Congregation Beth Elohim is a Reform congregation located at 274 Garfield Place and Eighth Avenue, in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Founded in 1861 as a more liberal breakaway from Congregation Baith Israel, in its first 65 years it attempted four mergers with other congregations, including three with Baith Israel, all of which failed. The congregation completed its current Classical Revival synagogue building in 1910 and its "Jewish Deco" (Romanesque Revival and Art Deco) Temple House in 1929. The congregation went through difficult times during the Great Depression, and the bank almost foreclosed on its buildings in 1946. Membership dropped significantly in the 1930s because of the Depression, and again in the 1970s as a result of demographic shifts. Programs for young children helped draw Jewish families back into the neighborhood and revitalize the membership. By 2006 Beth Elohim had over 1000 members, and, as of 2008[update], it was the largest Reform congregation in Brooklyn, the "oldest Brooklyn congregation that continues to function under its corporate name", and its pulpit was the oldest in continuous use in any Brooklyn synagogue.

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_________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1307:

William Tell, a legendary marksman in Switzerland, is said to have successfully shot an apple on his son's head with a single bolt from his crossbow. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tell)

1626:

St. Peter's Basilica, one of four major basilicas of Rome, was consecrated on the anniversary of that of the previous church in 326. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter%27s_Basilica)

1905:

Prince Carl of Denmark became Haakon VII, the first King of Norway after the personal union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haakon_VII_of_Norway)

1928:

Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie, the first completely post-produced synchronized sound animated cartoon, was released. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steamboat_Willie)

1987:

An underground fire killed 31 people at London's busiest underground station at King's Cross St Pancras. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_Cross_fire)

_______________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

prurient (adj) 1. Uneasy with desire; having a lascivious anxiety or propensity. 2. Arousing or appealing to sexual desire. (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/prurient)

______________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

It's not that I'm afraid to die, I just don't want to be there when it happens. --Woody Allen (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Woody_Allen)