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Beth Chaverim, House of Friends, was established in 1982 by eight founding families who wished to create the first Reform Jewish Congregation in Virginia Beach. Services were initially held in the home of one of the founding members. On July 2, 1982 the first public services were held at was then called Wesleyan Acres United Methodist on Baker Road. When the congregation outgrew this facility it then met for ten years at the Catholic Church of the Ascension on Princess Anne Road. Religious school classes were held for many years at Virginia Wesleyan University, then at Independence Middle School. Our founding Rabbi, Israel Zoberman, joined the congregation as our first full time rabbi in 1985.
In 1989, we purchased a three acre lot at the corner of Rosemont and Stoneshore Roads as the site of our permanent home. In 1992, Warren Epstein and Associates of Atlanta, Georgia, was engaged to design our new facility which we determined would be constructed in two phases. In 1996 we dedicated our current facility (Phase I), which encompasses approximately 10,300 square feet and includes our social hall, which is used as a temporary sanctuary with seating for about 330. We also constructed two large permanent and three temporary classrooms. The latter three were created by congregants who constructed removable walls in the back of the social hall. These walls were taken down and stored each High Holy Day so as to maximize space in our temporary sanctuary. A large kitchen is adjacent to the social hall. Between the social hall and the administrative wing is a large foyer, a small library/classroom, administrative office, gift shop, and the Rabbi's study which completes Phase 1.
In 2002 we hired Michael Ashe of CMSS Architects, PC, to design Phase II, which includes our permanent sanctuary, our religious school, an expanded library, a new office for our rabbi and some essential renovations to the original facility.
Beth Chaverim is a congregation of warm and caring individuals. Our congregation grew from our original eight members in 1982 to over 240 family units in 1994 when we designed our current facility. Today our membership includes over 200 families. On any given Sunday morning our synagogue is bursting with excited children in our many classrooms and busy adults in our foyer, social hall, and even our garage-storage facility serving our P.T.A. and adult Hebrew classes. |
