Beth Israel Congregation (Washington, Pennsylvania)

Beth Israel Congregation is based in Washington, Pennsylvania, the seat of Washington County, about 30 miles south-southwest of Pittsburgh.[4][1] In 2020, it was identified as the only synagogue serving Washington and Greene counties, giving it a regional role in Jewish communal life.[1]

The congregation is affiliated with Conservative Judaism. Its activities have included worship, religious education, and support for lifecycle observances.[2][1] Nathan Samuels arrived around 1877 and was recorded as the first Jew to make his home in the city, remaining there until his death in 1911.[4] Washington's Jewish community emerged in the 1880s alongside new communities in other Pennsylvania towns, including Greensburg, McKeesport, and Sharon.[5]

Beth Israel was founded in 1891, while a 1963 historical chronology lists the congregation as having been organized in 1902. The sources do not explain the difference between these dates.[2][6] Washington's Jewish population grew from 200 people in 1907 to 575 in 1927.[4]

Jacob Goldfarb was the congregation's first rabbi.[3] He was born in Vilki, Kovno, on March 7, 1871, and was educated in Russia. Early biographical records describe him as Beth Israel's minister and as a cantor in Washington, reflecting the titles under which his service was recorded.[7][8]

The congregation's longtime building opened in December 1955. In 1971, after the Tree of Life Synagogue in nearby Canonsburg merged with Beth Israel, a chandelier from the Canonsburg congregation was installed in the Washington building. When Marilyn Posner and her husband joined in 1972, Beth Israel had 56 children in its religious school and almost 100 member families.[2]

Beth Israel's membership declined from almost 100 families in 1972 to approximately 35 families in 2020 and later to fewer than 30 family units.[3] Congregation members connected the decline to demographic changes affecting small-town Jewish communities, including the departure of Jewish residents from Washington and the closure of the religious school. Neighboring congregations in Canonsburg, Monessen, Charleroi, and Donora also closed as Jewish institutional life in the region contracted.[3][2]

The financial burden of maintaining an oversized property contributed to the congregation's decision to sell its building.[2] Its religious practices also adapted to reduced local participation. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Beth Israel had combined its Friday and Saturday services into a single Friday-night service and sometimes struggled to assemble a minyan.[1]

During the pandemic, services moved to Zoom and weekly participation increased as former members and relatives joined from around the United States, including California, South Carolina, and Texas.[3] Chanukah songs were incorporated into Friday-night services after the annual in-person celebration was canceled.[1]

In 2021, the board decided for the first time not to hold Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur services. Beth Israel nevertheless continued Friday-night services and communal functions such as recording yahrzeits, praying for the ill, and supporting members through lifecycle events.[2] David Posner led Friday-night services, while Rabbi David Novitsky served as spiritual leader and Judge Gary Gilman as congregation president during the period covered by the reporting.[1][3]

Beth Israel's building covered approximately 30,000 square feet on more than five acres and had an assessed value exceeding $1.6 million. It had been on the market for more than a year, and congregation leaders said that it was too large and expensive to maintain for the reduced membership.[2]

The congregation sold the property to AMVETS, a congressionally chartered veterans service organization. Under the agreement, Beth Israel received the right to use the building's small chapel at no charge for 20 years, allowing Shabbat services to continue without responsibility for maintaining the full property.[3]

Preparing for the sale required sorting through more than a century of accumulated possessions. Furniture, artwork, prayer books, Sunday-school books, and other items were given away, sold, auctioned, or placed on consignment. Books were donated to a prison in eastern Pennsylvania, and the congregation worked with the Jewish Burial Society to bury unclaimed religious books when necessary.[3] Marilyn Posner also found portraits of Jacob Goldfarb, giving one to his great-granddaughter, and returned prayer books inscribed for bar mitzvahs to the relevant families.[3]