More than 65 years, still going strong

Although Jews have lived in Memphis since the 1850s, it took a century until the city welcomed its first and only Conservative synagogue, Beth Sholom. On December 16, 1954, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. M. Starr at 255 Hawthorne, 37 dedicated men and women voted to establish Beth Sholom and elected Herman Appleson as its chairman.

The State of Tennessee issued a Charter of Incorporation for Beth Sholom Synagogue on January 4, 1955, and one week later, conducted Kabbalat Shabbat Services and Oneg Shabbat in the B'nai B'rith Home Chapel (now the Memphis Jewish Home & Rehab). The congregation lacked a permanent location, traveling from one venue to another for services and religious school. It hired Rabbi M. Herbert Berger as its first spiritual leader and formed a Sisterhood that continues to support Beth Sholom today. 

On May 8, 1956, the congregation opened a permanent residence in a two-story building at 482 S. Mendenhall. Under its second spiritual leader, Rabbi Meyer Passow (1956-1959), Beth Sholom organized its daily minyan, which is still a focal point today.

Rabbi Arie Becker: A Transformative Leader

Rabbi Arie Becker arrived to lead the congregation in 1959 and stayed 20 years until his death in 1979. Congregational membership soared, and a result, a new ten-room Religious School building opened in 1961. Soon, the congregation outgrew its home, and built a new facility on its current site that included a sanctuary, social hall, kosher kitchen and administrative offices. The new Beth Sholom building was dedicated on March 5, 1967. The previous year Beth Sholom had acquired a five-acre tract of land within the Eastlawn Cemetery Grounds to establish Beth Sholom Memorial Gardens, which was then consecrated on March 19, 1968. 

Beth Sholom moved into its current home at 6675 Humphreys Boulevard in 2000. We are home to the only conservative mikvah within 200 miles. We worship in a modern sanctuary on Shabbat and in the intimate Rabbi Arie Becker Chapel for minyans. The octagonal chapel's brilliant stained glass windows were donated to Beth Sholom by Temple Israel in Blytheville, Arkansas. This small congregation was taken under the wing by Beth Sholom in 1995 and subsequently closed in 2003.