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- Congregation Beth Israel (Hebrew: בית ישראל) was a Reform synagogue, located for most of its history at 761 Chestnut Street in Gadsden, Alabama. An outgrowth of Gadsden's Jewish religious school, it was founded in 1908 and incorporated in 1910. It moved into its Chestnut Street building in 1922, and joined the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in 1924. From 1911 to 1944 it had no rabbi, and was led by "lay-religious-leader" Hugo Hecht. In 1944, Beth Israel hired its first full-time rabbi, Ernest Appel. The synagogue was fire-bombed and its windows smashed in 1960, during a Friday night service. Two members who rushed outside were wounded with a shotgun by the attacker, a young Nazi sympathizer. Membership was never high; the congregation had 38 members families in 1918, and this grew to 60 families in 1960. Membership fell as major employers closed operations, and Jews emigrated from Gadsden. By 2008, family membership was down to 26. The synagogue closed in 2010. (en)
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| dbp:reference
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- 0001-01-11 (xsd:gMonthDay)
- 0001-02-13 (xsd:gMonthDay)
- 0001-08-19 (xsd:gMonthDay)
- 0001-11-12 (xsd:gMonthDay)
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| rdfs:comment
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- Congregation Beth Israel (Hebrew: בית ישראל) was a Reform synagogue, located for most of its history at 761 Chestnut Street in Gadsden, Alabama. An outgrowth of Gadsden's Jewish religious school, it was founded in 1908 and incorporated in 1910. It moved into its Chestnut Street building in 1922, and joined the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in 1924. From 1911 to 1944 it had no rabbi, and was led by "lay-religious-leader" Hugo Hecht. In 1944, Beth Israel hired its first full-time rabbi, Ernest Appel. (en)
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