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BETH ISRAEL - THE WEST TEMPLE was organized by 25 families, led by Abe Silverstein, in April 1954, to provide a religious center for Reform Jews living on Cleveland's west side. The congregation's first service, Rosh Hashonah, was held 27 Sept. 1954 at the First Universalist Church in North Olmsted, Ohio. For the next 3 years, services were held either at the Universalist Church or the N. Olmsted Community Club House. Following the merger with the West Side Jewish Center, 25 Oct. 1957, Beth Israel occupied the Center's newly completed building at 14308 Triskett Rd. and dedicated the structure 11 May 1958. The congregation still occupies the site today. For its first 7 years, Beth Israel was served by a succession of 6 student rabbis from Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. One of these, Daniel Litt, became its first full-time rabbi, serving from 1961-65. From 1965-94, 5 rabbis have occupied Beth Israel's pulpit. The religious school opened in Jan. 1955 in rooms rented at Giles-Sweet school in Fairview Park, Ohio. In 1972, Rabbi Sally Priesand, a graduate of Beth Israel's religious school, became the first woman ordained to the rabbinate in the U.S. The school, staffed by volunteers, covers preschool through grade 12 and enrolls over 100 students. In 1963, as an outgrowth of the temple Social Action Committee, several members founded CCSA: the Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism. Lou Rosenblum, one of the founders, became a leader in the national movement to assist Soviet Jewry.
Beth Israel draws its members from Cleveland's west side and the western suburbs. It expanded its facilities in 1965 with the construction of a new 8-room, 2-story wing. In 1965 and 1985, the Cleveland Foundation awarded the congregation library grants to enlarge its collection. The library and its volunteer staff has provided services for the congregation as well as for schools, colleges, and churches in western Cuyahoga County. In 1995 the library contained over 6,000 volumes and audiovisual materials. From 1964-78, Beth Israel provided office space for the Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism.
The WEST SIDE JEWISH CENTER was organized as B'nai Israel in 1910 by 10 Orthodox families, who rented a hall at 2525 Lorain Rd. for services. The center was the second Jewish congregation founded on the west side. The first was Oheb Zedek Hungarian Congregation, an Orthodox synagogue established about 1883 at the southwest corner of Lorain Ave. and Root (W. 47th) St. That congregation was led by Rabbi David Feuerlicht, who also instructed its 34 religious school pupils, but there is no record of it after 1889. As the West Side Jewish Center congregation grew to over 120 families in the 1920s, a succession of structures were acquired: a house at 1794 W. 30th St. (1912); the Free Methodist Church building at the corner of W. 25th St. and Bridge Ave. (1918); and a newly constructed building at 1791 W. 57th St (1926). And, for burial needs, a portion of the Ridge Rd. Cemetery, 3824 Ridge Rd., was purchased (from Taylor Rd. Synagogue) in 1922. By 1919 the congregation had affiliated with the United Synagogue of America, the national umbrella organization for Conservative Judaism, and hired its first rabbi, Harry Cohen, a Conservative. From 1920-37 a succession of eight rabbis served the center. The Depression led to a decline in its membership and loss of its building in 1937. A small house was purchased at 4101 John Ave. three years later. During the period 1939-57, membership averaged 55 and rabbis served for only 6 of the 18 years. In 1955, with more hope than financing, construction was begun on a 2-story building on Triskett Rd. The building was completed and occupied in early 1957. A few months later, with a lien on the building and its resources exhausted, the center merged with Beth Israel. This merger took the one-time Orthodox congregation into the Reform movement.
The CLEVELAND COUNCIL ON SOVIET ANTI-SEMITISM, a grassroots organization, educated about the plight of Soviet Jews from 1963 until 1983, and, as the first such group in the world, spawned other local councils and a national organization. Jews living on Cleveland's west side, including Louis Rosenblum, Herbert Caron, and Abe Silverstein, created the council. Although not affiliated with Beth Israel - The West Temple, many initial council members belonged there; the council periodically reported to the congregation's Social Action Committee. Between 1964-69, the council developed educational tools, such as organizational handbooks for other communities, the newsletter Spotlight, and media presentations. They also devised protest strategies that became integral to the Soviet Jewry movement. One of the council's most successful activities was the People-to-People program of the late 1960s, which represented 50,000 members. Although the Cleveland council was still active in 1985, by the late 1970s the Jewish Community Federation had taken over the major local organizing effort for Soviet Jewry. By 1993 the Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism had ceased to exist.
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