Temple Beth-El is a

Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill#The Yorkshire Associati ...

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

at 5 Old Mill Road in

Great Neck, New York Great Neck is a region on Long Island, New York, that covers a peninsula on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore and includes nine villages, among them Great Neck (village), New York, Great Neck, Great Neck Estates, New York, Great Neck Es ...

. Founded in 1928, it is the oldest synagogue in Great Neck. , it had a membership of 875 families. Since 2009, the senior rabbis have been a married couple: Meir and Tara Feldman. Their cantor is Adam Davis. Their cantor emerita is Lisa Hest.

History

The temple was founded in 1928 when 86 organizing members began meeting at local church. Rabbi David Goodis served as the congregation's first rabbi, but was in that role only briefly before he died in 1930. His successor, Rabbi Jacob Phillip Rudin, served for four decades establishing the temple as one of the most prominent synagogues in the United States. The temple erected its original building on Old Mill Road in 1932. The temple began an adult study program that later became a

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extension program. The building expanded in 1950, and again in 1970. Rabbi Rudin retired in 1971; Rabbi Jerome Davidson, who had been assistant rabbi since 1958, took overKerry M. Olitzky, "Temple Beth-El, Reform" in ''The American Synagogue: A Historical Dictionary and Sourcebook'' (

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, 1996), , pp. 233-235
Excerpts available
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. and served as senior rabbi until 2007. Rabbi Davidson's son, Rabbi Joshua Davidson, born in the Great Neck congregation, went on to lead

Congregation Emanu-El of New York Congregation Emanu-El of New York is the first Reform Judaism, Reform Jewish congregation in New York City and, because of its size and prominence, has served as a flagship congregation in the Reform branch of Judaism since its founding in 1845 ...

. Some members of the congregation left in 1940 to form a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

synagogue, Temple Israel of Great Neck, which was led for many years by the prominent rabbi

Mordecai Waxman Mordecai Waxman, Order of St. Gregory the Great, KCSG (February 25, 1917, in Albany – August 10, 2002, in Great Neck, New York), was a prominent rabbi in the Conservative Judaism, Conservative Jewish movement for nearly 60 years. He served as ra ...

. A Reform spinoff, Temple Emanuel of Great Neck, formed in 1953. The original Temple building was enlarged three times during the past 60 years. It went through drastic renovation due to a fire that damaged some of the property. Since the fire, Temple Beth-El has continued to go through renovations. In 1994 the congregation hired Karen Bender as an assistant rabbi. Bender was openly lesbian, and when she and her life partner decided to celebrate a commitment ceremony in California, Davidson agreed to officiate at a blessing ceremony at Temple Beth-el. Controversy within the congregation over this decision led to Davidson's well-publicized decision not only to continue to officiate for gay unions, but also to begin officiating at interfaith weddings and to push for the Reform rabbinate to pursue means of Jewish support for mixed marriages. Temple Beth-El of Great Neck has a rich cantorial tradition. Cantors that have served at the temple include: John P. Hardt, Robert Harmon, Robert Bloch, and Barbara Ostfeld, the first woman to be ordained a cantor. Additionally, Temple Beth-El of Great Neck's Early Childhood Education Center (led by Director Vicky Perler for 25 years) is one of the premiere pre-schools on the Northern Shore of Long Island. It is one of the few NAEYC-certified childhood centers in the area.

Prominent members

* Sol Atlas (1907–1973), real estate developer *

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(1920–2016) American-Canadian Singer *

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(1954–) Former Commissioner of Labor Statistics and head of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics *

Andy Kaufman Andrew Geoffrey Kaufman ( ; January 17, 1949 – May 16, 1984) was an American entertainer and performance artist. While often called a "comedian", Kaufman preferred to describe himself instead as a "song and dance man". He has sometimes b ...

(1949–1984) Comedian and Actor * Alfred J. Koeppel (1932–2001), real estate developer *

Sidney Jacobson (businessman) Sidney Jacobson (1918–2005) was an American businessman who founded industrial equipment distributor MSC Industrial Direct and pioneered the use of computerized inventory management and order processing. Biography Jacobson was born to a Jewis ...

(1918–2005), American businessman

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beth-El (Great Neck, New York) Great Neck Peninsula Synagogues in Nassau County, New York Reform synagogues in New York (state) Jewish organizations established in 1928 Synagogues completed in 1932