BY PAT LAUNER It was a small item in the Weekly Gleaner, San
Francisco’s Jewish newspaper. June 20, 1861. “A meeting was held
by us, the few Israelites residing at the above place (San
Diego)… the object … to form ourselves into a congregation.” And
with that public announcement, Congregation Beth Israel was born
(initially an Orthodox congregation, under the name of Adath
Yeshurun). Now, 150 years later, the temple is the largest
congregation south of Los Angeles, and the oldest in Southern
California. But this anniversary, at this time, almost didn’t
happen. In 1994, Rabbi Jonathan Stein became the congregation’s
senior rabbi. And his plans to celebrate the history of CBI
piqued the interest of Stan Schwartz, president of the Jewish
Historical Society of San Diego (from 1994 to the present). He
had information from the editors of the Western States Jewish
History Quarterly that the congregation didn’t begin in 1876, as
originally thought, but much earlier, in 1861, and he brought
forth the article in the We