Temple Beth-El: South Bend's Reform Congregation

Organized January 1905 · first building dedicated 6 March 1906 · second building dedicated May 1950 · building sold and closed 2023 · worshipping since at the Jewish Federation

Founding: Temple Beth-El began with a meeting called for 9 January 1905 by Simon Greenebaum, Sam Adler, and Samuel Spiro "to complete the organization for a new Jewish Congregation," in the congregation's own words. First worship services followed on 22 January 1905, and within forty days the congregation had purchased a lot at LaSalle and Taylor Streets. Its first building — the National Register nomination gives the address as 604 West LaSalle Street — was dedicated on 6 March 1906 and served until 1950. The congregation affiliated with the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, now the Union for Reform Judaism, as early as 1909, and the affiliation continues.

Sisterhood and Brotherhood: The congregation's Sisterhood was organized one month after the founding, first as the Temple Aid Society and later the Temple Aid Sisterhood. Its Brotherhood began in 1929 as the Temple Men's Club.

The 1950 building: Having outgrown Taylor Street, the congregation dedicated a new sanctuary building in May 1950. Directories and obituaries give its address as 305 West Madison Street; the Federation's newsletter, marking the congregation's 120th anniversary in 2025, calls it the home "on Lafayette Street," the building standing at the corner of the two streets. A Community Room was dedicated soon after the move in memory of four Temple members who gave their lives in World War II. The building grew over the decades to include a small chapel, two libraries — adult and children's — a modern lounge, and the Kurt & Tessye Simon Education Center, with large modern classroom space. The congregation maintains Rose Hill Cemetery, the community's oldest Jewish burial ground, treated in the institutions entry below. Its Kurt & Tessye Simon Foundation, the congregation's charitable foundation, marked its fiftieth birthday in 2025.

Leaving the building: In early 2023 the congregation voted to sell its building, its home of more than seventy years, and the building closed that year; the congregation's website carries a video "marking the closure of our building in 2023." Writing in the Federation's newsletter for the 120th anniversary in May 2025, Marzy Bauer recorded the new arrangement: "After more than 70 years in its beautiful home on Lafayette Street, Temple sold the building and now occupies rented office space on McKinley and shares the Jewish Federation building for religious services and events. Temple's future includes a new building – hopefully soon!" The Federation's executive director wrote in April 2025 that "our Temple Beth-El family gathers for Shabbat services and other enriching activities in our community room" at the Federation.

Today: Temple Beth-El remains an active Reform congregation, holding Friday-evening Shabbat services and its regular calendar from the Federation building. Rabbi Shoshana Kaminsky is its rabbi in the public record, her sermons posted on the congregation's site through 2025 and 2026. The congregation celebrated its 120th anniversary in 2025.

Sources:

1. Temple Beth-El, congregational history (tbe-sb.org/history) — the 1905 organization, first services, the LaSalle and Taylor lot, the 1906 dedication, the 1909 affiliation, the Sisterhood and Brotherhood, and the 1950 building and its additions.
2. National Register nomination, Sons of Israel Synagogue — the first building's address, 604 West LaSalle Street, occupied 1906–1950.
3. Jewish Federation of St. Joseph Valley, Our Community News, April 2023, May 2025, and April 2025 — the vote to sell and the departure, Marzy Bauer's 120th-anniversary account of the sale and the move to the Federation, and the executive director's description of services there.
4. Temple Beth-El website (tbe-sb.org) — the video marking the building's 2023 closure and Rabbi Kaminsky's current sermons; Saint Mary's College area-congregations listing — the 305 West Madison Street address.