The synagogue was founded on April 14, 1964, as Shaarei Tikvah, after a synagogue in Amsterdam that had been razed by the Nazis.[3] It became Beth Tikvah after a merger in 1966 with the Bayview Synagogue Association. Rabbi Avraham Feder served as the first rabbi of the synagogue from 1967 until 1981 when he moved to Israel and continued to serve as Rabbi Emeritus. Rabbi Feder died on Feb. 8, 2018.[4]
Srul Irving Glick, the famed composer and conductor, served as Beth Tikvah's composer-in-residence from 1969 to 2002.