Synagogue Spotlight

Congregation Beth El Stays Strong After 60+ Years as Windsor’s Reform Synagogue

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

Windsor’s Congregation Beth El (CBE) was first conceived in the winter of 1959 when several families met informally to consider establishing a Reform congregation. After many meetings, the small group resolved to establish CBE and first held religious services in Southwood School in the spring of 1960.

A large house on Ouellette Avenue served as the first home for the congregation. As the membership grew, the congregation broke ground for a new building in October 1961. Construction began in May 1962 and the cornerstone was laid that July. An addition was built in 1981 and was officially dedicated in early 1982.

CBE represents a modern interpretation of ancient Jewish tradition, designed to meet the needs of the 20th-century Jewish community of Windsor. CBE is affiliated with the Union of Reform Judaism and the Canadian Council of Liberal Congregations.

CBE looked to Detroit’s Temple Beth El as a model in its early stages as a Reform congregation, said Sarah Shklov, CBE’s office manager/administrator.

CBE’s first rabbi was Sherwin Wine, previous rabbi at Detroit’s Temple Beth El who later founded the Birmingham Temple, the first congregation of Humanistic Judaism. Rabbi Jonathan Plaut was with CBE from 1970-1984 and was instrumental in building the congregation. Rabbi Jeffrey Ableser served as CBE’s spiritual leader 1993-2018.

Since then, CBE has had one rabbi who left due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought uncertainty to the role.

“We decided we would wait a year or two and kind of get our finances back in order before we hired another rabbi,” Sarah said. “We’re in that transitional stage right now.”

This past year, CBE has had a student rabbi from the Hebrew Union College– Congregation Beth El Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati come once a month. CBE has also applied to have a student who will come every three weeks from Cincinnati this coming year.

“And then hopefully somewhere in there, we’ll decide if we can either find a part-time rabbi or employ a full-time rabbi,” Shklov said.

Other important figures at the congregation include President Karen Rosen, Cantorial Soloist Tracey Atin and accompanist Michael Ricketts.

Congregation Beth El runs a small Sunday morning religious school for the children of congregants. Children start in kindergarten and continue through bar/bat mitzvah and beyond.

A positive that’s come out of the pandemic, Shklov said, is the connection CBE has made with Rabbi Debra Dressler from London, Ontario’s Temple Israel. The two congregations have participated in many joint events.

“For Pesach, we had a second night seder. We were live, Dressler was on Zoom, and we did it together,” Shklov said. “Several of our members have even been joining them for Torah study on Saturday mornings.”

CBE participates in many interfaith and social action events, including holding a blood drive with the local Muslim community and hosting a security session with police for faith groups of all sorts. CBE hopes to do more of these events coming out of the pandemic, according to Shklov.

Temple Beth El Sanctuary Exterior of Congregation Beth El