Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek

Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek
Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek
Religion
Affiliation	Reform Judaism
Ecclesiastical or organisational status	Synagogue
Leadership	Rabbi Marci L. Bellows
Status	Active
Location
Location	55 East Kings Highway, Chester, Connecticut 06412
Country	United States
	Location in Connecticut
Geographic coordinates	41°25′00″N 72°26′24″W / 41.4167°N 72.4401°W
Architecture
Architect(s)	Sol LeWitt; Stephen Lloyd;
Type	Synagogue
Date established	1998 (as a merged congregation) 1915 (Rodfe Zedek); c. 1930s (Beth Israel);
Completed	1998
Website
	cbsrz.org

Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek (transliterated from Hebrew as "House of Peace; Pursuers of Justice"), is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 55 East Kings Highway, in Chester, Connecticut, in the United States. The congregation is noted for the architecture of its "spectacular" building.^[1]

History

Congregation Rodfe Zedek was founded in Moodus in 1905. The fledgling congregation purchased and worshipped in a small, eighteenth-century house before building its first, modest synagogue in 1915.

Congregation Beth Shalom was founded in the 1930s. Calling itself the Jewish Community Center of Middlesex County, it worshipped at first in the home of chicken farmer and founder Isadore Romanof, then in a room in the Deep River Public Library in Deep River. In 1942 the congregation purchased a former church building for use as a synagogue.

The two congregations merged in the 1990s and in 1998 began plans to build a new synagogue.^[2]

Building

The congregation's building was designed by a congregation member, the noted artist Sol LeWitt in close collaboration with architect Stephen Lloyd. LeWitt conceived the "airy" synagogue building, with its shallow dome supported by "exuberant wooden roof beams" an homage to the Wooden synagogues of eastern Europe.^[3]^[4]^[5] The spacious foyer is designed to be used as an art gallery, and has hosted exhibits by contemporary artists including Jane Logemann.^[4]

References

^ Sweeney, Ginia (April 10, 2007). "Small-town Artist With a Big-time Legacy". Columbia Daily Spectator. Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. Retrieved May 13, 2009.
^ "History". Congregation Rodfe Zedek. Archived from the original on August 20, 2008. Retrieved May 13, 2009.^{[self-published source?]}
^ Ivry, Benjamin (May 8, 2009). "Sol LeWitt: A Jewish Artist's Leap Into the Unknown". The Forward.
^ ^a ^b Zimmer, William (December 9, 2001). "ART; Art Takes a Prominent Spot In Chester's New Synagogue". The New York Times.
^ Stolzman, Henry; Stolzman, Daniel; Hausman, Tami (2004). Synagogue architecture in America: faith, spirit & identity. Images Publishing. pp. 241–3.