145 Broadway, Newark, NJ 07104
Phone: 973-485-2609 | Email: cahavassholom@optimum.net
September 3, 2024
Dear Members and Friends,
Congregation Ahavas Sholom’s historic building was in its glory for its 100th birthday on Sunday, March 24, 2024. Fulfilling the congregation’s mission of obligation to the environment, physical space and activities of the community, six individuals received our inaugural Tikkun Olam awards. All had involvements with the congregation; three were Jewish and three non-Jewish: Dr. Nancy Cantor, departing Chancellor of Rutgers Newark; Mildred Crump, Newark Municipal Council President Emerita; Paula Gottesman, President of the Gottesman Family Supporting Foundation; Eyesha Marable, Assistant VP for Community Engagement of NJPAC; Dr. Nell Painter, artist and retired Professor of History at Princeton University, and Charles Rosen, Founder of Ironbound Hard Cider and New Ark Farms. Congregants and community members mingled, observed the “Synagogues of Newark” exhibition, heard music and a theatrical performance, and watched a well-produced documentary video of the congregation’s history. Kudos and thanks to President Eric Freedman and Gala Chair Emily Manz and her committee.
Eric Freedman and Rosemary and Rob Steinbaum flew to Chicago last October to represent the congregation at the graduation of Rabbi Collins from the Israelite Rabbinical Academy, which took place at the synagogue headed by Rabbi Capers Funnye. The next day was Shabbat, and Rabbi Collins and five graduates were ordained as rabbis during an all-day service at which a dozen rabbinical elders presided on the bimah and more than 150 Chicago congregants took part. Several months later, in February, our congregation held an installation service during our second annual Unity Shabbat, for which we were joined by Rabbi Funnye and Israelite congregants from the NY metro area and beyond. In May, we welcomed scores of members of B’Nai Adath Kol Beth Israel of Brooklyn, allowing them to celebrate their congregation’s 70th anniversary, even though their building had burned to the ground in 2017. We view our relationship to the Israelite community as an expression of solidarity with a Jewish community whose legitimacy has been questioned by mainstream Judaism for more than the one hundred years of the movement’s existence. The Congregation’s tangible outreach is inspired by our missions of Tikkun Olam (repair of the world) and Tzedakah (social justice) and nurtured by President Eric Freedman and our Pandemic-era congregational study of racial disparities in American society. Our congregation is strengthened by Rabbi Collins as we welcome new members into our community. We are thrilled that the Rabbi and his family have made their decision to confirm their relationship with the congregation by moving from Brooklyn to West Orange.
Every month saw events religious, cultural and social at the synagogue and in the community. We celebrated a Kabbalat Shabbat service and dinner with Temple Adath Shalom of Morris Plains thanks to joint congregants Harvey and Tammie Applebaum. The museum hosted exhibitions “Paris/Auschwitz: Remembering the Children,” featuring calligraphy by Eleanor Winters `and “Witness to Captivity” showcasing visual art and photography by Kay Reese. Weekday evenings “Trilogy,” a local opera company, rehearsed in the social hall and performed this summer in Watsessing Park as part of Essex County’s summer series. Bernie Beck started the Ahavas Sholom Book Club with monthly Zoom discussions of Philip Roth’s Goodby-Columbus and Dara Horn’s People Love Dead Jews. Rabbi Collins and Imam Daud Haqq gave the invocations at Mayor Baraka’s annual state of the city address at NJPAC. On July 31, our congregation, together with our neighbor Clinton Memorial AME Zion Church and United Community Corporation, produced “We Are Better Together Community Day,” an event led by new congregant Queen Hope Nocii. United Community shuttled residents of shelters in and around Newark to the social hall and parking lot, where they could choose groceries and clothing, use a mobile laundry trailer, play games, have healthcare screenings, and be treated to a barbeque grilled by chefs President Freedman and Rabbi Collins.
The Congregation celebrated mitzvahs this year. Akiva Freedman was called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah in October and graduated eighth grade at Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy in June. The Essex County Board of County Commissioners honored Vice President Jeff Haveson at its Jewish Heritage Month Celebration for his work with Ahavas Sholom. Jeff is our “Technical Gabbi,” a term coined by Rabbi Rosenbach, because he sets up our Zoom services. He also writes and sends our colorful and informative weekly e-newsletter and heads outreach efforts.
Look for announcement this fall of the dedication of the congregation’s third public school playground at Lincoln Elementary School, a partnership in which the Congregation obtained state Green Acres Funding and partnered with the Trust for Public Lands. Also the Newark Museum of Art is curating the “Battle of the Wards” exhibition in our museum featuring three up-and-coming artists.
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High Holiday services will be led by Rabbi Collins with cantorial portions provided by Fred Grabiner, Hooshmand Delshad and Bernie Beck. Thanks to a grant administered by the NJ Office of Homeland Security, we, like other synagogues, have installed security measures. Even if you attend another synagogue, consider joining us for one or more of our services. Rosh Hashanah services begin on Wednesday, Oct. 2, at 7:00 p.m. and continue on Thursday and Friday at 8:30 a.m. Tashlich will follow Thursday’s service. Kol Nidre will be Friday, Oct. 11, at 5:50p.m., and Yom Kippur day services begin on Saturday, Oct. 12, at 8:30 a.m., with Yizkor at 11:30 am. Mincha begins at 4:00 p.m, with our sumptuous break-fast, (in memory of towering congregant/chef Ciel Arons) immediately following shofar blowing at 7:00 p.m. Services will be live and on Zoom. We are scheduling our annual Chinese dinner in the sukkah on Sunday, Oct. 20. Each adult is responsible for purchasing a High Holiday ticket, which is $150 for a member and $300 for a non-member (students free).
As you contemplate the New Year, it is a good time to think about your own life cycle. We can offer the good counsel of the MetroWest Jewish Community Foundation (which invests the lion’s share of the Congregation’s capital funds) to assist you with planned giving, including charitable gift annuities, appropriate to your situation. Two members announced this year that they had included donations of $25,000 in their wills. The Congregation also has a block of reasonably-priced burial plots at King Solomon Memorial Park in Clifton.
This active and committed congregation depends upon the support of the individual members of the larger Jewish community. We appreciate every gift. If you can afford as much as $1,500, including tickets, dues and other contributions, we will inscribe your name on the plaque in the sanctuary. In addition, this year we have instituted a “Sustaining Membership” for those who are in a position to consider a pledge of $3,600 for 5 years, totaling $18,000. We encourage you to use our PayPal account: http://ahavassholom.org/home/membership, or you can continue to mail in this form with payment. Please attend our annual congregational business meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 13 at 7:00 p.m. at the synagogue and High Holiday and Shabbat services in our beautifully renovated sanctuary.
L’shanah tovah,
Robert Steinbaum, Vice President
As the oldest continuously operating synagogue in the City of Newark, Congregation Ahavas Sholom is an Egalitarian Conservative Synagogue with a traditional service that welcomes all Jews, fulfills their spiritual needs, provides educational and cultural experiences.
The synagogue’s mission states that Ahavas Sholom is passionately committed to the pursuit of Tikun Olam (repair of the world) and Tzedakah (social justice). Ahavas Sholom recognizes as part of Tikun Olam that it has an obligation to the environment, physical space and activities of the community. We therefore consider support for the conservation of open space, the creation of both passive and active recreation in Newark and among communities within its metropolitan area to be part of our mission.
Ahavas Sholom is characteristic of other religious institutions in Newark. Just as many inner-city churches draw the greater part of their members from outside the city itself, Ahavas Sholom now has relatively few congregants who live in Newark.
American cities are redeveloping in part as their unsurpassed cultural and religious institutions attract suburbanites to meaningful experiences. Ahavas Sholom is holy ground. It inspires those who step through its doors to pray, think, and learn, and to care about each other’s lives and the life of the community.