Beth Israel Synagogue is a Conservative

Conservative Judaism

Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...

 synagogue

Synagogue

A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...

 located at 920 Franklin Road in Roanoke, Virginia

Roanoke, Virginia

Roanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...

. It was founded in 1900, and had a membership of approximately 160 families and individuals.

In 2007 the synagogue completed an expansion and renovation of its building, carefully planned so that the original facade, part of Roanoke's Old Southwest historic district

Old Southwest, Roanoke, Virginia

Old Southwest is a neighborhood of the independent city of Roanoke, Virginia, U.S.A.. Located geographically near the center of the city, Old Southwest was annexed from Roanoke County in 1890 and developed as one of Roanoke's more affluent residential areas...

, was unaltered. Fabian Werbin joined as rabbi

Rabbi

In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

in 2008.

Resources

• Beth Israel Synagogue: 100th Anniversary 1902-2002, Published by Beth Israel Synagogue, (Roanoke, Va.,) 2001