Congregation Beth Israel (Charlottesville, Virginia)

Congregation Beth Israel is located at 301 East Jefferson Street, Charlottesville, Virginia 22902.[4] It describes itself as a Jewish community dedicated to worship, education, community, and spiritual growth and as the only synagogue in the Charlottesville region.[3]

CBI is affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism and offers both Reform and Conservative services. Its approach reflects its longstanding effort to serve a local Jewish population with varied backgrounds and worship practices.[3]

The roots of organized Jewish life in Charlottesville predate the congregation itself. On January 13, 1870, local merchants Isaac Leterman and Bernard Oberdorfer purchased cemetery property as trustees for the Charlottesville Hebrew Benevolent Society, which had been established to provide for proper religious burial.[1][4] In 1882, the society began holding board meetings as Beth Israel Congregation under President Aaron Brunn.[1]

Land for a permanent synagogue building was purchased on March 10, 1882, at the corner of Market and Church (now Second) Streets — a site now occupied by the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library.[1] The cornerstone of a Gothic Revival building designed by local architect George W. Spooner was laid on October 5, 1882, with participation from the Widow's Sons' Masonic Lodge, the local B'nai B'rith chapter, and the Third Regiment Band. Rabbi William Weinstein of Alabama was hired on May 30, 1883; the synagogue was dedicated on June 8, and its first Jewish wedding took place that year.[1]

In 1902, the U.S. government asked CBI to sell its synagogue site to make way for a post office. By 1904, the congregation had rebuilt at its current address; the Widow's Sons' Masonic Lodge laid the cornerstone for the historic portion of the new building on June 18, 1903, and the rebuilt synagogue was dedicated on February 9, 1904.[1] In 1927, CBI joined the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the Reform movement, in what the congregation describes as a compromise between older German Jewish families and more recently arrived Jews of Eastern European descent.[1]

Beginning in 1939, when Rabbi Albert Lewis became director of the B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation at the University of Virginia, a succession of Hillel directors served CBI in a part-time rabbinic capacity through 1976.[1] On January 6, 1948, a furnace malfunction during Friday night services caused a fire that destroyed part of the roof and damaged the building's contents. Members Harry O'Mansky and Isaac Walters rescued the Torah scrolls, and the congregation was rededicated on January 29, 1949.[1]

Sheldon Ezring became CBI's first full-time rabbi of the 20th century in 1979, followed by Bernard Honan in 1982 and Daniel (Dan) Alexander in 1988.[1] Harry and June O'Mansky funded a religious-school addition in 1982. A new three-story annex — including a religious-school wing, O'Mansky Hall, a small sanctuary, and office space beneath the original sanctuary — had its cornerstone laid on May 12, 1995, and was completed in 1996.[1]

In 1994, an exhibit on Jewish settlement in the Charlottesville area was mounted at the Albemarle County Historical Society. It was accompanied by the catalog To Seek the Peace of the City: Jewish Life in Charlottesville, written by Carol Ely, Jeffrey Hantman, and Phyllis Leffler.[1]

Dan Alexander retired in 2016 as CBI's first Rabbi Emeritus after 28 years of service. Tom Gutherz, hired as Rabbi Educator in 2005, became Senior Rabbi that year after eleven years in that capacity.[1] Rachel Schmelkin served as Rabbi Educator and Associate Rabbi from 2016 to 2020, followed by Jessica Kerman as Assistant Rabbi from 2020 to 2022 and Ezra Leventhal, hired as Assistant Rabbi in 2024.[1]

CBI founded its Forest School in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and expanded it to include preschool, kindergarten, and grades one through four.[1] Education director Jill Abbey-Clark received the Covenant Award for Jewish education in 2022, and the original slate roof above the main sanctuary was replaced in 2022–2023. In 2025, Julie and Jeff Morrill gave CBI a 155-acre plot off Dudley Mountain Road for Ma'ayan, a planned permanent Forest School home and second CBI campus; a special-use permit for the school was secured.[1]

An early-20th-century account recorded that Charlottesville had Congregation Beth Israel, with Moses Leterman serving as prayer-leader, as well as a Jewish cemetery.[5]

In a Fall 2017 account, CBI reported that it served about 370 families and had approximately 170 children in its religious school.[2] These figures describe the congregation at that time rather than Charlottesville's entire Jewish population.

A separate estimate placed the broader Jewish population of Charlottesville at approximately 1,000 in 2001.[6] Because the estimates refer to different years and measure different populations, they are not directly comparable.

CBI's stated commitments include Jewish education, an accepting environment for a diverse membership, mutual support, local social justice and charitable giving, and education about and support for Israel.[3] Its activities encompass worship, religious education, community events, charitable work, and programs for different ages and backgrounds.

The congregation renamed its Religious School Shorashim — meaning "roots" in Hebrew — in 2023.[1] Its educational programs also include the CBI Forest School, which began during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently expanded beyond preschool and kindergarten to include grades one through four.[1]

CBI's principal site is its historic synagogue at 301 East Jefferson Street. The congregation rebuilt there after selling its earlier Market Street property to the federal government, and the new synagogue was dedicated in 1904.[1] The complex later gained religious-school, social-hall, sanctuary, and office additions while retaining the historic portion of the building.

The congregation also maintains the Hebrew Cemetery beside Oakwood Cemetery at First Street and Elliott Avenue. Established before the synagogue itself, the cemetery remains at its original site. As available plots became limited, CBI added Jewish burial options at Riverview Cemetery and secured an agreement for a Jewish section at Panorama Farms; the burial sites are available to congregation members and the wider local Jewish community.[4]

CBI holds Torah scroll MST#12 on permanent loan from the Czech Memorial Scrolls Trust.[7] The scroll was among hundreds confiscated by the Nazis from Jewish communities in Bohemia and Moravia — this one from Frydek-Mistek — and later gathered into the trust's collection. By 1997, approximately 120 of the original 1,563 scrolls remained, and those still held were generally in very poor condition.[7]

CBI members Rose and Robert Capon visited Westminster Synagogue on December 2, 1997, selected three scrolls for board consideration, and recommended No. 12.[7] Known as one of the "Tattooed Torahs," the scroll is marked on its handle with the number "37031." The Capon family collected it at Dulles Airport on January 16, 1998, and organized an impromptu Shabbat celebration in Charlottesville. CBI member Yacov Haimes led what the congregation describes as the first reading from this Torah scroll since World War II.[7] CBI reads from it annually on Yom HaShoah.[7]

The Unite the Right rally of August 11–12, 2017 — organized by white supremacists and neo-Nazis in opposition to the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee — erupted into violence that killed Heather D. Heyer and wounded 34 other counter-protesters.[2] A subsequent report said a Beth Israel member was injured when James Fields drove a car into a crowd and was recovering at a local medical center.[8]

About fifty congregants attended Shabbat services while three armed neo-Nazis stood in front of the synagogue as people assembled, and groups of skinheads marched past during services.[2] Synagogue president Alan Zimmerman wrote that marchers shouted antisemitic language, including "There's the synagogue!" and "Sieg Heil," and that some carried swastika flags and other Nazi symbols.[9] The chant "Jews will not replace us" was heard throughout the city.[1]

Zimmerman reported that Nazi websites had called for the temple to be burned.[8] As a precaution, congregants removed the congregation's Torah scrolls — including its Holocaust scroll from Frydek-Mistek — because they feared an attack on the building.[2] Worshippers entered and left through a side door; at the close of services, they were advised to depart through the back entrance and to go in groups.[2][9] John Aguilar, a 30-year Navy veteran, volunteered to stand watch during Friday evening and Saturday morning services alongside the congregation's hired armed guard.[9]

Zimmerman also reported that the Charlottesville Police Department refused his request to provide an officer during morning services and that a limited promise to place an observer near the building was not kept.[9] He said the congregation had sought protection for worshippers rather than its property and hired an armed security guard — for the first time in its history — after the refusal. Charlottesville police did not respond to the article's request for comment.[9]

Rabbis Tom Gutherz and Rachel Schmelkin marched with interfaith clergy and activists during the rally weekend.[1] Schmelkin described playing music on the steps of a church across from Emancipation Park to drown out hate speech with songs of peace. After a fellow clergy member called for help transporting an injured woman, Schmelkin and her husband ran past police blockades to their garage near the attack site; Schmelkin prayed with the injured woman and her friends while her husband drove them to the hospital.[2]

Gutherz declared, "Solidarity is the answer to this hatred," and urged the community to stand together for "love and acceptance and justice."[2] Schmelkin later reported heightened Jewish identity and visibility, increased synagogue attendance, solidarity visits by Orthodox Jews, and a stronger desire among some religious-school families to attend Shabbat services. CBI also held processing sessions and open office hours for congregants and children.[2]

The congregation received broader support after the rally. Cale Jaffe, a University of Virginia law professor and Beth Israel member, said many non-Jewish Charlottesville residents came to the synagogue to show solidarity.[8] In a 2021 statement, President Joe Biden identified Beth Israel as Charlottesville's only synagogue and said that when neo-Nazi marchers passed it, the congregation continued worship services, stood up to the hate, and helped its neighbors.[10] On May 8, 2018, Gutherz and Schmelkin received the T'ruah Action Under Fire Award for their leadership and activism during and after the rally.[1]

The congregation's history page gives 1881 as its founding year, while its planned-giving page states 1882.[1][11] The history page separately dates the Charlottesville Hebrew Benevolent Society's transition to holding meetings as Beth Israel Congregation to 1882, and the sources do not explain the difference.

The account of police refusing to provide protection during the 2017 rally is attributed to synagogue president Alan Zimmerman. The report says Charlottesville police did not respond to its request for comment, and the available sources do not independently resolve the account.[9]

An Institute for National Security Studies analysis described an unnamed nearby Charlottesville synagogue whose worshippers were advised to leave through a back door and whose Torah scrolls were removed. Because the analysis does not identify the congregation by name, it does not independently establish that the synagogue was Beth Israel.[12]