About Us

Congregation Beth Torah has served the North Dallas and its surrounding communities since 1974.
We strive to live our motto:
Large Enough to Serve You, Small Enough to Know You.

Our Values & Our Goals
Congregation Beth Torah was founded in 1974 as an egalitarian, participatory, inclusive Conservative synagogue. Over the last five decades, we have embraced and enhanced those values, welcoming everyone into the Beth Torah family regardless of age, ethnicity, experience, sexual orientation or gender identification.

We see diversity and differences as bridges, not barriers, enriching our community and fostering understanding among people of varied backgrounds who come together on our common Jewish journey. That journey includes religious and spiritual inspiration, life-cycle needs, youth and adult education, devotion and connection to Israel, celebration in good times and comfort in bad times.

Please join us, virtually or in person, and let us show you how Congregation Beth Torah puts those words into action.

Our History

• 1974 - Beth Torah was founded by six families:
  • Marilyn & David Adler
  • Flora & Steve Brothman
  • Patti & Howard Fields
  • Rebecca & Neil Sklaver
  • Marcia & Barry Sommerstein
  • Gail & Harvey Weiner
• 1975 - Our first sefer Torah acquired and first High Holiday Services held.
• 1977 - We hired our first fulltime rabbi, Rabbi Len Lifshen.
• 1982 - We built our permanent facility in Richardson, Texas.
• 1995 - We added an education wing to house our Learning Center, and other rooms to hold Junior Congregation Services, celebrations, lectures, youth activities, and more.
• 2001-2002 - Major sanctuary and education wing renovations, including installing our stained glass murals.
• 2015 - Congregation Beth Torah was selected as one of 16 congregations in North America to participate in the United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism Ruderman Family Foundation Inclusion Action Community.

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  Our Rabbis (Past to Present)

• Rabbi Len Lifshen
• Rabbi Michael Goldberg
• Rabbi Gabriel Ben Or
• Rabbi Neil Sandler
• Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor
• Rabbi Adam Raskin
• Rabbi Rafi Cohen
• Rabbi Elana Zelony
• Rabbi Sydni Rubinstein (Present)

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  Our Presidents (Past to Present)

• Howard “Howie” Fields
• Jerome Levy
• Norman Kramer
• Zelene Lovitt
• Jerry Zeffren
• Louis Fisher
• Stephen Quinn
• Nat Cohen
• Ron Weller
• Lou Kaiser
• Rona Kesselman
• Larry Strauss
• Paul Koch
• Garry Kahalnik
• Tony Tello
• Chuck Smith
• Alan Hoffman
• Cyd Friedman
• Lynda Markowitz
• Michael Precker (Present)