As we enter our makom, the first piece you’ll see on our walls is our Founders Plaque. We honor our past by recognizing not the builders of this particular building, but the founders of our community.
While the 1960 plaque lists the couples responsible for founding Temple Beth Elohim, the origin of our community is a group of founding mothers. In 1949, twenty-two women gathered to form the Jewish Women’s Community Group of Wellesley for the purposes of promoting social, cultural, and religious activities; establishing a religious school; participating in civic activities, and creating a center for Jewish community in Wellesley. The first officers of the Jewish Women’s Community Group were Sarah Schweitzer (President), Edith Berman (Vice President), Esther Dosick (Treasurer), Joanne Wallis (Corresponding Secretary), and Sydney Colman (Recording Secretary). Men joined the group the following year and the group became the Jewish Community Group of Wellesley. Our community takes the name Temple Beth Elohim in 1958, and our first temple building is completed in 1960.
