Antique Stained Glass at Beth-El

Saving the Stained-Glass Medallions at Beth-El’s Broadway Avenue Temple

The effort to save the antique stained-glass windows from Beth-El’s Broadway Avenue Temple set preservationists against those focused strictly on the bottom line. In the end, Private donors stepped up with funds, while the Men of Reform Judaism built plywood storage cases to protect the fragile glass. Thanks to their efforts, the 34 medallions that once adorned the Old Temple eventually found a home at Beth-El’s current synagogue on Briarhaven Road.

These medallions, each one a circular pane of stained glass, symbolize Jewish holidays and traditions. Their imagery reaches back centuries; evoking Jewish life and ceremonial objects from communities that were destroyed in the Holocaust.

When Beth-El moved to Briarhaven at the turn of the century, the beloved windows were carefully removed and saved. A dozen of the medallions were incorporated into the Hall of Remembrance, while the others rotated between storage and occasional display. In 2023, eleven were given a permanent place of honor at the chapel entrance, and eight more remain on view elsewhere in the building.