Temple Beth Or

{{short description|Historic Reform synagogue in Montgomery, Alabama, US}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox religious building | name = Temple Beth Or | 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 = Rabbi Scott Looper | bhattaraka = | patron = | consecration_year = | functional_status = Active | religious_features_label = | religious_features = | location = 2246 Narrow Lane Road, [[Cloverdale, Montgomery|Cloverdale]], [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]], [[Alabama]] 36106 | locale = | municipality = | cercle = | state = | country = United States | map_type = Alabama | map_size = 250 | map_alt = | map_relief = 1 | map_caption = Location in [[Alabama]] | grid_name = | grid_position = | sector = | territory = | administration = | coordinates = {{coords|32.354806|-86.283317|region:US-AL_type:landmark|format=dms|display=it}} | coordinates_footnotes = | heritage_designation = | architect = {{ubl|John Stewart {{small|(1862; ''attrib''.)}}|''unknown'' {{small|(1902)}}|''unknown'' {{small|(1961)}}}} | architecture_type = [[Synagogue architecture]] | architecture_style = {{ubl|[[Romanesque Revival architecture|Romanesque Revival]] {{small|(1862)}}|[[Neoclassical architecture|Neoclassical]] {{small|(1902)}}}} | founded_by = | creator = | funded_by = | general_contractor = Pelham J. Anderson {{small|(1862)}} | established = 1849 {{small|(as a congregation)}} | groundbreaking = | year_completed = {{ubl|1862 {{small|(Catoma Street)}}|1902 {{small|(Clayton Street)}}|1961 {{small|(Cloverdale)}}}} | construction_cost = $14,000 {{small|(1862)}} | date_demolished =  | facade_direction = | capacity = | length = | width = | width_nave = | interior_area = | height_max = | dome_quantity = min. 4 {{small|(1902)}} | 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|templebethor.net}} | module =  | footnotes = <ref name=SotS/><ref name=Stough/><ref name=Archipedia/> }}

'''Temple Beth Or''' ([[transliterated]] from [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]; "House of Light"<ref name=SotS/>), founded as '''Kahl Montgomery''', is an historic [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] [[Jewish]] congregation and [[synagogue]] located at 2246 Narrow Lane Road, in the [[Cloverdale, Montgomery|Cloverdale]] neighborhood of [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]], [[Alabama]], in the United States.

==History== Jews in Montgomery first established ''Chevra Mevacher Cholim'', a society to minister to the sick and bury the dead in 1846.<ref name="TBO history">{{cite web |title=Our History |url=http://templebethor.net/aboutus/history/ |work=Temple Beth Or |date= |accessdate=9 September 2011}}{{self-published-inline|date=January 2024}}</ref> An [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] congregation,<ref name=Stough/>{{rp|29}} named Kahl Montgomery, was formed on May 6, 1849, first meeting in the homes of members, and later renting space on Dexter Avenue.<ref name="ISJL"/> The congregation drafted an official charter in 1852.

=== Catoma Street building === [[File:Catoma Street Church of Christ, Montgomery, West view 20160713 1.jpg|thumb|Former 1862 synagogue building, now church, on Catoma Street, in 2016.]] In 1858, philanthropist [[Judah Touro]] left $2,000 to the congregation to purchase land for a temple. The brick temple in [[Rundbogenstil]] style was completed on March 8, 1862, at the corner of Church and Catoma Streets. The congregation used that building until 1901 and, despite internal protests about selling the edifice to an organization of another faith, it was sold for $7,500 to a [[Christianity|Christian]] [[church (congregation)|church]].<ref name=SotS>{{cite web |url=https://synagoguesofthesouth.cofc.edu/synagogues/montgomery-al-temple-beth-or-1902/ |title=Montgomery, AL ~ Temple Beth Or (1902) |work=Synagogues of the South |publisher=[[College of Charleston]] |date=2024 |access-date=January 18, 2024 }}</ref> {{as of|2021|}}, the building has continuously operated as a church since 1901, in the main as the Catoma Street [[Church of Christ]].<ref name=Stough>{{cite book |last=Stough |first=Durden |title=A History of the Catoma Street Church of Christ, 1879–1973 |url=https://www.therestorationmovement.com/_states/alabama/catomastreet.htm |publisher=Catoma Street Church of Christ |date= |accessdate=9 September 2011 |isbn= |page= }}</ref><ref name=Archipedia>{{cite web |author=Gamble, Robert |title=Catoma Street Church of Christ, [Montgomery, Alabama] |work=SAH Archipedia |editor1=Esperdy, Gabrielle |editor2=Kingsley, Karen |location=Charlottesville |publisher=[[Society of Architectural Historians]] and [[University of Virginia Press]] |year=2012 |url=http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/AL-01-101-0028 |access-date=January 17, 2024 }}</ref>

[[Adolph S. Moses]] served as rabbi from 1870 to 1871.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Adler |first1=Cyrus |author-link=Cyrus Adler |last2=Dobsevage |first2=I. George |title=MOSES, ADOLPH |url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11060-moses-adolph |access-date=2023-10-31 |website=[[The Jewish Encyclopedia]]}}</ref> By 1870, the congregation had grown considerably, and ritual changes continued to occur. In 1874, the congregation adopted a Reform ritual and modelled it after [[Congregation Emanu-El of New York|Temple Emanu El]] of [[New York City]], and was renamed ''Temple Beth Or''. From 1876 to 1888, Hungarian-born [[Sigmund Hecht]] served as the rabbi. He also helped to establish a Sunday school.<ref name="ISJL">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.isjl.org/alabama-montgomery-encyclopedia.html |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities |title=Montgomery, Alabama |publisher=Goldring / Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life |date=2023 |access-date=January 18, 2024 }}</ref>

=== Clayton Street building === [[File:Temple Beth Or Montgomery Alabama 1910s.jpg|thumb|A postcoard image of the former 1902 synagogue building, at 103 Clayton Street, in {{circa|1910}}, since demolished.]] In 1902, some more recent [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazi]] immigrants split off to form [[Agudath Israel Etz Ahayem]]. On June 6, 1902 a new temple at 103 Clayton Street, on the corner of Sayre Street, was dedicated.<ref name="TBO history" /> Completed in the [[Neoclassical architecture|Neoclassical]] style by an unnamed architect, a wide flight of steps led to the monumental entrance through a columnar [[portico]] with four tall [[Doric order|Doric]] columns. Stair towers framed the portico [[façade]], topped by open [[Belvedere (structure)|belvederes]] with small domes. A larger dome was set over the [[sanctuary]]. The building was demolished after the 1960s.<ref name=SotS/>

=== Racial segregation views === Rabbi Benjamin Goldstein, from New York, served the congregation from 1928. Goldstein was a vocal defendant of the [[Scottsboro Boys]], in his sermons, at public rallies, connecting them with lawyers from International Labor Defense, the legal arm of the American Communist Party; and he was the only white clergyman to visit the defendants in prison. The congregation, at the time a supporter of [[Disfranchisement after the Reconstruction era|racial segregation]] and under threats from the [[Ku Klux Klan]] to withdraw support of Jewish businesses, asked Goldstein to tender his resignation in April 1933.<ref name="ISJL"/>

In 1933 Rabbi Eugene Blachschleger assumed the position of rabbi; and during his tenure the congregation was vocal in its opposition of the [[Montgomery bus boycott]], a political and social protest against racial segregation on public transportation.<ref name="ISJL"/>

=== Move to Cloverdale === By the 1960s, the congregation had outgrown their temple once more. They decided to build a new Beth Or in the [[Cloverdale, Montgomery|Cloverdale]] neighborhood. The current synagogue was dedicated in 1961.

In 1965 Rabbi David A. Baylinson was elected by the congregation after the untimely death of Rabbi Blachschleger. During Rabbi Baylinson's nearly thirty years with the congregation, [[Bar Mitzvah|Bar]] and [[Bat Mitzvah|Bat mitzvot]] ceremonies were re-instituted and the prayer books ''[[Gates of Prayer]]'' and ''[[Yonah Gerondi|Gates of Repentance]]'' were introduced. In 1988, the entrance to the sanctuary, the religion school wing, grounds, and social hall were all renovated. Rabbi Baylinson retired in 1994 as Rabbi Emeritus. Rabbi Elliot L. Stevens, held the post from July 2007, until his death in 2017.<ref name="TBO history" /> Rabbi Scott Looper has served as rabbi since July, 2018.

== References == {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * {{cite book |author-link=Isaac Landman |author=Landman, Isaac |chapter=Montgomery |title=The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia |publisher=Universal Jewish Encyclopedia Co. Inc. |volume=7 |year=1942 |page= |isbn= }}

== External links == * {{Official website|http://templebethor.net}} * {{cite AV media |url=https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/photo/search/searchterm/Synagogues/field/subjec/mode/all/conn/and/order/nosort |title=Search: Synagogues |work=Alabama Photographs and Pictures Collection |publisher=Alabama Department of Archives and History |date=2024 |format=Images of synagogues in Alabama }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beth Or, Temple (Montgomery, Alabama)}} [[Category:1849 establishments in Alabama]] [[Category:20th-century synagogues in the United States]] [[Category:Jewish organizations established in 1849]] [[Category:Reform synagogues in Alabama]] [[Category:Religious buildings and structures in Montgomery, Alabama]] [[Category:Synagogues completed in 1862]] [[Category:Synagogues completed in 1902]] [[Category:Synagogues completed in 1961]] [[Category:Synagogues in Alabama]]