Temple Beth Sholom to celebrate 60 years

Temple Beth Sholom of Fair Lawn marks its 60th anniversary with a celebration planned for Sunday December 3. It will be catered by RAVE! Caterers and B’nai Jazz will entertain. There will be a program highlighting the shul’s history and a commemorative ad journal will be printed.

Before 1957, the only synagogue in Fair Lawn was on the west side of town. That year, a group of 40 met to discuss the possibility of forming a community closer to their homes. Brothers Martin and Murray Sincoff donated a Torah and a dream was born. Within the first year, Rabbi Max Nussenbaum was hired and a Hebrew school began with 150 students; classes, taught by volunteers, met at the Edison School. High Holy Day services were held at the former Fair Lawn Beach Club on Saddle River Road.

Three years later, the shul bought land on the corner of Fair Lawn Avenue and Saddle River Road; the next year there was a groundbreaking for a new building. It was completed in 1962 at a cost of $120,000 and included a sanctuary, classrooms, a library, kitchen, and offices. In the early 1970s, Helen Troum began the nursery school that now bears her name. In 1978, there was an expansion project, and over the years, two synagogues joined Temple Beth Sholom; in 1981, Congregation Ohav Shalom of Rochelle Park, and in 2007 the Elmwood Park Jewish Center became part of the community.

Rabbi Nussenbaum was followed by Rabbis Isaac Lubin, Robert Aronowitz, Gary Listokin, interim Gerald Zelermyer, and for the last seven years, Alberto (Baruch) Zeilicovich.

Ad blanks are available from the synagogue office and can be downloaded from the website, www.tbsfl.org. The ad deadline is October 27.

For more information, call (201) 797-9321 or go to www.tbsfl.org.