Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek

Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek is a Reform synagogue in Chester, Connecticut. The congregation is noted for the architecture of its "spectacular" building.[1]

For similarly named synagogues, see Beth Shalom.

History

Congregation Rodfe Zedek was founded in Moodus, Connecticut 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, Connecticut. 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
  1. Columbia Daily Spectator, April 10, 2007 , Small-town Artist With a Big-time Legacy by Ginia Sweeney "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2009-05-13.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-08-20. Retrieved 2009-05-13.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. Sol LeWitt: A Jewish Artist’s Leap Into the Unknown, Benjamin Ivry, Forward, May 08, 2009
  4. ART; Art Takes a Prominent Spot In Chester's New Synagogue, By WILLIAM ZIMMER, New York Times, December 9, 2001
  5. Synagogue architecture in America: faith, spirit & identity, By Henry Stolzman, Daniel Stolzman, Tami Hausman Images Publishing, 2004, pp. 241-3

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