Beth-El
Congregation
Centennial 1902-2002
A lavishly illustrated, limited-edition centennial book about Fort Worth’s reform Jewish community.
Available by special order. Telephone Beth-El Congregation, 817-332-7141. Price, $30. Payment by check or credit card.
When
her congregation turned 100, Hollace Weiner dove into the task of
documenting its centennial history. Previously, while conducting
research on rabbis, Hollace had poured through dozens of grass-roots
histories of churches and synagogues. She realized the importance of
interviewing old timers, gathering frank recollections, and collecting
vintage photos. Only a congregant on the scene can capture the
conflicts, controversies, and anecdotes that epitomize turning points in
the life of such an institution.
Beth-El . . . Centennial documents and illustrates:
-
The 1948 fire that gutted the Temple shortly after the mortgage had been paid off. The cause was a men’s smoker-and-poker party the night before. Congregants were crestfallen—and embarrassed—when poker chips floated down the street along with water from the firemen’s hoses.
-
The
book spotlights famous congregants such as I.N. Mehl, the world’s
first professional coin collector; Broadway producer Sherwin
Goldman; longtime Congressman Martin Frost; Fort Worth Mayor Bayard
Friedman; Morton Meyerson, for whom the Dallas performing arts hall
is named. -
The congregation may have been started in 1902 by 43 men, but when it fell apart in 1903, it was the women who revived the congregation, recruited a rabbi, taught Sunday School, and raised money at the Fat Stock Show to start a building fund.
As
Cowtown turned into a family town, Beth-El was an important element of
the city. This commemorative narrative celebrates the longevity of
Beth-El Congregation. It also serves as a case history, studying the
components of a vibrant, stable synagogue that persisted and thrived
throughout the ups and downs of the twentieth century.
Photos courtesy Beth-El Archives, Fort Worth.
