311 WASHINGTON AVENUE - MIAMI BEACH'S FIRST SYNAGOGUE

Miami Beach’s first synagogue, the original home of Congregation Beth Jacob, was designed by architect H. Frasser Rose and built in 1928-29 at 311 Washington Avenue. The site was chosen because at the time the synagogue was built, Jews were not permitted to live north of Fifth Street.

Its construction satisfied an urgent need of the small Jewish community of residents and winter visitors who had first settled on Miami Beach in 1913. It established that Jews were accepted and a permanent part of the resident population of the City.

Prior to this, Jews had been denied permission to construct a synagogue. They had to ferry across Biscayne Bay (and later the County Causeway, now the MacArthur Causeway, built in 1920) to attend religious services at B’nai Zion Congregation in Miami. When Orthodox Jews, who do not travel on the Sabbath and high holidays, joined the congregation, they and the winter visitors from Canada and Miami Beach residents held services in the Royal Apartments at 221 Collins Avenue.

In 1924 Malvina Weiss Leibman organized and taught Sunday School classes in a vacant lot on the west side of Washington Avenue north of Third Street.

Beginning in 1926 and during construction of Beth Jacob, services were held on the roof of the David Court Apartments at 56 Washington Avenue, owned by the Granat family. The first rabbi was reportedly Rabbi David Yallow followed by Rabbis Hurowitz, Axelrod and David I. Rosenbloom. Rabbi Moses Mescheloff served the congregation from 1937 to 1955. Subsequent spiritual leaders were Rabbis Akiva Chill, Tibor Stern (1955-65), Shmaryahu T. Swirsky (1965-92) and Moshe Berenholz.

Almost every Jew who was a permanent resident of Miami Beach between 1927 and 1932 was a member and financial contributor to the synagogue. The initial role of the Synagogue as the religious and social center of the Jewish community soon developed into being the Jewish cultural center as well. A Hebrew school was established, scholars, rabbis and cantors were invited and a mikvah (ritual bath for women) was built in 1944 for $35,000 at 151 Michigan Avenue.

The original building was dedicated on February 17, 1929. The founding officers were Lazarus Abramowitz, President; Jekuthiel Kaplan, Vice President; Morris Abraham, Treasurer; Samuel Guttman, Secretary; and Joseph Tilzer and Harry Levitt, building committee members.

Faced in stucco, the two-story building has a rectangular plan and a gable roof. The central entrance consists of three double doors of simple, vertical panels and large iron hinges of Spanish style. The top of the building façade has a plaque reading “Beth Jacob Congregation, 5689-1929.” The façade is crowned by tablets with the Ten Commandments. Inside, the main hall is two stories in height with an area of 2,453 square feet. The original dark wood bimah was the focal point of the sanctuary.

Being Orthodox, the women sat separately upstairs, with only two sets of windows through which to “peek” down to the main sanctuary. There are two wood staircases to ascend to the women’s section.

By 1936, the congregation outgrew its original facility and constructed a second larger adjacent building for the synagogue at 301 Washington Avenue. Used as a synagogue for 50 years and then abandoned, this was restored and opened as the JMOF in 1995. Both buildings were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

After 1936, the original building was used as the religious school and social hall. A two-story addition of concrete block was built to the east in 1946, containing offices, meeting rooms and classrooms. On the east side of the original structure there were two arched windows that became buried in the walls of this addition.

Towards the end of the 20th century, Beth Jacob Congregation began to dwindle and moved all of its functions back to this original building. Many of its older members died. There were hardly enough members remaining to have a minyan (the ten men required for many parts of the religious services) and in 2005, the congregation went out of business. The Jewish Museum of Florida, which needed room to expand its facilities beyond the confines of the adjacent building it has occupied since 1995, purchased the original synagogue, ensuring that the building so rich in Jewish history will continue to be preserved and become a repository for the chronology of Florida’s Jews.

The 311 structure has just undergone a one-year, one million dollar restoration by architect and contractor Ira D. Giller and with $500,000 support from the City of  Miami Beach. The former sanctuary on the main level of the building is now a multi-purpose room that houses a second exhibit venue for the Museum and is also used for public programs and special events. Additional Museum staff offices are located upstairs in the former women’s balcony on the west side. The area on the east side of the second floor, which was formerly the synagogue’s classrooms, has become the Collections and Research Center. This transformation grew the Museum from 7,200 square feet to nearly 13,000 square feet.

The entire building was tented for termites and asbestos was removed. It was wired for new electric service and fire alarm, security and computer systems, ducts installed for the new air-conditioning system, fire sprinkler system and new plumbing provided. Five new restrooms were installed and the two restrooms off the lobby were upgraded, as was the kitchen to accommodate kosher catering for events, school groups and the center court café, which is coming in the next phase. 

In the main multipurpose hall that was formerly the sanctuary, three layers of termite-eaten wood floors were replaced with a new oak floor, new hurricane-resistant windows were installed and new lighting and audio-visual systems were put in. The wood bimah was stripped of more than a dozen coats of paint and refinished. New tables, chairs, stage risers and partitions expand the use of the space that at times will host school groups working on art projects and then an organizational luncheon event or public program in the evening. The centerpiece of the hall is a group of four brass/glass antique chandeliers of the period.          

In the former women’s balcony, the partitions and old air-conditioning ducts were removed and new windows and lighting installed. The original wood staircases and floor were stripped, repaired and refinished. This provides a very functional space for additional staff offices.

For the Collections & Research Center upstairs, new flooring, lighting and walls were put in place and shelving and storage systems were provided to move the archives to their new home that is environmentally controlled and secure. There is space to design exhibits and a small production area.

All new doors were installed throughout the building and all interior and exterior walls got fresh paint; 311 was painted to match 301 and new awnings were installed. A new HVAC 100-ton air-conditioning was installed to service both 301, 311 and the café. The water-cooling tower is the large structure on the roof of 311.

This summer (2007), the old synagogue (311) will be connected to the later synagogue next door (301), built in 1936 and serving as the primary building for the JMOF, with a glass-domed café in the center court. This phase includes removing the existing air-conditioning system that now rests between the two buildings and placing a new system on the roof of the newly restored original shul. Then the former exterior walls will be cleaned and painted. We will install a new wood floor and glass ceiling to provide the roof. Period fixtures, tables and chairs will provide a comfortable social ambiance.

Walls will be opened in both buildings to create a walkway so that visitors can go from one to the other, through the café. The MOSAIC core exhibit will be reconfigured to accommodate the opening on the north side of 301 into the café. Also there will be an enclosed connection of the east doors of both buildings. Included in this phase of the project is the expansion of the Museum Store, which will triple in size and have even more assorted merchandise.

This Museum expansion reflects the need for more space that is a result of the successful growth in only 12 years of the Jewish Museum of Florida. For Jews, the Museum instills a sense of pride in relating how Jews maintained their heritage and helped contribute to the state’s development. This helps ensure Jewish continuity. For non-Jews, the Museum traces one ethnic group’s immigrant experience as an example of the acculturation process, which helps diminish bigotry and prejudice and enhances understanding and tolerance of living in a diverse ethnic community.

WE MAKE A POSITIVE DIFFERENCE IN PEOPLES’ LIVES BY PRESENTING DIVERSITY AS ENRICHMENT AND BY INSPIRING PEOPLE TO THINK – AND NOW WE HAVE MORE SPACE TO EXPAND THE THINKING!

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