Six decades of dedication

(Page 2 of 3)

Evelyn London, who turned 90 in July, has been a member at the Jewish Center since its founding. She credited the work of the rabbis, past and present, for the synagogue’s success. “That’s what’s holding our show together — the rabbi,” said London, who added that in its heyday, as many as 900 families belonged.

Members recently formed committees to help organize the 60th celebration, and London, one of the senior members, was designated the historian.

Another senior member, Eleanor Goodman, has belonged to the synagogue since 1958. She credited the vast array of services the Jewish Center offers as reasons for its success. “There’s so many things that go on there,” she said. “It’s not just a once-a-week kind of place.”

Goodman, a retired social studies teacher at W.T. Clarke High School, has regularly attended the synagogue’s Bible education classes for 29 years. Androphy, she said, is “the best teacher I’ve ever had.”

When Androphy was applying for his Harvard fellowship, Goodman recalled, she wrote a recommendation letter to the university. “He does so much, here on the local level and in the community,” she said. “I don’t know where he gets all the energy for all this.”

Shari Glassman and Audra Mauner are co-chairwomen of the synagogue’s Ilene Rubin Nursery School committee, which aids the school’s Board of Education. Both have young children who attended the nursery school program.

Mauner said that she and her husband moved to East Meadow from Forest Hills in 2004 because of the synagogue. “This was a great mix,” she said. “This traditional synagogue was a perfect fit for us.”

She also credited Rabbi Androphy for the center’s success, saying that he “is the driving force of the synagogue. Everyone loves him.”

Glassman’s grandfather, Jack Cohn, was a member of one of the 50 founding families. The 60th anniversary, she said, “is a wonderful thing, and I feel very proud that my family had played a role in it through the years.

“He could never have imagined that he was building something that his great-grandchildren would go to,” Glassman said of her grandfather. “That’s something that would make him extremely proud.”

Page 2 / 3