 Services were lay @-@ led for decades . Marcus Simmons was hired as the congregation 's first rabbi in 1959 , but left in 1961 . After a gap of two years , Louis <unk> became rabbi in 1963 , and served until his death in 1976 . He was followed by <unk> <unk> , who served from 1977 to 1994 , and <unk> in turn was succeeded by <unk> <unk> @-@ <unk> . Maurice Harris joined <unk> @-@ <unk> as associate rabbi in 2003 , and served until 2011 , when he was succeeded by Boris <unk> . As of 2014 , led by <unk> @-@ <unk> and <unk> , Beth Israel had approximately 400 member households , and was the largest synagogue in Eugene . 
