In 1920, when the congregation moved into a larger synagogue, its original building was sold for $20,000 to Tribune Publishing Company, which occupied the premises into the 1960s. The land today is an asphalt parking lot adjacent to the First Christian Church.

The push to construct the first Temple came from the women, more specifically from the local section of the National Council of Jewish Women. The Council launched a Temple sinking fund in 1906, with each member contributing 25-cents a month. To fatten the fund, these savvy ladies hosted covered-dish suppers during the Fort Worth Fat Stock Show, earning $320 profit. "Our net receipts exceeded those of some of the larger and more influential Christian denominations," reported NCJW President Polly Mack.

Those potluck profits spurred the men of the congregation to support the building campaign. Within a couple of months, Beth-El purchased a $7,700 lot on the southeast corner of Fifth and Taylor streets in downtown Fort Worth, two blocks north of Congregation Ahavath Sholom. Congregants pledged $9,000 more toward construction. Only $6,000 materialized, and with that they built a two-story neoclassical synagogue of stucco and wood that opened in the fall of 1908. The Hebrew words "Y'he or," meaning "Let there be light," were inscribed beneath a wooden Star of David above the columned entrance.

The Second Temple (1920-2000)

207 West Broadway Street

Location, Location, Location

Beth-El's second home was at Broadway and Galveston streets, a $10,000 corner lot on a boulevard with a tree-shaded median. The street was already home to leading Methodist and Baptist congregations. Rabbi G. George Fox was co-chairman of the fund-raising drive with Sam Joseph, a restaurateur who lived across the street from the site in a house with an upstairs ballroom-an indication of the neighborhood's affluence.

To gather ideas for the new synagogue, the building committee visited synagogues across the state, including El Paso where the Reform Temple boasted a sizable gymnasium. This was the era of "muscular Judaism," when young Jewish men were encouraged to compete in sports to prove their mettle as Americans. It was also the era of the "synagogue center," when many young Jewish families filled their social and spiritual needs in one location: their synagogue. Beth-El's building committee envisioned a synagogue replete with gymnasium, billiards room, rooftop garden for summer meetings, and a large and a small dance hall. Due to lack of funds, the only such features to materialize were a stage, meeting rooms, and an inscription over the Galveston Street entrance that read: Temple Centre .

Local architect John J. Pollard, whose work includes the Forest Park gates and the Fort Worth Club building at Sixth and Main streets (now the Ashton Hotel), designed the 1920 synagogue. The walls were of red brick manufactured in Texas , with adornments sculpted from Hill Country limestone. A quote from Psalm 86 ("Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer") was chiseled above the entrance. At the previous Temple , the biblical quote adorning the façade was etched in Hebrew. This time, the words on the frieze were in English, reflecting post-war American pride, proximity to mainline churches, and insecurity over incipient anti-Semitism and anti-immigration sentiments. (The frieze, the Ten Commandments tablets, and the menorahs were stripped from the second building and incorporated into the design of Beth-El's third synagogue.)

Because the Broadway synagogue was erected during a time of fluctuating costs, contractor William Bryce refused to give a firm construction bid. His was a cost-plus contract. What began as a $75,000 project ended with a $139,000 tab and a $78,500 deficit, forcing the congregation to float second-mortgage bonds. Aggravating the financial situation was the onset of Prohibition, which outlawed the sale of liquor beginning in January 1920. Prohibition put out of business a number of Beth-El's benefactors. Even fund-raiser Sam Joseph's popular Joseph's Café went into gradual decline. Temple membership dropped from 150 to 120 families, with many congregants reneging on building pledges. Desperate board members called on lumberyards, begging donations of building materials. To keep roofers and carpenters on the job, Temple President Harry Lederman, a tobacconist, passed out cigars.

Over the next six years, the congregation reduced the mortgage to $27,500. After the stock market crash of October 1929, payments virtually stopped. In early 1946, the last $15,000 on the mortgage was finally paid off, thanks to the generosity of two sisters, Sophia Winterman Miller and Lena Winterman Klar, whose families had prospered in the pawnshop and jewelry trade.

Then, the unthinkable occurred on August 29, 1948 . After a night of "nickel" poker sponsored by B'nai B'rith and attended by more than 100 cigar- and cigarette-smoking gents, fire erupted in the basement social hall. Among the first on the scene was custodian Enoch Jackson, who bravely rescued two Torah scrolls. Rabbi Samuel Soskin and Temple President Raymond E. Cohn watched helplessly as 125 fire fighters battled the three-alarm blaze that consumed all but the brick walls. Water dousing the flames flushed into the gutter hundreds of poker chips and playing cards. "It was a scandal," recalled Norma Mack.

To rebuild the Temple or to move was the question next confronting the congregation. Former Temple President Isadore (I. E.) Horwitz argued to remain. He was convinced that no one would buy the charred site. Rebuilding a "modern, fireproofed" synagogue within the existing brick walls would cost up to $250,000-far less than the estimated $350,000 to construct anew on Berry Street or the Bluebonnet Hills area as others proposed. The vote to stay put was 87 for and 18 against. Rebuilding began December 8, with tiny gold-plated souvenir shovels distributed to donors.

New York designer Erno Fabry, a Hungarian refugee of the Nazi era, was hired for the interior design. He was already in Fort Worth remodeling Meacham's Department Store and agreed to this second project. Reflecting the styles of the post-war industrial era, Fabry's ark doors featured a sunburst of steel rays emanating from a central Jewish star. The menorahs ringing the sanctuary walls were fashioned from flat aluminum rods, bent perpendicular into an art deco design.

Recalling how the Nazis had turned the Star of David into a badge of shame, Fabry positioned Jewish stars throughout the sanctuary. He was determined to showcase the six-pointed star as a symbol of pride and beauty. One yellow Magen David appeared atop each of the 10 stained-glass windows. A giant floating star, constructed of wood and recessed within a kidney-shaped field, was suspended from the ceiling. The ceiling lights were so high that changing burned-out bulbs required the staff to assemble scaffolding and stage periodic "relampings."

During reconstruction, Sabbath services were held next door at Broadway Baptist Church , which had shared Beth-El's premises in 1933 when the church was undergoing renovations. Beth-El's Sunday School convened at Lily B. Clayton Elementary School . The Temple reopened in the fall of 1948. Soon after, the trustees banned card-playing and gambling on the premises.

Builder: Harry B. Friedman (1887-1978)

After the 1946 fire, contractor Harry B. Friedman, a long-time congregant, bid on the reconstruction. The job was a labor of love. Piece by piece, Friedman selected the marble blocks for the altar wall. For the frame surrounding the Torah shelf, he chose gray-veined, cremo Italian marble. For the backdrop, he selected tiles of reddish Colorado travertine. When the Temple was completed, Friedman presented the building committee with an itemized $249,000 bill. The invoice did not include the $8,500 cost of the marble. He and his wife, Mamie, had quietly donated the stone. In gratitude, the building committee decided that the menorahs affixed to the bimah wall would be inscribed in memory of his parents, Wolf and Cira Friedman, and her parents, Henry and Fannie Potishman.

Danciger Memorial Education Wing (1962-2000)

Galveston Street entrance

Baby Boomers

With the post-war baby boom, Beth-El began bursting at the seams. Religious school enrollment jumped from 119 students in 1949 to 213 by 1953. The sewing room was turned into a classroom, sending Sisterhood's seamstresses to the Hebrew Institute. Teachers and students experimented with split sessions and two-day schedules. To ease overcrowding, Temple President Frank B. Appleman raised money for a $200,000 education wing. The bulk of the funding came from the Sadie and Joseph Danciger Trust and the Dan Danciger Fund. The Dancigers were oil people who had come to Fort Worth in the late 1940s from Kansas City, Missouri . Appleman, their lawyer and a nationally recognized tax attorney, was instrumental in arranging the donations.

The Danciger Memorial Building was dedicated the weekend of January 12-14, 1962 . Chairman of the events was E. M. (Manny) Rosenthal, a second-generation congregant who taught comparative religion in the Religious School . Architect Larry Morton Gernsbacher, grandson of Temple founder Henry Gernsbacher, designed the two-story wing modeled after a typical elementary school. The building addition gave Beth-El nine new classrooms, a library, an activities room for teen-agers, administrative offices, and ample breathing room.

Refurbishing

Time and again the Temple has needed remodeling, repairs, and updating. Air conditioning was installed in 1953. "Services were held in the welcome comfort of our new air conditioning system," President Sol Brachman wrote in his annual report.

The small chapel was renovated in 1975, with partial funding of $50,000 from the Mary Potishman Lard Trust. For the chapel, St. Louis architect John Michael Cohen, son-in-law of Manny and Rosalyn (Roz) Rosenthal, artfully designed objects of Judaica, among them the free-standing bronze menorah positioned near the entrance to the third Temple . Cohen also redesigned the Broadway Street lobby in 1977, turning the foyer into a gallery that focused on needlepointed reproductions of the famous Chagall stained-glass windows. The tapestries, each representing one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, were sewn by Helen Archenhold, Bess Cohn, Tobia Ellman, Jeanette Ginsberg, Sonja Glazer Gressman, Norma Greenberg, Judy B. Greenman, Ruby Kantor, Dana Mehl Levy, Ellen Mack, Rolly Schur, and Natalie Simon. The gallery was dedicated in memory of former Temple President Ben Ellman.

Many of these renovations reflected the taste and flair of Elise Greenman and interior decorator Granny Gressman.

In 1980 and 1981, Cohen redesigned the main sanctuary. That mammoth renovation followed a $500,000 gift from Etta Brachman in memory of her husband Sol, the philanthropic oilman and former Temple president.

One aim of the renovation was to bring the pulpit closer to the congregation. In previous eras, the rabbi was held aloft as a higher authority. The sanctuary's design reflected the distance. During the 1960s and 1970s, lines between pedagogues and pupils blurred, with relationships becoming more personal. Reflecting the sociological change, the bimah was reshaped into a semicircle that projected one-third of the distance into the sanctuary. Horizontal rows of wooden pews were replaced with upholstered chairs arranged in rows concentric to the bimah. (The seats were so comfortable and expensive, they were moved to the third Temple and re-covered.)

The sanctuary redesign, supervised by congregant Al Taub, became a learning experience for children. Youngsters watched as the pews were removed (for reinstallation at a local church). They saw the giant star disassembled and taken in pieces from the ceiling. The Torahs were stored away and the eternal light hung downstairs for a bar mitzvah service. "On Sunday mornings, there were children peeking through the door, wanting to be the first to report that week's progress," Religious School director Ellen F. Mack wrote in the Texas Jewish Post. "Reverence and respect were combined with curiosity . . . . They shared in this marvelous event."

Builder: Edouard (Bud) Propper (1914-1990)

Longtime Building Committee Chairman Edouard (Bud) Propper, a structural engineer with General Dynamics, was an efficient, meticulous volunteer who oversaw a myriad of Temple maintenance and remodeling projects. The gift shop, the rabbi's study, the foyer, the chapel, the new roof, and the updated kitchen at the Broadway synagogue bore his stamp. He was also a handyman who changed light bulbs and replaced washers.

Propper never saw his name on a building or cornerstone, although he was honored in 1988 with the Brotherhood's Mickey Goldman Award for Extraordinary and Continuing Service to Beth-El. Propper's work-from office remodeling to air conditioning and roof repairs-was performed quietly, patiently, and diplomatically behind the scenes.

The Third Temple (2000- )

4900 Briarhaven Drive at Hulen Street

Long before the stretch of high prairie in the 4400 block of Hulen Street became home to churches and social service agencies, it was open range, part of the Edwards Ranch. The unplowed, unfenced terrain was pasture land for cattle grazing on native grasses. Little by little, the Edwards family released for development ranch land that had been theirs since the 1870s. One 12-acre tract was deeded to Ahavath Sholom, which built its synagogue there in 1980. Another parcel went to the city for the Southwest Regional Library. A third parcel was reserved for a public school campus. The school board made no move to utilize the acreage because it was on the edge of the district. William E. (Billy) Rosenthal, a third-generation Beth-El congregant and board member, approached the school board in 1997, proposing that trustees release acreage for construction of religious institutions. The transaction required a school board vote and approval from Austin . The Rosenthal family purchased seven acres for $148,000, well below market value, and transferred the title to Beth-El.

The land transfer followed a month of congregational meetings. Some families opposed the move for sentimental reasons, citing memories of weddings, baby-namings and hopes that their children would marry in the same sanctuary as their parents and grandparents. Others, who favored the move, pointed out that the neighborhood had declined into an area of rental housing, absentee landlords, vacant lots, and occasional vagrants. The Jewish population had migrated southwest to the Hulen Street corridor. After several weeks of discussion, 230 members attended a congregational meeting February 12, 1997 , for a final vote. By a show of hands estimated at 90-95%, they voted to accept the Rosenthals' generous offer. Over 70% of the membership contributed to the building campaign, with the fund-raising committee led by co-chairwomen Judie B. Greenman and Louise K. Appleman. Groundbreaking took place October 18, 1998 , and prairie grass gave way to bulldozers.

Builder: Irwin Krauss

Irwin Krauss, a commercial Realtor instrumental in developing the Wedgwood Addition, was tapped to head the Building Committee for the congregation's 21^st -century, $11 million synagogue. Systematically and democratically, he called town hall meetings of the congregation and placed suggestion boxes in strategic places. He and the building committee boarded Billy Rosenthal's plane to visit synagogues in Memphis, Tennessee ; Kansas City, Missouri ; Little Rock, Arkansas ; Dayton, Ohio , and Charlotte, North Carolina , gathering ideas-much like an earlier Beth-El building committee had done eight decades before. Together with his committee, Krauss developed and distributed a Beth-El Building Profile. High on the priority list were a sanctuary that fostered intimacy and faced east toward Jerusalem , integration of indoor and outdoor settings, and a parking lot that did not resemble a shopping mall.

The local firm of Hahnfeld Associates Architects/Planners Inc. won the design competition for an edifice conceived by David Stanford, who was also lead architect for the neighboring Southwest Regional Library. The DeMoss Company constructed the edifice. Stanford's synagogue design evokes ancient Jerusalem with a contemporary élan. Built of large, rough white limestone blocks, the complex features a series of walls, courtyards, and open space that become progressively smaller as worshipers approach the Holy of Holies.

During the planning and groundbreaking phase, tragedy struck when Krauss's wife of 49 years, Selma , developed lung cancer and passed away. In her memory, he commissioned an outdoor sculpture of a woman reading to children, just as Selma had often done for children at the congregation's adopted school, DeZavala Elementary. Z'chronam l'vracha. The memory of the righteous is a blessing.

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