Temple Beth El - 8801 Woodward - Lost Synagogues of Detroit

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Beth el II was the home of the first jewish community center - this is now known as the Considine Recreation Center (City of detroit) near Northern High. The next Jewish comm-ctr was at Petosky and West Davison later the site of ???? Hospital. Next Jewish comm ctr was build and is now the present Northwest Activities center.Wow! Thanks for the trip down memory lane! I attended Beth El Sunday School from age 5 in 1955 through Bar Mitzvah and Confirmation (end of HS in 67). The congregation built at 14th and Telegraph when I was at Wayne State University. The well known Rabbi when I was young was Richard Hertz, and the choir-master was Julian Tikton and his wife whose name, I think, was Vivian.

It was one of the largest best-established Reform congregations in Detroit in the 50s and 60s. Although we complained bitterly about having to get up and go downtown early Sunday mornings, we had a great time at Beth El. In the early 60s I remember skipping out of class and running down the street to Big Daddyos to eat burgers with black people (who were only seen as maids in our own neighborhoods) and play dangerous sounding music on the juke box like "Hit the Road Jack". The movie "Liberty Heights" captures what it was like quite well. There was a beatnik basement coffeehouse attached to the temple that was, of course, off limits to us younger kids, and quite desirable as a result. I think it was called "The Retort". Sadly, I never got down there.
- Steven B.

Temple Beth El at 3424 Woodward and Elliot, by Mason and Kahn, is now the Bonstelle Theater. There is no relationship today with the original usage. The exterior is a model of the Pantheon and the interior was richly decorated with Louis XVI detailing. Interior seating is semi-circular around the dome resting on squinches and , in turn, piers.

The land was purchased in 1901 and the cornerstone was laid in 1902. The dedication was held Sept. 18-19, 1903. In 1905, a Temple gym was dedicated. A mass meeting on behalf of the victims of the San Francisco earthquake was held here on April 21, 1906.

In 1922, the congregation moved to another Kahn-designed Temple Beth El, up to 8801 Woodward at Gladstone. This building recalls The Lincoln Memorial.
- Arnie P

If this is the temple I think it is, near the Jewish Center, I attended from kindergarten through high school. I taught Sunday school there somewhere about 1946-1950. My mother taught Sunday school the whole time that I went. I remember a wonderful old rabbi who left retired shortly after I started attending. Then another rabbi, Sol Glazer, who I was scared to death of, and finally Sidney Axelrod who all the mothers had lined up for their daughters. I was confirmed there and graduated from the high school. I still have several pictures of our classes. I graduated in 1946 so I must have started in 1934. Somehow I remember another Rabbi Lynon. [Afterthought. The Rabbi was B. Benedict Glaser. Sol Glaser was my great uncle. ]
- Carol M

My mother was in the first confirmation class at Temple Beth El. She is now 91 years old. Our family were members and my sister, brother and I were confirmed there in the 40s and 50s. We all have memories of many happy days there, including holiday dinners and celebrations. My memories start going back to Rabbi Franklin.
- Joanne L. H.

My family enjoyed membership at Beth El from the 40's to the 90's. My mother remained a member until her death in 1995. The original alter and paneling from the main sanctuary was moved to the new Temple in Birmingham and now constitutes the smaller worship hall. The stained glass windows from the original building were also moved to the new one. There were 4 levels of classrooms and the lower level contained the social hall and a gymnasium.
- Caren

Just a small note... on the south side of the building is written the inscription "My house shall be a house of worship to all nations." Very fitting, isn't it?
- AS

This is the Temple Beth El which moved from 3424 Woodward Ave., by Mason and Kahn (1903), now Bonstelle Theater. The move was in 1922. The JCC [Jewish Community Center] on Woodward near Clairmont (now Considine Center) is nearby.

Temple Beth El. Built by Albert Kahn, 1922. Temple Beth El is Michigan's first Jewish Congregation, (1850). Octastyle temple in the Ionic Order of architecture. It recalls the Lincoln Memorial, and anticipates Angell Hall by Kahn in Ann Arbor. The bldg. is grand, imposing, dignified and a monumental classic. Kahn shows he can design a neo-classical bldg. AND industrial-functional factories.
- Arnie

I remember the Temple Beth El quite well. In the late 1930's, I was a boy scout in Troop 76 that met every week in the meeting rooms there. I once attended a service in Temple Beth El with members of Troop 76. Up to that time I had only been to orthodox synagogues. The service in English and Hebrew was very strange to me.
- Herman