18 | MAY 12 • 2022

W

indsor’s Congregation Beth El
(CBE) was first conceived in
the winter of 1959 when sever-
al families met informally to consider estab-
lishing a Reform congregation. After many
meetings, the small group resolved to estab-
lish CBE and first held religious services in
Southwood School in the spring of 1960.
A large house on Ouellette Avenue served
as the first home for the congregation. As
the membership grew, the congregation
broke ground for a new building in October
1961. Construction began in May 1962
and the cornerstone was laid that July. An
addition was built in 1981 and was officially
dedicated in early 1982.
CBE represents a modern interpretation
of ancient Jewish tradition, designed to
meet the needs of the 20th-century Jewish
community of Windsor. CBE is affiliated
with the Union of Reform Judaism and the
Canadian Council of Liberal Congregations.

CBE looked to Detroit’s Temple Beth El
as a model in its early stages as a Reform
congregation, said Sarah Shklov, CBE’s
office manager/administrator.
CBE’s first rabbi was Sherwin Wine, pre-
vious rabbi at Detroit’s Temple Beth El who
later founded the Birmingham Temple, the
first congregation of Humanistic Judaism.
Rabbi Jonathan Plaut was with CBE from
1970-1984 and was instrumental in build-
ing the congregation. Rabbi Jeffrey Ableser
served as CBE’s spiritual leader 1993-2018.
Since then, CBE has had one rabbi who
left due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which
brought uncertainty to the role.
“We decided we would wait a year or two
and kind of get our finances back in order
before we hired another rabbi,
” Sarah said.
“We’re in that transitional stage right now.
”
This past year, CBE has had a student
rabbi from the Hebrew Union College–
Congregation Beth El Jewish Institute of

Religion in Cincinnati come once a month.
CBE has also applied to have a student
who will come every three weeks from
Cincinnati this coming year.
“
And then hopefully somewhere in there,
we’ll decide if we can either find a part-time
rabbi or employ a full-time rabbi,
” Shklov
said.
Other important figures at the congre-
gation include President Karen Rosen,
Cantorial Soloist Tracey Atin and accompa-
nist Michael Ricketts.
Congregation Beth El runs a small
Sunday morning religious school for the
children of congregants. Children start in
kindergarten and continue through bar/bat
mitzvah and beyond.
A positive that’s come out of the pan-
demic, Shklov said, is the connection CBE
has made with Rabbi Debra Dressler from
London, Ontario’s Temple Israel. The two
congregations have participated in many
joint events.
“For Pesach, we had a second night seder.
We were live, Dressler was on Zoom, and
we did it together,
” Shklov said. “Several of
our members have even been joining them
for Torah study on Saturday mornings.
”
CBE participates in many interfaith and
social action events, including holding a
blood drive with the local Muslim com-
munity and hosting a security session with
police for faith groups of all sorts. CBE
hopes to do more of these events coming
out of the pandemic, according to Shklov.

SYNAGOGUE SPOTLIGHT

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

Congregation Beth El
Stays Strong After 60+
Years as Windsor’s
Reform Synagogue

Temple Beth
El Sanctuary

Exterior of
Congregation
Beth El