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Congregation Beth Israel (Scottsdale, Arizona)

Jewish congregation in Scottsdale, Arizona, United States

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 30, 2026
Entity authorityQ5160627 ↗
Source-derived summary

Congregation Beth Israel (Hebrew: בית ישראל) is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 10460 North 56th Street in Scottsdale, Arizona, in the United States. Incorporated in 1920, the congregation affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism in 1935.

Abraham Lincoln Krohn was rabbi of Beth Israel from 1938 to 1953, and during his tenure the congregation grew from under 100 to almost 600 member families. He was succeeded by Albert Plotkin, who served for almost 40 years.

Beth Israel's original building in Downtown Phoenix, constructed in 1921–1922, is listed on both the city's historic property register and the National Register of Historic Places. After being sold in 1949, it housed churches until 2002, when the Jewish community repurchased it. In 2007 the Arizona Jewish Historical Society started a $4 million campaign to restore it and convert it into a museum. The museum opened in 2008 as the Cutler-Plotkin Jewish Heritage Center.

As of 2018, Beth Israel was the oldest synagogue in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The senior rabbi was Stephen Kahn, the associate rabbi was Sara Mason-Barkin, and the cantor was Seth Ettinger.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Congregation Beth Israel (Scottsdale, Arizona)” as jewish congregation in Scottsdale, Arizona, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Congregation, Beth and Israel.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1920, 1935, 1938, 1953—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1997. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Congregation, Beth and Israel providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Congregation Beth Israel (Scottsdale, Arizona)”, the useful work is to connect “jewish congregation in Scottsdale, Arizona, United States” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5160627. Authority coordinates are 33.731, -111.961. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1920, 1935, 1938 and 1953.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Congregation Beth Israel (Scottsdale, Arizona)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Congregation Beth Israel (Scottsdale, Arizona) primary sources, Congregation Beth Israel (Scottsdale, Arizona) archive and Congregation research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Congregation Beth Israel (Scottsdale, Arizona)”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Congregation Beth Israel (Scottsdale, Arizona)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.