Congregation Beth Ahabah, the Reform Jewish synagogue, occupies 1121 West Franklin Street in Richmond, Virginia. Beth Ahabah means "House of Love," but its story begins in 1789 when Spanish and Portuguese Jews founded Kahal Kadosh Beth Shalome—the "Holy Congregation, House of Peace. It is one of the oldest synagogues in the United States.
When this community organized, there were 100 Jews in Richmond’s population of 3,900. For years they met in leased space and then built their first synagogue in 1822: a handsome, if modest, one‑story brick building in Georgian style. The community kept changing.
In 1841 Ashkenazi members formed a new congregation called Beth Ahabah. In 1846 Beth Ahabah established Richmond’s first Jewish school and built a synagogue at Eleventh and Marshall Streets. The congregation began moving toward Reform in 1867, debating an organ, switching to family pews to mix men and women, and allowing women to join the choir.
Beth Ahabah joined the Reform Movement Union of American Hebrew Congregations in 1875, and a new building rose at Eleventh and Marshall in 1880. West Franklin and the buildings that frame this long, layered story stretch out before you.