By:Jesse Sherer
This is particularly true for Fritzi Wolk, who not only worships there, but whose parents were founding members some 74 years ago. "It is a very warm congregation," said Wolk, one of the center's three current presidents. "To me it has always been a spiritual home, and responsive to the needs in the Baldwin community. I was always attached, and could not wait to go there for services."
To honor the center's 75th anniversary, Wolk and other congregants attended a celebratory Gala Dinner last Saturday night. Highlights included entertainment, citations and appearances by community leaders and politicians.
In 1927, nine women formed the Baldwin Jewish Center sisterhood, instituting religious education for their children. The following year, planning for the synagogue began. The first planning meeting took place in January 1929, and attracted 25 people. Various homes and other buildings hosted services until the first official building - the VFW Hall on Seaman Avenue - was dedicated in October 1939.
In 1948, construction began on a new home for the center. Dedication services were led by Rabbi Norman Pauker and Cantor Harry Altman of B'nai Israel of Freeport. Five Torahs were taken from the original building and paraded through Baldwin to the site of the groundbreaking. Jewish War Veterans of Baldwin, Post 600, escorted synagogue members.
The center is Conservative. "We have reached a milestone from the founding of the synagogue to now," said Rabbi Aaron Griver, spiritual leader for the past three years. "We are still a very strong and very active place. The services are open to all who wish to attend, but they remain traditional. This is very important."
Wolk, who celebrated one of the Center's first bat-mitzvahs in 1950, remembers how her father prepared food for events in the basement of their house with a special kosher knife, and how Purim and Simchat Torah were wild and fun days, with the entire congregation participating. "Everyone knew one another; I still know many of them now," she said. "We look for ways to celebrate our existence. It is 'home sweet home' to me. It's where I grew up and my children grew up."
One of the gala's honorees was Barry Finkelman, congregation president from 2001 to 2004. Finkelman is also a longtime volunteer soccer coach. "I'm very appreciative of the fact that the congregation has honored me as part of the 75th anniversary," he said. "You don't do this type of work for the honors. The center is still viable - the founding mission goes beyond us. It's for the future."
To Michael Eisman, one of the congregation's presidents, the dinner was yet another way to bring the congregation together, much like the weekly Sunday breakfasts, which members look forward to every week. "It has grown to be a family," said Eisman. "The members have grown to be close. The strengths are the friendships you make. You always are with friends."
"It is an opportunity to maintain Judaism in the Baldwin community," said Murray Gandler, another congregation president, who joined in 1975. "It is an opportunity for people to come together. I have always found it to be a compassionate place."
Gandler sees community programs, such as tashlich services and Purim skits, as reminders of the congregation's closeness. The best representation of what the congregation means to him, Gandler said, was when a decision to merge with another congregation was voted down three years ago. Though the merger would have increased membership, it would have meant the Baldwin synagogue would have closed. "We voted it down," said Gandler. "We needed to keep our synagogue and place in this community."
The congregation shrunk in recent years. It numbers just under 200 families, down from 350 in its heyday in the 1960s. But members say that what it lacks in numbers, it makes up for in energy.
Last year, the American Seminary for Contemporary Judaism opened an office in the center. The seminary's founder, Bob Cohen, said the decision to move his educational institution to the center was an easy one, as they were welcomed with open arms. "We are pleased to be here," said Cohen. "We hope to be here a very long time. They opened their doors to us, and we were very grateful."
