SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - San Diego's second-oldest synagogue celebrated 120 years of history, community and tradition with a gala event in late February.
Tifereth Israel Synagogue, located near Cowles Mountain in East County, has been a fixture of San Diego's Jewish community since 1905 — and its leaders say the secret to its longevity isn't the buildings it has occupied, but the people inside them.
"Definitely it's members, the people of Tifereth Israel," Rabbi Hanan Leberman said.
The congregation was founded in 1905 when a group of members left Beth Israel — the city's first synagogue — to establish a more traditional service. It began as an Orthodox synagogue before eventually affiliating with the Conservative Jewish movement, which blends traditional observance with modern life.
Over the decades, Tifereth Israel has called three locations home: a downtown building that opened in 1917, a North Park location from 1947 to 1979, and its current home near Cowles Mountain, where it has been since 1979.
"The shell may change, but the soul is always the same. And the soul is the people," Leberman said.
Leberman says that deep sense of history is written in the walls of the synagogue.
"If you look around you, in our synagogue, almost every bit of space on the walls has a donation, a memorial of some sort, a piece of art that's dedicated to someone's memory."
For longtime members like former synagogue president Seth Krosner, that connection to the past is part of what makes Tifereth Israel meaningful.
"You feel tied to a long tradition. And Jews have a history of going someplace new, setting up a community, and G-d willing that place stays a great place to be for centuries on end," Krosner said.
Krosner also points to an unusual thread of leadership stability as a source of the congregation's strength. From 1948 to 2016, Tifereth Israel had only three rabbis: Monroe Levens, Aaron Gold and Leonard Rosenthal.
"You go through several stages of your life with that same leadership, and that's exciting," says Krosner. "That doesn't happen a lot in the modern world, in a lot of institutions, let alone religious ones. That kind of longevity as a pulpit rabbi creates a kind of stability and sense of community that makes things last," Krosner said.
Rabbi Leberman, who hopes to carry that legacy forward, described the 120th anniversary celebration in terms that capture what the milestone means to the congregation.
"It's what we call a simcha. We're celebrating where we came from, where we are, and where we're going," Leberman said.
After 120 years, Tifereth Israel's leaders and members say they hope their synagogue remains a home for the Jewish community in East County for another 120 years and beyond.
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