This is the year 5761 on our Jewish calendar (we know it as 2001), and our Temple Beth Elohim stands on Rt. 22, in Brewster, NY. But where did it all begin?

As part of my mitzvah project in preparation of my upcoming Bat Mitzvah, I went in search of that answer. During the summer of 2001, I had the unique opportunity to speak with a few very important members of our congregation. First I spoke with Mrs. Sylvia Welsher (who told me it would be okay if I called her ‘Sylvia'), and then I spoke with Mrs. Gertrude Kahn, Mrs. Bella Meyer, Mrs. Harriet Susnitzky and Mr. Norm Berenback. I have created a video of these conversations that will be presented to the congregation in the spring.

I learned that our congregation, Temple Beth Elohim, has much more in common with Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, Leah, and Rachel than just tradition. Our forefathers and mothers were wanderers and travelers. Since time began, the Children of Israel have always been wanderers and, as my research into Temple Beth Elohim's history took place, our congregation was also preparing to move. But before dealing with our Temple's future plans, I needed to explore and understand our past.

The following is some of what I learned from Mrs. Sylvia Welsher:

1. In 1958, there were very few Jews in Brewster and no Jewish Temple.
2. Our very first meetings and services on Friday nights were at the Odd Fellows Meeting Hall (Lake Charles, off Route 22) in the town of Brewster.
3. There were very few Jewish kids in the Brewster area in those days and our Youth Group had to travel to Long Island just to meet other Jewish children.
4. Sylvia's husband, Lester, built a small ark that houses the small torah that they bought on the East Side. It was used for children's services on the High Holidays.

Interestingly, children's services were actually conducted by the Youth Group! Sylvia said that the ark was a ‘labor of love.'

In order to find answers to the rest of my questions, Mrs. Welsher advised me to begin in the beginning, by asking the original members. She directed me to speak with Gertrude Kahn (our Temple's historian), Bella Meyer and Harriet Susnitzky. Here is some of what I learned from these very interesting women of our congregation.

Mrs. Meyer, Mrs. Susnitzky and Mrs. Kahn shared many stories. One I found very interesting was about how the women of the original Charter families got into overalls and cleaned the temple themselves. Another story taught me that members of the sisterhood, in those days, baked all the goods for the annual fundraising bake sales. They didn't use mixes. All baking was from scratch. Mrs. Kahn shared a memory with Mrs. Susnitsky and Mrs. Meyer that, in anticipation of the annual bake sale, members of the neighboring community actually put in ORDERS for the cakes which were the specialties of each of the sisterhood “bakers.” Can you imagine? Our sisterhood members were famous for their special cakes! Up to six cakes at a time were ordered in advance of the bake sale! Of course, all profits went to the sisterhood.

Mrs. Kahn, Mrs. Meyer and Mrs. Susnitzky told me things about our Temple that I had no idea about. For example, did you know that the area in our temple where we have our “Temple store” was once our library? That is the area where all of our books were kept before we turned a back room into a separate library.

Did you know that Mrs. Meyer's husband, Mike, started our religious school on Sundays? Each class had children of many ages because we didn't have enough students of one age to make a whole class!

Luckily, Gertrude Kahn kept careful records of fundraisers and events in our Temple. In addition, Mrs. Kahn kept a sample of each "Menorah" (originally called "The Tablet" then renamed twice . . . its third name 'The Menorah' finally stuck). The books in which these facts have been documented are kept in her home at this time. She plans to one day donate them to our Temple's archives when we have a proper place to house them safely. Mrs. Kahn taught me many more things than what I mentioned so far. Here are just a few:

1. Our Temple started with ten Charter families (their names appear on a plaque in our Temple.)
2. Our first High Holy services were held at Lake Charles.
3. Our first Torah was donated by the Mendel family.
4. Bricks were “sold” by the founding families – the sales are documented in one of Mrs. Kahn's historical books.
5. Almost everything in our Temple has been donated with love. Just to mention a few: all memorial plaques, pictures in the library, our Eternal Light, the Lectern, and the Appliqué in our Oneg Shabbat room (did you ever notice that it was specially designed to represent all the Jewish holidays?)
6. The Sukkah, as you may already know, was built by hand, as was our Temple's Hanukkah Menorah. Do you know who built these? (the names Greenfield, Berenback, Moldovan and Grodenchik and should ring a bell).

In summary, after meeting with Mrs. Welsher, Mrs. Kahn, Mrs. Meyer and Mrs. Susnitsky, I became more aware of how interesting and important our Temple's history is and Mrs. Kahn taught me the value of keeping accurate records so that future generations can learn about actual facts. When you get a chance, take a good look around our Temple. It was an honor to be able to learn so many things directly from these very special women.

Next, I had an opportunity to learn a bit more from Mr. Norman Berenback. He taught me that, just before 1979, it became clear that our congregation needed a bigger temple. Mr. Berenback was very helpful in explaining to me all about the addition to our existing building. (The pictures of the 1979 groundbreaking for the addition was put together by our Rabbi's wife, Terri Acrish, and can be found in our temple's library).

From Mr. Berenback (who is also a teacher in our Temple) I learned that there were many professionals involved in the planning and construction of our addition. I now know that the room we now call our Oneg Shabbat room (which also turns into classrooms) was once our sanctuary. Take a careful look at the floor. You will be able to tell where the congregation sat and where the original Bima was located. Mr. Berenback told me about the original bricks and stones and how they were re-located, not discarded, when the addition was built.

All of these facts and more are documented in Mrs. Kahn's history books. I strongly urge you to take some time to look at these wonderful books as soon as you get a chance.

I have yet to meet with Mr. Joe Greenfield to learn about the new site for our Temple. Details about that will be on our Temple Video, too.

Temple Beth Elohim: A great, wonderful place, filled with great people . . . and it all started as a dream. It was a vision. Now, it is our reality. It is so full of memories, so let's keep them alive and add more of our own. I am so proud to be a member of our great Temple Beth Elohim, and I hope you are, too.

(In addition to those mentioned above, I want to thank the following people for helping me with this project: Rose Aglieco, Nan Coulter, Roberta Mandel, Janet Mauro and Nancy Iankowitz.)

Temple Beth Elohim was formed as the Putnam County Temple and Jewish Center. Earlier attempts to join with a group in Mahopac bogged down because of location. The congregation chose Orthodox rabbis as its first religious leaders. As a result the congregation rented space on the main street of Brewster so that the rabbi could walk to services. Gradually the congregation realized that it needed to find property away from Main Street and the Route 22 property was purchased. The congregation explored Conservative Judaism but settled on Reform Judaism which offered the greatest flexibility. Religious practice has always been more traditional than one would find in many Reform synagogues but it has satisfied the range of Jewish experience that had been practiced by its members.

For many years the congregation was served by student rabbis who spent from 2-3 years with the congregation. At present, Rabbi Solomon Acrish has been the spiritual leader for over 35 years.

Whereas initially the congregation was envisioned to serve the Putnam County community, today congregants are drawn from Westchester, Dutchess and Putnam County in New York State and Fairfield County in Connecticut. The congregation has a 27% membership from other than New York State.

The long range planning committee has looked back at the Temple's beginnings and has tried to predict the Temple's future. It has arrived at a document which like everything else today will require revisiting on a continuous basis because of the ever changing demographics in the area.