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BHA Centennial Blog

BHA Present & Future

05/24/2022 01:23:42 PM

May24

Anna Marcus

A white horizontal banner hangs on a wall made of red bricks and translucent glass bricks behind it. There is a row of wooden log stumps standing up on their ends at the base of the building wall. The banner has a round logo with a green Tree in the center and text in red letters next to it reads, “Celebrating 100 Years of Jewish Community in Beacon.”Read more...

BHA Centennial Gala Video

05/03/2022 03:27:26 PM

May3

If you weren’t able to be there on April 7th when Beacon Hebrew Alliance celebrated its centennial, you now get a chance to see what it was like and enjoy the festivities again and again. Peter Skorewicz of Video Ventures documented the gala event at the Roundhouse. We love how he captured not just the featured speakers, but also many of the guests, and the settings of the events. We hope you enjoy watching this video.

Read more...

A Joyous Evening of Community Celebration

04/12/2022 03:47:04 PM

Apr12

Anna Marcus

A large room with lights hanging from a high ceiling is filled with well dressed people sitting at large round tables. Two metal staircases in the back lead to a balcony with sliding barn doors that are open to another room. People are standing on the balcony and everyone seems to be listening to a speaker off-camera at the front of the room.Read more...

Let the Centennial Celebrations Begin!

03/08/2022 04:05:17 PM

Mar8

Anna Marcus

BHA sanctuary c. 1930 Image: Beacon Hebrew Alliance

After nearly five years of planning, negotiating the twists and turns of a deadly pandemic, and working with dozens of volunteers across two organizations we are finally ready to...Read more...

Leaders in the BHA Community

02/01/2022 04:28:19 PM

Feb1

Anna Marcus with research by Ann Gross

A group of people are standing in a small kitchen area, they are all smiling and wearing paint splattered clothes. They are of different ages and heights. They look like they just had a good time getting very messy.Read more...

Jewish Enterprise In Beacon

01/05/2022 09:54:32 AM

Jan5

Anna Marcus & Diane Lapis

A very old black and white photo that was cut along the right side and has been pieced together. The image depicts a street with trolley tracks, and a row of wooden buildings. The middle building has a large sign at the top of its edifice that says “The Clothing House, Samuel Beskin, proprietor.” A young man, who is Samuel Beskin, stands in front of his store’s front door in a dark suit with a newsboy cap and a mustache. The building to the right of this has a smaller sign directly over the door and extending the length of the building that says “Tailor: S. Snidaman.” The owner, Samuel Snidaman, stands in the lower right hand corner in front of his front door, wearing a black tuxedo, black silk top hat and a mustache.Read more...

Beacon Historical Society Presents: The Beacon Hebrew Alliance & the Story of Jews in Beacon

12/20/2021 05:36:21 PM

Dec20

Anna Marcus

On Tuesday, October 26th, BHA's Centennial committee members Diane Lapis and Anna Marcus presented a fascinating program about the founding of BHA hosted by the Beacon Historical Society.

The program looked at early Jewish settlement in Beacon, the establishment of Beacon Hebrew Alliance in 1921, the building the synagogue, religious life, and the activities of the Jewish community in Beacon's professional and civic life. There...Read more...

BHA's History of Interfaith Collaborations

12/07/2021 02:04:59 PM

Dec7

Anna Marcus

A medium brown complexioned man wearing a black kufi skull cap with white design, smiles while hugging another man wearing a black Jewish skull cap whose back is to the camera. There is an audience seated behind them looking on. Imam Abdullah Abdul Wajid and Rabbi Brent Spodek embrace at  One Beacon: Light in the Darkness of Racism & Anti-Semitism event on November 1, 2018, Salem Tabernacle, Beacon, NY, photo courtesy of ritterphoto.com

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A Brief History of the Beacon Hebrew Alliance Building

11/02/2021 03:55:29 PM

Nov2

Prepared by Brandon DiDiego – Intern at the Beacon Historical Society with contributions by Ann Gross and Diane Lapis, editing by Anna Marcus

A grainy black and white newspaper photo of a large brick building with three tall windows in front trimmed in white, a star of David at the top of center of the building, and a white series of steps leading up to a white-trimmed entryway. Newspaper article reporting the opening of “the new Hebrew Synagogue and Community Center… under the auspices of Beacon Hebrew Alliance,” Sept 1929, courtesy of Beacon Historical Society Read more...

l'Dor Va Dor-Religious Education at BHA

09/27/2021 03:09:27 PM

Sep27

Anna Marcus

Fall has officially begun, children have returned to school, and in the time-honored tradition, Jewish kids everywhere are starting up their religious education and preparing for their B-Mitzvahs.* As we continue to explore the rich history of Beacon Hebrew Alliance and Jewish life in Beacon over the past 100 years, this month we are going to examine how the traditions and learnings have been passed down over the generations to...Read more...

Jewish Camps In and Around Beacon Part 3: Surprise Lake and Eden Village

08/31/2021 02:11:48 PM

Aug31

Diane Lapis

An old photograph in sepia tone of a group of young men and boys sitting and standing in front of a white house with a high lattice porch. There are trees all around the scene, and some of the boys are hanging off the porch. They all are wearing white shirts and many have hats and walking sticks.Read more...

University Settlement Camp and the Jewish Presence in Beacon

08/23/2021 06:34:11 PM

Aug23

Ellen Kirschner

A group of teenage girls are standing and sitting in the doorway of a dark wooden building. There is a dark banner with the words “Peace Corps” in white letters hanging under the window on the outside of the building.Read more...

Jewish Camps In and Around Beacon-Part 1:Camp Nitgedaiget

08/23/2021 03:23:52 PM

Aug23

Diane Lapis

Did you know that Beacon was once home to a vacation resort for Jewish progressive liberals and Communist sympathizers? Camp Nitgedaiget, (Nish-guh-die-get,) meaning “no worries” in Yiddish, was later called Camp Beacon. It operated from 1922 until the early 1950s and was located in the hamlet of Dutchess Junction, approximately two miles south of the city of Beacon on Route 9D.

A black and white painting depicting a mown path leading down a hill with trees, past a barn, and to a large wooden building with a porch. People are walking on the path in shorts and sun hats. Mountains are in the background.Read more...

Remembering the Sisterhood of BHA

07/27/2021 03:57:10 PM

Jul27

Anna Brady Marcus with research by Ann Gross

Article on the 40th Anniversary of the...Read more...

Centennial Reflections on religious Life and Community at BHA

06/29/2021 06:01:36 PM

Jun29

Anna Brady Marcus

A man stands at a table looking down and singing with a burning bunch of incense in his hand and a bottle of wine in front of him. There are women behind him singing and a banner above them that has the initials B.H.A. on it for Beacon Hebrew Alliance. It is black and white and the clothing of the people suggests it is the 1950s.Read more...
Wed, April 30 2025 2 Iyyar 5785