The area’s oldest Jewish congregation will formally disband next week after 73 years on the Route 1 corridor.

Founded in 1947 as the Northwest Hebrew Congregation (eventually called Beth Torah), which became the first conservative Jewish congregation in Prince Georges County, first held services in the annex of what was at the time the Sherwood Presbyterian Church in Woodridge, just off of Route 1. In 1951, the congregation moved to a home at 4601 Eastern Ave. in Mount Rainier, before moving into its own synagogue next door at 4603 Eastern Ave., shown above, which is currently home to The Triumphant Church.

One notable rabbi who served shortly thereafter, Rabbi William Weinberg, was briefly held in a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia and learned English after immigrating to the U.S. in 1951. His wife, Irene, survived the Holocaust in Poland by pretending to be Catholic, a ruse that worked because of Nazi assumptions about her blue eyes. They lived in what was at the time the congregation’s home next to the synagogue at 4601 Eastern Ave.

As the congregation grew, they felt they needed a newer, larger building so in 1966 they sold the synagogue on Eastern Avenue and temporarily held services in the United Methodist Church before the groundbreaking of their new location at 6700 Adelphi Road in Hyattsville in 1970.

That same year, the congregation welcomed Rabbi Mendel Abrams, who led it right until it disbanded this year. But with a dwindling congregation made up mostly of retirees, Beth Torah sold the building five years ago. Since then, it has held services at a private home in Hyattsville and, during the coronavirus pandemic, over Zoom.

Many congregants now live in Montgomery County and Northern Virginia, while its Conservative branch of Judaism — which seeks to balance tradition and change — has lost ground to the tradition-minded Orthodox and the change-oriented Reform movements.

After holding its final services, the congregation’s assets will be donated to charity before the end of the year.

Beth Torah was known for being a welcoming synagogue, with Asian, Black and Hispanic members. It began offering bat mitzvahs for girls in 1971, earlier than many other Conservative congregations, and held a regular dinner series with guest speakers from different countries.

“Anyone who came was welcome,” one former member told Washington Jewish Week.