page_title: Congregation Beth Israel (Vancouver)
section_title: Early rabbis and leaders
hierarchical_section_title: Congregation Beth Israel (Vancouver) / Early rabbis and leaders
caption_attribution_description: H/Captain Samuel Cass, a rabbi, conducting the first worship service celebrated on German territory by Jewish personnel of the 1st Canadian Army near Cleve, Germany
context_page_description: Congregation Beth Israel is an egalitarian Conservative synagogue located at 989 West 28th Avenue in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was founded in 1925, but did not formally incorporate until 1932. Its first rabbi was Ben Zion Bokser, hired that year. He was succeeded the following year by Samuel Cass. Other rabbis included David Kogen, Bert Woythaler, and Wilfred Solomon, who served for decades starting in 1964.
  The congregation worshiped at the Jewish Community Center in Fairview until 1948, when it opened its current building at 4350 Oak Street. By the end of the 1960s, it was the largest Jewish congregation in Vancouver, and by the 1990s, it was Canada's largest Conservative congregation west of Winnipeg. Charles Feinberg was rabbi from 1998 to 2006, and he was succeeded that year by Jonathan Infeld.
  As of 2010, Beth Israel had over 700 member families. The current rabbi is Jonathan Infeld, and the assistant rabbi is Adam Stein.
context_section_description: The advertised intent of its first meeting in 1925 was "to organize a new congregation with an English-speaking Rabbi". The congregation, however, did not hire its first rabbi, Ben Zion Bokser, until 1932. A 1931 graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS), he had served briefly at the Bronx's Congregation Kehillath Israel before coming to Beth Israel. He left Beth Israel the following year, and moved to the Forest Hills Jewish Center in Queens, New York 1935, where he remained (aside from a brief stint as a U.S. Army chaplain) until his death in 1984.
  Bokser was succeeded in 1933 by Samuel Cass, who served as Beth Israel's rabbi until 1941. From 1942 to 1946 Cass served as Senior Jewish Chaplain for the Canadian Army and Navy, attaining the rank of Major.
  Albert O. Koch was one of the congregation's founders. He served as its second president, from 1933 to 1934, and again as its president from 1938 to 1951. Known as the "father" of Beth Israel, he was also the founder of the National Dress Company.
caption: Rabbi Samuel Cass conducting a service on German territory in 1945
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