Seventy years ago, in 1956, a young singer named Elvis Presley released his self-titled debut album. He went on to have some success with that release as well as others.

That same year, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill that created the interstate highway system. Two years earlier, Major League Baseball’s Philadelphia Athletics moved to Kansas City.

And in Baltimore in late 1956, a shul named Beth Israel was founded.

Today, Presley and Eisenhower are gone and the Athletics are on their way to Las Vegas from Oakland by way of Sacramento.
But Beth Israel still stands.

The congregation is ready to celebrate 70 years in Baltimore, which is no small feat.

Rabbi Rachel Safman has only been a part of the community since 2023, but she said she often feels the strength of decades past.

“Seventy is the age of wisdom, according to our sages, and we hope that we’ve learned a bit about who we are and what we’re good at in the 70 years that are under our belt,” she said. “And that we also take some of those lessons about what we’re good at and what the Jewish community needs and build them into the way that we fit into this larger landscape of Jewish Baltimore for the months and years to come.”

As part of the anniversary, the synagogue is holding a number of events and commemorations to help unite members past and present. Safman said, simply put, people are really excited to celebrate seven decades.

“Hopefully the excitement will build,” she said.

There’s a welcome back barbecue coming on Aug. 30, with members being encouraged to bring memorabilia from Beth Israel events of yesteryear, especially those from around the time that a member joined the congregation.

“We actually, I believe, have laid to rest our last founding member in the last year, but we certainly have the children of some of our founders, and we have families that have been with us for for decades now, and so we’re really looking forward to what they’re going to bring in and and what that reminds us of in terms of key moments along this this wonderful journey,” Safman said.

While Safman said she isn’t sure exactly what items will be brought in and loaned to the shul, she expects to see programs from pageants and balls and other social events, as well as collections of photographs. There might be some Judaica, and maybe some items from Sunday school. Maybe someone even has a very old goldfish won at a Purim carnival.

This is Safman’s fourth High Holiday season at Beth Israel and she said that she loves this time of year. Safman’s career as a rabbi is her second. The former sociologist joined Beth Israel after her previous clergy job in Ithaca, New York.

In the large Jewish ecosystem that is Greater Baltimore, Beth Israel represents a cozy little corner in Owings Mills where people know each other’s names and the names of their ancestors. Safman said she appreciates this element of the shul.

“Each one of the members of our congregation represents a set of shared experiences, again often stretching back decades, and I love that about Beth Israel. I feel like I’m stepping into the embrace of an extended family or a small town community,” Safman said.

This year’s High Holidays at Beth Israel will see young members take the power into their own hands as the synagogue holds a young people’s service in addition to its regular Rosh Hashanah service. It’s not just a service for young people; it’s a service led by young people.

“We’ve got adults in the room with them who’ll be keeping time and helping move things along. But we have youngsters, some as young as second or third grade, who are going to be running a scaled-down High Holiday experience for our school-age kids and their families,” Safman said.

The youth service fits well with the shul’s theme this year. In its 70th season, Beth Israel is highlighting the idea of l’dor v’dor, or “from generation to generation.”

Organizers hope placing this theme at the forefront will help tie together the past, present and future of Beth Israel.

“[We’ll be] really working to tighten the bonds across communities’ membership, and of course to integrate those like myself who have not been part of the story forever, who are coming to Beth Israel new this year, last year, the last few years, and make them part of the story,” Safman said.

aguckes@midatlanticmedia.com