Cedarhurst Sephardic Temple leader Rabbi Arnold B. Marans, 92

An accomplished spiritual leader with a large family and many friends, Rabbi Arnold B. Marans was the founding rabbi of the Sephardic Temple of Cedarhurst, and served as a chaplain and was active in Jewish organizations.

Marans died on July 12, his 92nd birthday.

Born in Brooklyn in 1928 to Harry and Rose Marans, Arnold studied philosophy at City College of New York and earned a degree in social sciences in 1949. Four years later he was ordained as a rabbi by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and also earned a master’s degree in Hebrew literature. In 1980 he was awarded a Doctor of Divinity degree by the seminary.

He began his rabbinical career at the United Sephardim of Brooklyn in 1954. At the time it was a community of young Sephardic Jews from a number of congregations founded by people from Greece and Turkey. The Sephardim originally came from communities in the Iberian Peninsula.

Marans became the founding rabbi of the newly established Sephardic Temple in Cedarhurst in 1961, three years before the temple building was completed. According to temple officials, the congregation “became a beacon for Sephardic Jews from the greater metropolitan New York area. Due to Rabbi Marans’ charismatic leadership and outreach to the wider community many Ashkenazi Jews became a loyal part of the congregation.”

Sephardic Temple President Isaac Mayo, 66, knew Marans all his life, as their families shared the same East New York, Brooklyn, neighborhood and then the Mayo family also moved to the Five Towns. “I just wish I can pass on as much knowledge that he gave to me about Judaism and life,” said Mayo, a Woodmere resident who retired this year after teaching in the Lawrence School District for 25 years. “He freely passed on that information. I used a lot of his words in the classroom. He was a good man.”

Marans married Zipporah Mann on Sept. 16, 1951. Together they raised five children, and the family eventually grew to include 25 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren.

Zipporah served as the national vice president of AMIT, a New York-based nonprofit that seeks to help Israel’s youth recognize their potential and strengthen Israeli society by educating and nurturing children from diverse backgrounds. Hundreds of American Jews became involved with AMIT through the Marans, whose leadership ensured that the Sephardic Temple chapter of AMIT was the only one connected to a synagogue in the United States, temple officials said.

“My family joined the [Cedarhurst] temple when it was built,” Debra Meryl wrote on Facebook. “Rabbi Marans was a source of strength and comfort to us when my brother passed, and I am forever indebted to him for his wisdom, empathy and concern for us during and after our tragic loss. He was a truly great man.”

Marans was chaplain of the Raymond Street Jail in Brooklyn, and was the Jewish chaplain of the Brooklyn and Caledonian hospitals. In 1957 he accepted the chaplaincy of the Sephardic Home in Brooklyn, a position he held for years.

He was grand chaplain emeritus of the Free and Accepted Masons in New York state; a past president of the American Friends of Misqab Ladach Hospital in Jerusalem; a past chairman of the Joint Retirement Board for Conservative Judaism, the agency that maintains the pension programs of rabbis, cantors, Jewish educators and executive directors of Conservative congregations and affiliated organizations; and a trustee of the Sephardic Geriatric Foundation. For more than 25 years he was the comptroller of the Rabbinical Assembly, and he continued to serve the Sephardic Temple as senior rabbi.

Along with his wife, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Marans is survived by Israel and Goldie Marans, Hillel Marans and Shirley Kaplan, Dr. Zvi Marans and Nina Kampler, Rabbi Noam Marans and Rabbi Amy Roth, Aliza and Alan Miller and his sister Bernice Weiss. He was predeceased by his sister Shirley Kaplan.

His funeral was held at the Cedarhurst Sephardic Temple last Sunday. Because of coronavirus restrictions, in-person attendance was limited to the immediate family. He will be buried on the Mount of Olives in Israel.

“The rabbi was my mentor when we started the Men’s Club 20 years ago,” said Cedarhurst resident Marc Tenzer. “He had a devout sense of Judaism. I could always count on Rabbi Marans. He was more than friend. He will be missed a lot.”