Ecclesiastical or organizational status Temple Phone +1 516-487-0900 | Website www.tbegreatneck.org Affiliation Union for Reform Judaism | |
Location 5 Old Mill Road, Great Neck, New York United States Address 5 Old Mill Rd, Great Neck, NY 11023, USA Similar Temple Israel of the City of Ne, Congregation Emanu‑El of New Y, Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, East Meadow Jewish C, Temple Beth Israel Profiles | ||
Temple Beth-El is a Reform synagogue at 5 Old Mill Road in Great Neck, New York. Founded in 1928, it is the oldest synagogue in Great Neck.
The temple first met at a local church and had 86 families as members. Rabbi David Goodis was the congregation's first rabbi, but he served only briefly before he died in 1930. His successor, Rabbi Jacob Phillip Rudin, served for four decades. The temple erected its building on Old Mill Road in 1932. The temple began an adult study program that later became a Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion extension program. The building expanded in 1950 and again in 1970. Rabbi Rudin retired in 1971; Jerome Davidson, who had been assistant rabbi since 1958, took over 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.
Some members of the congregation left in 1940 to form a Conservative synagogue, Temple Israel of Great Neck, which was led for many years by the prominent rabbi Mordecai Waxman. 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 burned down much of it down.
As of 2009, it had a membership of 875 families. Since 2009 the senior rabbis have been a married couple, Meir and Tara Feldman, and since 1990 the cantor has been Lisa Hest.
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.