Mission, Vision, & History

Founded in Birmingham in December of 1907 as Congregation Beth-El and originally housed on the North Side of Birmingham, Temple Beth El has grown in strength and spirit for a century, each generation not only nurturing its own needs but providing careful stewardship to carry Beth El forward into the hands of those of us who would one day make Temple Beth El our synagogue home.

For generations of Jews in the South, Temple Beth El has provided a home. Through the Great Depression, World Wars, Birmingham’s civil rights struggles, and the founding of the State of Israel, Temple Beth El’s members stood together and experienced history and life as a community.

Today, Temple Beth El, housed in its historic 1926 Highland Avenue facility, provides a spiritual, social and educational center for its congregants and for the Jewish community. The congregation works to create a vibrant, warm, caring community within itself and reaches out in partnership with the broader community of which we are a part. Investing in outstanding staff and updated facilities to support this vision, our congregation strives to be socially responsible and fiscally sound.

As a congregation, we are blessed with dynamic clergy as well as committed professional staff and lay leadership. Many visitors to our community say that our congregation and our building emanate a friendly and welcoming environment. And many people share with us that our congregation feels warm, our worship engaging, and our programming meaningful, and our building’s exterior as well as its sanctuaries and meeting spaces inspirational. Our educational opportunities for adults continue to grow in variety and in participation, and our children have brought us tremendous naches as they are reading Torah and participating in our minyan and in Shabbat services at the highest level.