Welcome to Temple Beth Israel, a Beit T’Fillah, a house of prayer, a Beit Midrash, a house of study, and a Beit Knesset, a house of assembly. We have a place for everyone in our house; we embrace anyone who wants to experience Jewish life. We're small; we make each person who comes to our house feel important. We're diverse; we fully accept the qualities that make each of us devine and unique.
What We Have to Offer
Services & Programs
*Monthly Shabbat services led by our student rabbi *Holiday services *Range of life cycle events from baby naming, b’nei mitzvah, to funerals *Monthly Shabbat Cinema featuring films with a Jewish or Israeli theme *Monthly book club with a focus on Jewish authors or subjects *Bet Sefer Sunday School
*Guest speakers & performers
We Are
We are Jews by birth, Jews by Choice, interfaith couples, and those who just love what our Jewish community has to offer.
Anyone who desires to experience Jewish life is welcome. We share a common desire to make Judaism a part of our lives in a way that is meaningful to each individual.
TBI Is
A place where you feel the warmth of a Jewish community. A place of challenging prayer and heart-opening song. A place of Jewish ideas, concepts, theology, and philosophy. A place where you can celebrate Shabbat and Jewish Holidays. A place where you can celebrate the major events in your life with a community ready to stand with you and support you as you face life's challenges. A place where your children can feel at home with words, songs, prayers, holidays and rituals that can add layers of Jewish meaning to their lives...and to yours
Tree of memories
About our rabbi
Rabbi Jeremy Simons is a third year rabbinical student at the Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles, CA. He travels up to Redding once a month, usually around Jewish holidays, and for the High Holy Days. As a student, he is able to perform most life cycle events with the exceptions of weddings and conversions.
Jeremy grew up in Boston and Ohio. He has been very active as a youth group leader and is passionate about the status of Reform Judaism in Israel. Rabbi Jeremy has helped lead Birthright trips in Israel and recently spent time in Senegal with AJWS.
About our diversity
We are a small community of 61 families.We welcome all who want to worship with us. At TBI we are open to those from tradtional as well as non-tradtional families. Our congregation embraces individuals from all backgrounds, from those who were raised Jewish to those raised in secular, or even non-Jewish families.
As of April 2010 we had 77 adults and 36 children, infants to teens. About a third of married members claim both partners as members. We do have some "honorary" members. (Mostly seniors.) In about 20% of our population, one party in a couple claims membership.
The majority of us were raised reform (30%) or conservative (18% ), with 5% raised orthodox. Overall, we are from all backgrounds, from orthodox to those who came to Judaism as adults. We also have a number of dues paying members who list themselves as non-Jewish couples. Almost all of us were born elsewhere and moved to Redding as adults. We hope you will join us!
Our Beginning
A Jewish presence in Shasta County was first evident in the 1800s through the merchants that settled here during the Gold Rush Era. They formed the Jewish Benevolent Society in order to have consecrated ground for burials. Subsequently, the Shasta County Supervisors deeded land to them in 1857 to establish a cemetery. That land, located on both sides of Highway 299 west of Old Shasta, now belongs to Temple Beth Israel. A State Historical Marker at the site identifies an early Jewish baby’s grave, that of Charles Brownstein, infant son of George and Helena Brownstein, who died 14 Dec 1864. Temple Beth Israel began with a luncheon of interested women in Shingletown. Their enthusiasm sparked a meeting of other families who organized the Redding Jewish Community Center on 10 November 1976. On 25 April 1980, the Center received a charter as Congregation Beth Israel from the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now the U nion of R eform J udaism). In our early days, we met and prayed in many places. In 1981, we began a 15-year relation with Pilgrim Congregational Church as our center of congregational life. In December 1996, we acquired our current building and became Temple Beth Israel of Redding.
Rabbi Jeremy Simons is a third year rabbinical student at the Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles, CA. He travels up to Redding once a month, usually around Jewish holidays, and for the High Holy Days. As a student, he is able to perform most life cycle events with the exceptions of weddings and conversions.
