Temple Beth Hatfiloh celebrates past, present
By Matt Batcheldor
The Olympian
May 29, 2013
It has been a year of anniversaries for Temple Beth Hatfiloh.
Last year marked the 75th anniversary of the incorporation of the Jewish congregation, and this year marks the 75th anniversary of the dedication of the temple’s longtime former location at Eighth Avenue and Jefferson Street.
In true temple fashion, the congregation of about 150 families has celebrated all year, and that will continue Sunday with a street faair in front of its current location at 201 Eighth Ave. SE.
And they invite the wider community to celebrate with them.
“It’s been a good year reflecting on our history and thinking about where we’re going,” said Rabbi Seth Goldstein, who will celebrate his 10th anniversary with the temple in July.
A history of Temple Beth Hatfiloh, provided by the temple, tells the story from the first Jewish settlers in the 1850s to the modern era. It’s a story of close-knit Jewish community in South Sound that comes together in the midst of a community with not many Jews.
“We’re tiny, but we’ve been, I think, a real presence in Olympia through a lot of the good works that we’ve done,” Goldstein said.
One of the first Jewish settlers was Louis Bettman from Bavaria, Germany, who came to Olympia in 1853 and founded a general store, the third business to open in the town. Other Jewish families sold dry goods and Olympia oysters.
One notable Jew, Isaac Harris, was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant to be governor of what was then the Washington Territory. By 1880, there were about 40 Jews in Olympia out of about 250,000 in the United States.
Residents began to put down roots. The Hebrew Benevolent Society was formed in 1873, and a Jewish Cemetery was established in a section of Tumwater’s Masonic Memorial Park in 1874. Goldstein said the cemetery is the oldest Jewish cemetery in the state.
Most early Jewish settlers came from Germany, but by the end of the 19th century, many were coming from Eastern Europe.
In the absence of a synagogue, for decades services were held in homes or local halls. That began to change in 1937, when some of Olympia’s early Jewish families — Earl Bean, Carl Hollander and Reuben Cohn — incorporated Temple Beth Hatfiloh.
They bought a small plot of land at Eighth Avenue and Jefferson Street for $537. After a year of fundraising and building, the $12,000 temple was dedicated in June 1938 with a rabbi from Seattle and a 15-person choir.
Ben Bean, a son of Earl Bean, was about 15 when the temple was dedicated. He’s now 89 and the longest-tenured member of the temple.
“It was something new that, of course, we never had,” he said. “That was something that my father had always wanted.
“It was through his considered effort; he raised money everywhere, even Tacoma, Seattle, from business people, and they supported him.”
Bean and his twin brother celebrated their bar mitzvah there, one of many celebrations over the years. He’s the patriarch of the family that owns Olympia Supply Co., the longtime downtown hardware store.
The temple was small in the postwar years, having a core of 20 families. But it began to expand in the 1970s when more Jewish people moved to the Northwest with the establishment of The Evergreen State College and a growing state government in Olympia.
Russell Lidman, the temple’s president, said the temple has grown sixfold since he joined in the early 1970s.
“So the Beans, the Goldbergs and the Hollanders were three founding families,” he said, and “those later generations are still here, active temple members, but of course it’s grown much beyond that.”
For years, the temple lacked a rabbi. Aside from a refugee from Dresden who served as rabbi in the 1940s, Lidman said, the temple went without a rabbi until the 1980s.
Rabbi Vicki Hollander became a part-time rabbi in 1985. In 1989, Rabbi Marna Sapsowitz joined the congregation part time and became a full-time rabbi a year later.
In 2004, Temple Beth Hatfiloh moved into its present, roomier location, a converted Christian Science church. In recent years, it has expanded to have more space for shared dinners and classes. It now has a religious school with more than 80 students from preschool through eighth grade, according to its website. Children attend the school on Sunday.
“People are laid back, very Northwestern liberal,” said Jim Stevenson, a temple member who has taught religious classes.
The temple is well-known in the community for its annual Blintzapalooza, a fundraiser featuring a book sale, blintzes, bagels and a challah competition. Proceeds go to charitable endeavors, such as the homeless ministry SideWalk, an effort of the ecumenical group Interfaith Works. This year’s Blintzapalooza, in March, was the 25th anniversary.
In a town that lacks a large Jewish presence, the Jewish community must take an active role to come together with people of the same tradition. And they share their charitable work with the wider community.
“Judaism is, for many people, it’s more than just a religious tradition,” Goldstein said. “I mean, that’s a big part of it, but it also is about a cultural connection. … So we’ll have religious services and holiday observances, of course, but we’ll have just dinners and social events and things as part of the mix, along with all the social justice work that we do and everything.”
The Olympian
May 29, 2013
It has been a year of anniversaries for Temple Beth Hatfiloh.
Last year marked the 75th anniversary of the incorporation of the Jewish congregation, and this year marks the 75th anniversary of the dedication of the temple’s longtime former location at Eighth Avenue and Jefferson Street.
In true temple fashion, the congregation of about 150 families has celebrated all year, and that will continue Sunday with a street faair in front of its current location at 201 Eighth Ave. SE.
And they invite the wider community to celebrate with them.
“It’s been a good year reflecting on our history and thinking about where we’re going,” said Rabbi Seth Goldstein, who will celebrate his 10th anniversary with the temple in July.
A history of Temple Beth Hatfiloh, provided by the temple, tells the story from the first Jewish settlers in the 1850s to the modern era. It’s a story of close-knit Jewish community in South Sound that comes together in the midst of a community with not many Jews.
“We’re tiny, but we’ve been, I think, a real presence in Olympia through a lot of the good works that we’ve done,” Goldstein said.
One of the first Jewish settlers was Louis Bettman from Bavaria, Germany, who came to Olympia in 1853 and founded a general store, the third business to open in the town. Other Jewish families sold dry goods and Olympia oysters.
One notable Jew, Isaac Harris, was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant to be governor of what was then the Washington Territory. By 1880, there were about 40 Jews in Olympia out of about 250,000 in the United States.
Residents began to put down roots. The Hebrew Benevolent Society was formed in 1873, and a Jewish Cemetery was established in a section of Tumwater’s Masonic Memorial Park in 1874. Goldstein said the cemetery is the oldest Jewish cemetery in the state.
Most early Jewish settlers came from Germany, but by the end of the 19th century, many were coming from Eastern Europe.
In the absence of a synagogue, for decades services were held in homes or local halls. That began to change in 1937, when some of Olympia’s early Jewish families — Earl Bean, Carl Hollander and Reuben Cohn — incorporated Temple Beth Hatfiloh.
They bought a small plot of land at Eighth Avenue and Jefferson Street for $537. After a year of fundraising and building, the $12,000 temple was dedicated in June 1938 with a rabbi from Seattle and a 15-person choir.
Ben Bean, a son of Earl Bean, was about 15 when the temple was dedicated. He’s now 89 and the longest-tenured member of the temple.
“It was something new that, of course, we never had,” he said. “That was something that my father had always wanted.
“It was through his considered effort; he raised money everywhere, even Tacoma, Seattle, from business people, and they supported him.”
Bean and his twin brother celebrated their bar mitzvah there, one of many celebrations over the years. He’s the patriarch of the family that owns Olympia Supply Co., the longtime downtown hardware store.
The temple was small in the postwar years, having a core of 20 families. But it began to expand in the 1970s when more Jewish people moved to the Northwest with the establishment of The Evergreen State College and a growing state government in Olympia.
Russell Lidman, the temple’s president, said the temple has grown sixfold since he joined in the early 1970s.
“So the Beans, the Goldbergs and the Hollanders were three founding families,” he said, and “those later generations are still here, active temple members, but of course it’s grown much beyond that.”
For years, the temple lacked a rabbi. Aside from a refugee from Dresden who served as rabbi in the 1940s, Lidman said, the temple went without a rabbi until the 1980s.
Rabbi Vicki Hollander became a part-time rabbi in 1985. In 1989, Rabbi Marna Sapsowitz joined the congregation part time and became a full-time rabbi a year later.
In 2004, Temple Beth Hatfiloh moved into its present, roomier location, a converted Christian Science church. In recent years, it has expanded to have more space for shared dinners and classes. It now has a religious school with more than 80 students from preschool through eighth grade, according to its website. Children attend the school on Sunday.
“People are laid back, very Northwestern liberal,” said Jim Stevenson, a temple member who has taught religious classes.
The temple is well-known in the community for its annual Blintzapalooza, a fundraiser featuring a book sale, blintzes, bagels and a challah competition. Proceeds go to charitable endeavors, such as the homeless ministry SideWalk, an effort of the ecumenical group Interfaith Works. This year’s Blintzapalooza, in March, was the 25th anniversary.
In a town that lacks a large Jewish presence, the Jewish community must take an active role to come together with people of the same tradition. And they share their charitable work with the wider community.
“Judaism is, for many people, it’s more than just a religious tradition,” Goldstein said. “I mean, that’s a big part of it, but it also is about a cultural connection. … So we’ll have religious services and holiday observances, of course, but we’ll have just dinners and social events and things as part of the mix, along with all the social justice work that we do and everything.”