Comunidad Bet El

It was founded in 1962 as a result of tensions within the Synagogue of the Israelite Argentine Congregation caused by the arrival of rabbi Marshall Meyer , who instituted changes to ritual practices that were broadly popular with youth but not with more conservative members of the synagogue. Meyer was the founding rabbi of Bet El; having previously resigned as rabbi of the Congregación Israelita de la República Argentina, he was convinced to take the post by a group that also left that congregation to found a new one. The Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano , which was formally founded in 1962, was built near Bet El. Many youth studied at the Seminario after their b'nai mitzvah . Bet El and the Seminario were involved in the Instituto de Diálogo Interreligioso along with Protestant and Catholic groups. In 1972, Comunidad Bet El had a 600-family membership and broke ground for the construction of a new synagogue and school complex. In June 1973, it opened its new sanctuary , dedicating it to Abraham Joshua Heschel . In 1974, it opened the first Jewish day school in South America and ran a Camp Ramah summer camp program. King and Rabbi Heschel" . "La conversion prohibée: mariages mixtes et politiques de conversion dans le champ religieux juif argentin" [The prohibited conversion: mixed marriages and conversion politics in the Argentine Jewish religious field].¹