Temple Beth Israel (Bergen County, New Jersey)
| Beth Israel | |
|---|---|
| Basic information | |
| Location | 34 West Magnolia Avenue, Maywood, New Jersey,  United States |
| Geographic coordinates | 40°53′54″N 74°03′57″W / 40.898314°N 74.065747°WCoordinates: 40°53′54″N 74°03′57″W / 40.898314°N 74.065747°W |
| Affiliation | Reconstructionist Judaism |
| Status | Active |
| Leadership | Rabbi: Jarah Greenfield[1] Cantor: Lois Kittner[2] |
| Website | www.rtbi-online.org |
| Architectural description | |
| Architectural style | Shingle Style[3] |
| Completed | 1901[3] |
| Specifications | |
| Materials | stone, shingles[3] |
Temple Beth Israel (or Reconstructionist Temple Beth Israel of Bergen County) is a Reconstructionist synagogue located at 34 West Magnolia Avenue in Maywood, New Jersey.[4] It is the only synagogue in Maywood,[5] and the only Reconstructionist synagogue in the region, with a membership drawn from 22 communities.[6]
Established in 1928, the congregation moved to its current location, a former church, in 1931.[5] The building it purchased was the former Maywood Christian Association Church, constructed in 1901. Built in the Shingle style, the structure combined both stone and shingles. It also included "Gothic Revival features, such as tracery windows".[3] The congregation added an extension to the building in 1952 which included meeting and school rooms, and an additional sanctuary.[5] The sanctuary is decorated with the Hebrew dictum "Know before Whom you stand for You are with Me", adapted from Berakhot 28b.[7]
Originally Conservative, in the 1990s Beth Israel was faced with declining membership and a building that needed significant capital investment. To help address these issues the membership decided to move to the Reconstructionist movement in 1997.[8][9] By 2001 the congregation had 65 member families.[9]
In the 2000s the congregation realized that of its six Torah scrolls, two were not kosher, and the rest needed repair. They decided to give away the non-kosher ones, repair and sell one of the kosher scrolls, and use the proceeds to fix the remaining three.[6]
Though too small to support a full-time rabbi, Beth Israel has had several part-time rabbis in the 2000s, who are generally at the synagogue two weekends a month. These have included Michael Rothbaum, who was succeeded by Michal Woll (a former biomedical engineer, a mechanical engineer, and physical therapist) in 2006.[10] Woll was succeeded in turn by Jarah Greenfield in 2007.[5]
Beth Israel participates in the "High Holiday Open Seats Campaign", a New York and New Jersey program of Reconstructionist synagogues "which connects people to congregations with extra space on the High Holidays."[11] As of 2010[update], the rabbi was Greenfield[1] and the cantor was Lois Kittner.[2]
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Rabbi Jarah, Beth Israel website.
- ^ a b Cantor Lois Kittner, Beth Israel website.
- ^ a b c d Brown, Warmflash, DelGiudice (2001), p. 153.
- ^ Beth Israel website.
- ^ a b c d Who are we?, Beth Israel website.
- ^ a b Rosen (2007).
- ^ Brown (1985), p. 141.
- ^ Gibson (1997).
- ^ a b Leichman (2001).
- ^ Lipowsky (2006).
- ^ Open Seats Campaign website.
[edit] References
- Temple Beth Israel website. Retrieved March 2, 2010.
- Congregational Cantor Lois Kittner, Religious Life, Temple Beth Israel website. Retrieved March 2, 2010.
- Who are we?, Synagogue website. Temple Beth Israel website. Retrieved March 2, 2010.
- Rabbi Jarah, Religious Life, Temple Beth Israel website. Retrieved March 2, 2010.
- Brown, Steven. Higher and higher: Making Jewish Prayer Part of Us, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, 1985.
- Brown, Robin T.; Warmflash, Schuyler; DelGiudice, Jim. The Architecture of Bergen County, New Jersey: The Colonial Period to the Twentieth Century, Rutgers University Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-8135-2867-0
- Gibson, David. "A Collective Leap of Faith", The Record, May 25, 1997.
- Leichman, Abigail. "Rabbi Crosses Borders To Serve Congregation", The Record, November 1, 2001.
- Lipowsky, Josh. "Answering the call", Jewish Standard, August 16, 2006.
- "Welcome to the High Holiday Open Seats Campaign", Open Seats Campaign website. Retrieved March 2, 2010.
- Rosen, Jane Calem. "Two shuls and a Torah", Jewish Standard, July 4, 2007.
