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September 22, 2000/22 Elul 5760, Vol. 52, No.55
Talks begin to reacquire valley's first synagogue
LEISAH NAMM
Staff Writer
Negotiations are underway by the Arizona Jewish Historical Society to reclaim the first Temple Beth Israel building, located at 122 E. Culver in Phoenix.
The building, now owned by Iglesia Bautista, a Mexican Baptist Church, was the home of Beth Israel from 1920 to 1949 and then a Chinese Baptist Church until 1959.
For Phoenix's small Jewish population in the 1920s, the synagogue was not only a house of worship, but a community center and a fledging federation as well.
There is no clear timetable for the reclamation to occur because the church has to find a new location, said Beryl Morton executive director of AJHS.
If the plans are carried out, the building will either be a cultural center or preserved as a historic site, Morton said.
"We would refurbish it, rehabilitate it back to what it looked like when it was a synagogue, and it would just be like when you visit any historical house. It would be that or a cultural center," she said.
A committee, led by AJHS president Lawrence Cutler, has been formed.
No financial decisions have been made, Morton said.
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