Congregation Beth Yeshurun (Houston)

{{Short description|Synagogue}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}} {{Infobox religious building | name = Congregation Beth Yeshurun | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = BethYushurunHoustonTX.JPG | image_upright = 1.4 | alt = | caption = Beth Yeshurun synagogue, in 2009 | religious_affiliation = [[Conservative Judaism]] | tradition = | sect = | district = | prefecture = | province = | region = | deity = | rite = | festival =  | organisational_status =  | ownership = | governing_body = | leadership = | bhattaraka = | patron = | consecration_year = | status = [[Synagogue]] | functional_status = Active | religious_features_label = | religious_features = | location = 4525 Beechnut Street, [[Houston, Texas|Houston]], [[Texas]] | locale = | municipality = | cercle = | state = | country = United States | map_type = Texas | map_size = 250 | map_alt = | map_relief = 1 | map_caption = Location in [[Texas]] | grid_name = | grid_position = | sector = | territory = | administration = | coordinates = {{Coord|29.6887|-95.4532|type:landmark_region:US-TX|display=inline,title|format=dms}} | coordinates_footnotes = | heritage_designation = | architect = Levin/Brown | architecture_type = Synagogue | architecture_style = [[Modernist architecture|Modernist]] | founded_by = | creator = | funded_by = | general_contractor = | established = {{ubl|1887 {{small|(as Adath Yeshurun)}}|1924 {{small|(as Beth El)}}|1946 {{small|(merged)}}}} | groundbreaking = | year_completed = {{ubl|1908 {{small|(Preston Street)}}|1925 {{small|(Austin Street)}}|1945 {{small|(Southmore Avenue)}}|1962 {{small|(Beechnut Street)}}}} | 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 = Stained-glass windows by [[David Ascalon]] | elevation_m =  | elevation_footnotes = | nrhp = | designated = | added = | refnum = | delisted1_date = | website = {{url|bethyeshurun.org}} | module =  | footnotes = }} '''Congregation Beth Yeshurun''' is a [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative]] [[synagogue]] at 4525 Beechnut Street, [[Houston, Texas|Houston]]. It is the largest Conservative synagogue in the United States.

Founded in 1891 as '''Adath Yeshurun''', it merged in Congregation Beth El in 1946, taking its current name. In 2002 Beth Yeshurun absorbed the membership of Shearith Israel of nearby [[Wharton, Texas]].<ref>[http://www.bethyeshurun.org/aboutus.php#32] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417071230/http://www.bethyeshurun.org/aboutus.php#32 |date=2009-04-17 }} ([https://archive.today/20131203170337/http://www.bethyeshurun.org/aboutus.php%2332 Archive])</ref>

It includes the '''Beth Yeshurun Day School''' ('''BYDS''').

==History== Beth Yeshurun was formed as a merger of the Adath Yeshurun and Beth El congregations.<ref name=Bell/>

===Adath Yeshurun===

Congregation Adath Yeshurun was founded in 1887 as an [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] alternative to [[Congregation Beth Israel (Houston)|Temple Beth Israel]] which in 1874 had moved from Orthodox to [[Reform Judaism|Reform]].<ref name=golden>{{cite book |title=The Golden Book of Congregation Adath Yeshurun: commemorating fifty years of service to the Jewish community of Houston, Texas, 1891-1941 |author=Congregation Adath Yeshurun |publisher=D. H. White & Co |location=Houston, Texas |year=1942 }}</ref>{{rp|21}} It was a Russian-Polish congregation.<ref name=Bell/> After a period during which the congregation met for prayers in private homes, a wood-framed, former church was purchased at the corner of Walker Ave. and Jackson street.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Olitzky, Kerry M. |author1-link=Kerry Olitzky |author2=Raphael, Marc Lee |title=The American Synagogue: A Historical Dictionary and Sourcebook |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group|Greenwood Press]] |date=June 30, 1996 |page=349 }}</ref><ref name=golden/>{{rp|22}} Adath Yeshurun merged into Congregation Adath Yeshurun in 1891.<ref name=Bell/> Growth of the congregation, especially an influx of members who moved to Houston at the turn of the twentieth century; the congregation dedicated a large, new synagogue at the corner of Preston Avenue and Hamilton Street in 1908.<ref name=golden/>{{rp|22|photos}}

===Congregation Beth El=== Congregation Beth El was founded in 1924. It was the first Conservative synagogue founded in Houston. In 1925 it occupied the former Temple Beth Israel building.<ref name=Bell/>

==Current synagogue== The original building was established in 1945 in the [[Third Ward, Houston|Third Ward]] area and in proximity to the [[University of Houston]].<ref name=Kaplanp187>Kaplan, Barry J. ([[University of Houston]]). "[https://houstonhistorymagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/race-income-ethnicity-HR-3.1.pdf Race, Income, and Ethnicity: Residential Change in a Houston Community, 1920-1970]." ''The Houston Review''. Winter 1981. pp. 178-202. CITED: p. 187.</ref>

Beth Yeshurun moved from its building at 3501 Southmore Avenue to its present location at 4525 Beechnut Street in 1962. From 1998 to 2004, the synagogue undertook a major renovation and more than 30,000 square feet of building were added.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Welcome - Congregation Beth Yeshurun|url=https://www.bethyeshurun.org/welcome.html|access-date=2021-04-06|website=www.bethyeshurun.org}}</ref> The synagogue's foyer has a memorial to the Jews murdered in the [[Holocaust]]. A {{convert|26|ft|m|adj=mid|-long}} ark with a [[Burning Bush]]-motifed stained-glass background serves as the focus of the synagogue's sanctuary. The synagogue includes a social hall. The walls of the social hall are decorated with needlepoint recreations of [[Reuven Rubin]]'s series of biblical lithographs. Beth Yeshurun houses the Louis and Mollie Kaplan Museum of Judaica, which includes ritual objects and books.<ref name=Bell>{{cite book |author=Bell, Roselyn |chapter=Houston |editor=Tigay, Alan M. |title=The Jewish Traveler: Hadassah Magazine's Guide to the World's Jewish Communities and Sights |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |date=January 1, 1994 |pages=215-220 |isbn=1568210787}} </ref>

==Beth Yeshurun Day School== Beth Yeshurun Day School was the first Jewish Day School in Texas, founded in 1949 under the leadership of Rabbi William S. Malev, the rabbi of the congregation at that time.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}}

During the [[COVID-19 pandemic in Texas]], as of 2022, more students attended Beth Yeshurun Day School than previously. An organization called Prizmah stated in a 2021 report that families with a preference for education in a school setting during a pandemic, as opposed to via the internet, often preferred schools that continued offering such.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/neighborhood/bellaire/article/Meyerland-Jewish-day-schools-see-increased-16756262.php|title=Meyerland Jewish day schools see increased enrollment during COVID-19 pandemic|newspaper=[[Houston Chronicle]]|date=2022-01-09|accessdate=2022-01-09}}</ref>

== Gallery == <gallery> Levin_Brown_-_Beth_Yeshurun.jpg|Contemporary synagogue external architecture by Levin/Brown David_Ascalon_-_Beth_Yeshurun_2.jpg|Interior of sanctuary. David_Ascalon_-_Beth_Yeshurun.jpg|Sanctuary elements include stained glass windows, Ark, and ner tamid (eternal flame), by [[David Ascalon]] </gallery>

==See also== {{Portal|Texas|Judaism}} * [[History of the Jews in Houston]]

== References == {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{official website|http://www.bethyeshurun.org}} * [http://byds.org Beth Yeshurun Day School]

{{Synagogues in the United States}} {{Jews and Judaism in Texas}} {{Jewish schools in the United States}} {{Religion in Houston}} {{Houston Area Independent Schools}} {{Harris County, Texas Schools}} {{Private schools in the Houston metropolitan area}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beth Yeshurun (Houston, Texas)}} [[Category:Jews and Judaism in Houston]] [[Category:Conservative synagogues in Texas]] [[Category:Religious buildings and structures in Houston]] [[Category:Jewish organizations established in 1887]] [[Category:Independent Schools Association of the Southwest]] [[Category:1887 establishments in Texas]] [[Category:Synagogues completed in 1962]] [[Category:20th-century synagogues in the United States]]