=OlitzkyRaphael/>{{rp|63}}
In the late 1950s Irving F. Reichert served as Temple Judea's part-time rabbi for three years.<ref name=Rosenbaum2009/>{{rp|320}} Reichert had formerly served as rabbi of Tremont Temple/Scarsdale Synagogue in the [[Bronx]] from 1923 to 1930, and San Francisco's Congregation Emanu-El from 1930 to 1947, before retiring from the pulpit at age 53.<ref name=OlitzkyRaphael/>{{rp|66, 225, 226}} He was a strong [[anti-Zionism|anti-Zionist]] who supported the creation of the [[American Council for Judaism]] (ACJ), and following his retirement from Emanu-El, he served for five years as the executive director of the ACJ's western region.<ref name=Rosenbaum2009/>{{rp|320}}
Herbert Morris was hired as rabbi in 1962. Born in [[Trenton, New Jersey]] in 1930, Morris's first rabbinic position had been two years as a chaplain with the [[United States Navy]] in Japan in 1956. He subsequently served as a chaplain for the [[San Francisco Police Department]].<ref name=Cohn2003>{{cite news |author=Cohn, Abby |url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/21053/a-leader-with-a-soft-glove-rabbi-herbert-morris-dies/ |title=A leader with a 'soft glove,' Rabbi Herbert Morris, dies |work=[[J. The Jewish News of Northern California]] |date=November 14, 2003 |access-date= }}</ref>
The year after Morris joined, Temple Judea sold some of the still-undeveloped land on Brotherhood Way to the Jewish Community Center. That same year the synagogue began construction of a new building,<ref name=OlitzkyRaphael/>{{rp|63}} which it completed in 1964 at 625 Brotherhood Way.<ref name="History"/>
== 1969 and 2021 mergers == In 1969 the Congregation Beth Israel and Temple Judea merged, after three major potential impediments were resolved: the synagogue would have a "restricted kosher kitchen", Temple Judea's Friday night Torah readings would continue, and the rabbi would still perform intermarriages.<ref name=OlitzkyRaphael/>{{rp|63}} Temple Judea's Morris became the rabbi of the combined congregation,<ref name=History/> and Beth Israel's Burstein became rabbi emeritus.<ref name=OlitzkyRaphael/>{{rp|63}} The new congregation moved to Temple Judea's building on Brotherhood Way.<ref name=OlitzkyRaphael/>{{rp|63}} The Geary Street Temple eventually became derelict, but was purchased in the late 1980s and renovated by designer [[Tony Duquette]]. In 1989, soon after the renovations were complete, it burnt down, and a post office was later built in its place.<ref name=Fillmore2008>{{cite web |url=https://newfillmore.wordpress.com/2008/11/08/from-tony-duquette-a-magical-space/ |title=From Tony Duquette, a magical space |work=The New Fillmore |date=November 8, 2008 |access-date= }}</ref><ref name=Fillmore2009>{{cite web |url=https://newfillmore.com/fillmore-classics/jewish-fillmore/ |title=Jewish Fillmore |work=The New Fillmore |date=August 1, 2009 |access-date= }}</ref>
At the merged Beth Israel Judea, Friday night services were Reform-oriented, while Saturday morning services had "a Conservative feel". Morris created a new [[Machzor|High Holy Day prayerbook]] for the congregation "combining liturgy of the Reform and Conservative movements". He created a [[Bar and Bat Mitzvah]] program for adults, and was a "firm supporter of women's causes [and] civil rights". He also supported Israel, and introduced the practice of confirmation class trips there.<ref name=Cohn2003/> In 1976 the congregation built a religious school, and by 1995 there were 486 member families.<ref name=OlitzkyRaphael/>{{rp|63}}
Morris retired in 1998,<ref name=Cohn2003/> and Beth Israel Judea hired Evan Goodman as his successor.<ref name=Wall2006/> Goodman had previously served as rabbi of Beth El in [[San Mateo, California]] for five and a half years.<ref name=Wall2006/> Morris died in 2003,<ref name=Cohn2003/> while Goodman served at Beth Israel Judea until leaving in 2006 to take a position at Temple Israel in [[New Rochelle, New York]].<ref name=Wall2006/> That year Rosalind Glazer, a graduate of the [[Reconstructionist Judaism|Reconstructionist]] rabbinical college, joined as rabbi.<ref name=History/>
In the late summer of 2011, the congregation hired Rabbi Danny Gottlieb, who was previously rabbi of Temple Kol Ami in Thornhill, Ontario. In 2011, Beth Israel Judea was a member of the Reform movement;<ref name=URJwebsite>{{cite web |url=http://data.urj.org/conglist/detail.cfm?id=C807 |title=Congregation Beth Israel Judea (C807) |work=Directory of Congregations |publisher=[[Union for Reform Judaism]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070825173133/http://data.urj.org/conglist/detail.cfm?id=C807 |access-date=June 11, 2010|archive-date=August 25, 2007 }}</ref> and the rabbi was Danny Gottlieb.<ref name=Rabbi>{{cite web |url=http://www.bij.org/rabbi_glazers_corner/index.html |title=Rabbi |work=Beth Israel Judea |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080715012727/http://www.bij.org/rabbi_glazers_corner/index.html |access-date=June 11, 2010|archive-date=July 15, 2008 }}{{self-published inline|date=January 2024}}</ref>
As a result of the 2021 merger, an interim rabbi, Sami Barth, was appointed;<ref name="Wilensky2020"/> and in 2023, a new rabbi, Chayva Lehrma, began leading the merged congregation, that had joint affiliation with the U.S. organizations representing Reform and Conservative congregations.<ref name="Ilsley-Greene2023"/>
==Notable congregants==
* [[Charlee Minkin]] (born 1981), Olympic judoka<ref name=Eskenazi>{{cite news|url=https://www.jweekly.com/2004/08/06/cover-story-br-a-hard-knock-life/|title= COVER STORY: A hard-knock life |author= Eskenazi, Joe | date=August 6, 2004|work= [[The Jewish News of Northern California]]|access-date = April 27, 2023}}</ref>
==Notes== {{notelist}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == * {{cite book |author=Isaac, Frederick |title=Jews of Oakland and Berkeley |publisher=[[Arcadia Publishing]] |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-7385-7033-4 }}
==External links== * {{Official website|https://www.amtikvah.org/}}
{{Synagogues in the United States}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beth Israel Judea}} [[Category:1860 establishments in California]] [[Category:2021 establishments in California]] [[Category:20th-century synagogues in the United States]] [[Category:Conservative synagogues in California]] [[Category:Jewish organizations established in 1860]] [[Category:Jewish organizations established in 2021]] [[Category:Polish-Jewish culture in California]] [[Category:Reform synagogues in California]] [[Category:Synagogues completed in 1879]] [[Category:Synagogues completed in 1891]] [[Category:Synagogues completed in 1908]] [[Category:Synagogues completed in 1964]] [[Category:Synagogues completed in 1976]] [[Category:Synagogues in San Francisco]]