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The Little Shule That Grew.
This is a story about a small group of men and wo
who had an ideal and who founded Beth Jacob S :
yogue. Hardly eleven years after their first min:
they have acquired a sizeable bit of property to rem.
into their own Synagogue.
By JULIUS PERLINSKI
Ben Tesler, president of Beth Jacob Synagogue, has
announced the purchase of the Jackson H. Baptist
Church property at 475 Boulevard, N. h. It is planned
that possession of the building be taken around July 1.
There are extensive and essential alterations that are
to becompleted however before full occupancy can be
made. The purchase price is in the vicinity of $100,000.
The Congregation since its relatively recent founding
has shown phenomenal growth and activity. Beth Ja
cob was incorporated in 1041 by less than ten men — a
store on Parkway Drive was then used as a place lor
prayer. The first president of the Congregation was
Mr M. Gavronski. Continuous growth resulted in the
purchase of the present building in August 1044.
After the war, the younger men took over the leader
ship of the Congregation. From 1045-46, Mr. Ben Gold-
den served as president and Mr. Sidney Clein as vice
president.
In the 1047-40 period, Ike Katz took over the reigns
of leadership.
Mr. David Katz served as president from 1950-1053
in which time tremendous growth took place.
Rabbi Josef Saffra served as the first Rabbi from
1051-1053. It was in this period that the Hebrew and
Sunday Schools began. Today they have outgrown the
physical capacity of the present building.
In 1053, Rabbi Emanuel Feldman became spiritual
leader of the Congregation and through his dynamic
and resourceful leadership and guidance, further ex
pansion evolved.
It was in the fall of 1054 that saw the burning of the
Synagogue Mortgage, and then plans for a newer and
larger building were laid.
Chairmen of the fund raising committee are Jack M.
Goldberg, Cyrus Polan and Ben Golden.
Helping Mr. Tesler in the conduct of the Congrega
tion are Mr. Goldberg, Mr. Golden, Marvin Slotin and
Louis L. 1 affel, vice presidents; Mr. Polan, treasurer;
Seymour Pousner, L. M. Simmons and Julius Perlinski,
secretaries; M. Blass, Gabai. Trustees include David
Katz, Louis H. Goldstein, Harry Gordon, Jesse Berk,
Barney Barnett, Louis Alterman,' Dave Laken, Jack
Berchenko, Harry Lehman, Isadore M. Siegel, Harry I.
Goodman and Frank Slesnick.
The men are not alone in undertaking the purchase of
the new property. Spurred on by their incoming presi
dent, Mrs. Morris Silver, the Sisterhood has already
pledged to raise the sum of $5,000 towards the building
fund, through personal donations apart from the money
proceeds from their regular fund-raising events. The
new administration has also pledged itself to the expan
sion of the Beth Jacob Sunday School facilities, especial
ly snce the new building affords the great amount of
space needed. The Sisterhood officers also include Mrs.
Julius Perlinski, Mrs. Emanuel Feldman and Mrs. Louis
Taffel, vice presidents. The corps of secretaries include
Mrs. Seymour Pousner, Mrs. Harry Davis, Mrs. Harry
Braunstein, Mrs. Jack Goldberg, Mrs. Alfred Furst
Mrs. Louis Goldstein, Mrs. Carl Shuman, Mrs. Louis
Simmons is the new treasurer, Mrs. Charles Berkman
her assistant; Mrs. Max Cohen, historian; Mrs. Morris
Ween, parliamentarian; Mrs. Morris Silver, advisor.
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The Southern I