Located in the center of the historical town of Plymouth, Congregation Beth Jacob has the…read moredistinction of being the oldest continually operating synagogue in Massachusetts. The synagogue building was erected in 1913 and was originally an Orthodox schul with a balcony for the women congregants. CBJ became a Reform synagogue in the 1960's, and Rabbi Lawrence Silverman became its rabbi in 1975. As the congregation grew, there was a need for a larger space to accommodate high attendance at High Holy Days services, community Bingo nights, community Passover seders, and large social gatherings, and CBJ purchased a former Methodist church on Court Street to serve as its community center. This building served for many years until it was eventually sold to the Town of Plymouth and is now operating as The Spire Center for the Performing Arts.
CBJ is a small congregation, presently about 80 families located in the Greater Plymouth area. We pride ourselves on our "haimishe," friendly atmosphere, welcoming new residents to the area, as well as tourists who are visiting Plymouth. Our members include families with lifelong affiliations with CBJ, many being descendants of its Founders. While the majority are retirees and empty-nesters, we also have a growing number of young families with children who are enrolled in CBJ's outstanding Beit Sefer (Hebrew School) program.
After Rabbi Silverman retired at the end of July, 2021, after 44 years of devoted service to CBJ, Rabbi Estelle Mills became our rabbi. Although the synagogue building was closed to in-person services because of the Covid pandemic in March of 2020, CBJ has continued to conduct weekly Friday evening Shabbat services by Zoom, and Rabbi Mills has proven to be a technical wizard, creating PowerPoint slides for inspiring readings and prayers and sharing them with our minyan-goers. She incorporates beautiful music videos into our services, introducing us to new melodies that keep our services fresh and exciting. Her D'var Torah for the week is always relevant to current events while reinforcing the message and substance of the parashah. Significantly, Rabbi Mills has introduced us to the Reform practice of reading from the Torah at our Friday evening services - something that we had never done before. She includes congregants in the service, inviting selected people to light the Shabbat candles, do readings, share special blessings that we have enjoyed over the past week, and to actively engage and participate in the service.
If you would like to learn more about CBJ, please visit our website: cbjplymouth.org.
