The congregation that was to be renamed Temple Beth Israel was founded in 1929, when High Holiday services were first conducted. Three Rabbis of the American Reform Movement served the congregation for brief periods, but the congregation was faltering until it appointed Rabbi Dr Herman Sanger in 1938. Rabbi Sanger, born in Germany, educated in Oxford University, was a fifth-generation rabbi, and accepted the appointment at the urging of Rabbi Leo Baeck, Head of the Reform Movement in Germany. Sanger immediately revitalised the movement, with a mixture of British Liberal and German Reform ideals. Prior to Dr Sanger's appointment the service was largely in English, but with Sanger's appointment the service grew to become more traditional in form, with minimal English. Men and women have always sat together in this synagogue, but the role of women has become more equal over the years. TBI has had women rabbis, women cantors, offers Bat Mitzvah girls the same experience as Bar Mitzvah boys, counts women in a minyam.