On Saturday September 11th, 2004 the Rogers Morning News did a feature article on Congregation Etz Chaim.  Click the links below to read the article.

Fledgling Jewish group gets Torah -  October 16, 2004, Arkansas Democrat Gazette

BENTONVILLE — The newly formed Congregation Etz Chaim, a Jewish congregation in Benton County, received a special gift Oct. 10 from members of Beth Israel congregation of El Dorado.
   J.R. "Jules" Feinberg, and his wife, Jo, traveled more than six hours and 320 miles to deliver a Torah to the new congregation. A Torah is scroll, handwritten in Hebrew, containing the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
   Feinberg says the El Dorado congregation has been around for about 60 years but has declined in membership throughout the years.
   "There are very few left now, all adults," Feinberg says. "The children leave for college and usually go to a larger city. That’s the history of Jews in the South."
   When the remaining members heard about the new congregation in Benton County they decided to donate one of their two Torahs to Congregation Etz Chaim.
   Feinberg says the Torah was given to the El Dorado congregation when the temple in Camden dissolved. However, he says he isn’t sure of the history of the Torah before that time, but suspects it originated in Germany.
   Congregation Etz Chaim began meeting for services about 10 weeks ago, says board member Mark Levine. The congregation was started as a response to continued growth in Northwest Arkansas and also to aid in recruitment, he says.
   "We know the growth in Northwest Arkansas is coming, and it would be an asset to the vendor community to have a Jewish congregation for recruitment," Levine says. "And we want to give our children the traditions."
   Levine says the congregation of Temple Shalom of Northwest Arkansas in Fayetteville has been very helpful to the new congregation.
   "Northwest Arkansas’ Jewish community will only prosper greatly because of the two congregations," Levine says.
   Levine says when the congregation is able to acquire its own Torah, the El Dorado Torah will be donated to the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience in Utica, Miss.
   More information is available online at www.etzchaim nwa.org.