Temple Israel of Lawrence votes to stay

Temple Israel, in Lawrence, has decided to remain in its home at 140 Central Ave., a Spanish-style domed sanctuary built in 1930, after questions were raised about the congregation’s future.

Founded 110 years ago in Far Rockaway, Temple Israel is the oldest Reform congregation on the South Shore. Its president, Penny Schuster, said that membership has declined as a result of changes in the religious demographics of the Five Towns.

“We are very much in the minority, in that most of our friends and neighbors go to an Orthodox temple,” Schuster said. “Temple Israel is now, and always has been, a Reform temple.

The congregation is facing an uncertain future, as an influx of Orthodox Jews in the Five Towns communities of Cedarhurst, Hewlett, Inwood, Lawrence and Woodmere over the past decade has changed the landscape of those neighborhoods. Temple Israel found itself at a crossroad, having to decide whether to remain at the Lawrence building or downsize to a smaller home.

During a series of small group sessions with members that focused on what the building meant to them and what approach would be best, the congregation voted overwhelmingly to stay.

“This temple means a lot to me,” Schuster said. “As the president, it’s my job to do what is best for the temple and what the congregation as a whole wants to do. So had they voted to downsize, that’s what we would have planned to do.

But the vote to remain in the building was overwhelming.”

Schuster, who lives in Lawrence, is a third-generation member of the temple, and her children attend as well. Her grandparents were members when the temple was founded in Far Rockaway.

The temple made its announcement in a full-page ad in last week’s issue of the Herald.

Earlier last month, Larry Gordon, publisher and editor of the Five Towns Jewish Times, wrote two pieces in his “Heard in the Bagel Store” column on the temple’s activities, describing it as “inactive” and “empty.”

“My focus is on the future of Temple Israel and building bridges with the entire Jewish community,” Schuster said in response to Gordon’s observations.

The synagogue does not own the Central Avenue property. The Cedarhurst-based Marion & Aaron Gural JCC purchased the sanctuary and school buildings in January 2017. The Gural JCC, a nonprofit serving Far Rockaway, Lynbrook, East Rockaway, Valley Stream and West Hempstead, has rented the buildings since the two entities agreed to a 10-year lease.

“When I became executive director of the Gural JCC in October, I met with the president of the congregation, Penny Schuster, who shared with me that they were planning on holding focus groups with congregants,” the Gural JCC’s Stacey Feldman wrote in an email. “The goal was to explore options with their membership and for the synagogue leadership to understand what they wanted to do. I’m glad that the process has concluded. At this moment, Temple Israel has decided to stay and under the terms of their lease they are of course welcome to.”

The temple has just over three years left on its original lease, and according to Schuster, it will exercise the option to remain.

“German Jews from Manhattan came out to the Rockaways and the Five Towns area because it was their East Hampton from Manhattan,” Rabbi Marc Disic said of the temple’s beginnings. “Without those German Jews who came and built a reform synagogue, in my view, Lawrence would not be the Lawrence that attracts so many people.”

Disic added, “I applaud the leaders who reached a willingness to make a decision to let the cards fall where they may,” he said. “It was time to listen. They want to stay.