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HISTORY
OF TEMPLE ADAS ISRAEL
What
we now know as Temple Adas Israel in Sag Harbor, Long Island’s oldest
synagogue began its life as Temple Mishkan Israel in 1893.
Land was purchased for the Temple in 1896 and the building was
completed in 1898. By 1900
regular Shabbat and High Holy Day services were being held for a
vibrant, thriving Jewish community
Until
about 35 years ago there was no record of the East End’s long and
complex Jewish history. In
the late 70’s a librarian named Helene Gerard recorded oral histories
of many first generation Jewish residents…and an exhibition was held
at the East End Arts Council.
Many
of the influential families in the Temple’s history
are listed on the Memorial Boards in the sanctuary…names like
Matles, Spitzer, Mayer, Katz, Rosenstein, Brill, Raff and others were
among the Jews who owned businesses in town.
They gave what little they could spare. The chandeliers, for
example, were a gift from Mrs. Schocket who gave a quarter a week.
The
history of Temple Adas Israel is a focal point in this history and
illustrates the Jewish immigrant experience in the U.S. at the turn of
the 19th century. Sag
Harbor’s early Jewish settlers established a mutual benefit society,
founded a cemetery and built the Temple. In another respect –Sag
Harbor’s Jewish history is unique in that the Jewish immigrants were
attracted by the availability of opportunity and chose to live in a
small village rather than a large urban environment.
Sag
Harbor’s early Jewish community flourished. At one time 15% of the
town was Jewish and the Jews dominated Main Street’s business life.
In
1896, when Nissan Meyerson paid $350 to buy the land for the temple, Sag
Harbor’s Jews accepted responsibility for establishing what would
eventually become Long Island’s oldest Jewish house of worship in
continual use.
Sag
Harbor, once a thriving commercial center, reverted to a sleepy rural
village during the mid-19th century. With the demise of the
whaling industry by 1850 the town needed an economic base to bring back
stability. In the early
1880’s local business men and town officials convinced Joseph Fahys to
move his watch case business from New Jersey to Sag Harbor brining
hundreds of badly needed jobs to the community. He could easily ship the
watch cases to New York City on the newly opened Long Island Railroad.
The
brick factory - that has been empty for 34 years - still stands today at
the corner of Washington Street. At
the same time many commercial buildings and residences for workers were
built on nearby streets and alleys, followed by shops on Main Street.
Fahys, like many other factory owners, relied on immigrant labor
including Russian, Polish and Hungarian Jews. According to the 1900
census, approximately 100 Jewish men worked in the factory.
In
the 1880’s, one of the first actions taken by the new Jewish community
was the creation of the mutual benefit society to help immigrants find
jobs and homes. In 1883
Morris Meyer, Samuel Heller and Max Ollswang organized the Jewish
Association of United Brethren. The
society also organized services for the High Holy Days that were held at
Meyer’s Hall, above what is now the Sag Harbor Variety store today.
Around
that time the Hungarian Jewish immigrants formed their own organization,
with about 50 members and they held their services in Engraver’s Hall.
The first tangible evidence that both groups saw Sag Harbor as
their home was the establishment of the Jewish Cemetery which still
exists –and is still divided as it was in the early 1900s, when a
piece belonged to each of the two Societies.
The Independent Cemetery is still in operation and Temple Adas
Israel took the Hevra Kodetia Society under its umbrella in 2003.
The
schism in Sag Harbor between the Hungarian Jews and those from Russia
and Poland was typical of the ethnic divisions in many other towns where
immigrants identified with landsmen from their own areas.
During
the 1890’s The Russian and Polish group started planning a shul.
Samuel Heller spent three weeks in NYC soliciting funds including one
from financier Jacob Schiff. The
dues for the Jewish Brethren Association were raised from 5c to 10c a
week to cover the building fund and cemetery upkeep.
The building itself cost $2500.00.
Fifty families were among the founders and Temple Mishkan Israel
was dedicated in 1898 in conjunction with Rosh Hashanah services.
It was Orthodox then and the women sat in the upstairs gallery.
A mikvah (ritual bath) was constructed downstairs toward the back
of the building; it is still there today.
The building’s two wooden altars, including the Lions of Judah,
were carved by Nissan Meyerson.
Not
having to abide by the ADA (American with Disabilities Act) the
staircase in front of the Temple was the only access.
David Lee, the Temple’s current administrator (and former
president many times over), recalls “carrying older people up the
steps in chairs because it was the only way they could get into the shul.”
The
Temple’s first design was simple. The 24 x 30 foot structure was
topped by a gable roof. The
main entrance was flanked by two large gothic style windows and the façade
of the Temple looked pretty much as it does today.
Its original design was not changed for more than 50 years.
Services were held on Fridays and Saturdays with the officers
wearing robes and a solid gold medal.
The Brooklyn Eagle described it… “The
new temple is a fine looking edifice…The synagogue is located upon a
beautiful terrace, the neighborhood being thickly populated…The
synagogue has seating capacity for one hundred persons…In the center
of the synagogue, a handsome altar has been placed. At the east end
another altar and draped enclosure contains the holy orders of the
ritual. At night the edifice is illuminated by gas…The association has
a well kept cemetery situated about a mile from the village.”
Starting
in the 1880’s Sag Harbor and Riverhead, along with large urban centers
experienced a great increase in Jewish immigrant populations. Sag Harbor
schools filled with children of varying ethnicities and family run
stores catered to many different groups. Many Jewish immigrants left the
area as the economy declined. However,
Jews accounted for 33% of all of Sag Harbor’s new citizens from
1899-1906. And, since there
were few ordained rabbis, landsmanshaftn organizations provided
rabbinical services along with their other duties.
Temple Mishkan, as TAI was called then, was a beneficiary of this
movement. Lay rabbis would
travel from New York City to Sag Harbor and other East End towns, where,
in exchange for their leading Shabbat services and Holy Day observances,
they were housed comfortably by local Jewish leaders.
Not
much is known about the Temple’s finances during the early 1900’s
–but in 1918 a petition was presented by George C. Young to sell the
Temple so he could receive the $1295 owed him. The Jewish Association of
United Brethren petitioned the Court to buy the Temple’s mortgage to
pay off Mr. Young. Rubye
Meyer recalled much later “after that transaction was completed,
Morris Meyer got up and said ‘there should never be another
mortgage’. A legal
agreement was made and to this day there has never been another
mortgage.
On
May 2, 1918 52 men of both Russian and Austro Hungarian descent became
charter members of the newly named Congregation Adash Israel…ending
both the financial crisis and the division between the two Jewish
communities. The unity was celebrated with a Temple sponsored public
parade and mortgage burning on Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights,
December 20, 1918. The Sag Harbor Express
of that date reports a banquet “that was a succession of triumphs of
the culinary arts. The feast, provided by the Daughters of Israel
included grapefruit, chopped liver, chicken soup, chicken fricassee,
roast chicken, mashed white and sweet potatoes and turnips, celery,
pickles fruit cake soft beverages and cigars.
Keynote speaker, Louis J Gribetz of the New York Zionist
Organization called for the organization of a religious school as a sign
of the new group’s commitment to its own future and to the future of
Judaism.”
Initially
many of the East End Jewish families observed kashruth.
Nettie Rosenstein, owner of the Fil-Net Shop (ladies’
clothing), one of the town’s best known merchants kept a strictly
kosher home and had meat delivered from Patchogue three times a week as
did Mary Matles, Ruth Rossuck, Dorothy Simon and other Temple women.
Gertrude Katz, Nettie’s daughter, and wife of Donald Katz, who
has been a leader in the Temple for well over 50 years recalls that
since their main meal, at noon, was a meat meal, Gertrude had to have
her milk after school. To make sure she got it, Nettie would call the
mothers of Gertrude’s friends… “Wherever I was, I remember the
phone ringing, and these were all gentile people, answering and saying
‘don’t worry, Mrs. Rosenstein, I’ll give her milk’ ”.
The
Raff family also continued orthodox traditions. Their daughter Frances, who was nearly 100 years old when she
died, was Gertrude Katz’s second grade teacher at Sag Harbor’s
Pierson Public School. She
remembers falling asleep at Seders when she was young. She also recalls
her mother making special trips to New York to buy coffee for Passover.
On the other hand, many second generation families stopped maintaining
kosher homes once they moved away from their parents.
The
Temple attracted Jews from all over the East End- from Montauk and
Riverhead, Easthampton and Westhampton until the 1960s. Orthodox Jews
would often stay overnight in Sag Harbor homes so as not to travel on
the Sabbath. Various residents rented rooms to visitors and children
sometimes had to stay at friend’s homes when their parents had to make
room for guests for the High Holidays.
During
Temple services in those days the men argued over Torah text, in
Yiddish. Gert Katz
remembers her mother crying during services –when she asked her why,
her mother replied that she remembered her
mother crying through the same parts.
Services
were held only on the major holidays.
There was only one wedding from 1900 to 1940 and no Bar Mitzvahs.
Most families journeyed to New York City to be with their
relatives on these occasions.
One
of the factors that encouraged assimilation and led to less stringent
religious observance was the economic pressure to survive.
Jewish business had to accommodate Jews and non-Jews alike so
their shops had to be open on Saturdays.
The High Holidays were the only exception.
Gert Katz remembers being in her mother’s store on Christmas
Eve when customers came to pick up their wrapped gifts.
“We always respected that it was a Christian holiday just as my
mother always closed the store on Jewish holidays; she was respected for
that”.
Many
of the Temple’s early families had retail stores and the children
worked in them…they even took up writing and bookkeeping tasks for
parents who were not fully literate in English.
A
fact of life for the Jewish store owners was their weekly trip to “the
City” to bring back kosher food and other goods not available on the
East End, like delicatessen specialties.
In
addition to retailers, other East End Jews were farmers, produce
suppliers, fishermen and deliverymen.
The
1920’s brought economic decline to the area as well as to Temple Adas
Israel. Strict quotas were set on the number of Jews entering the U.S.
from Europe. These restrictions were favored by many elite families and
descendants of Colonial settlers who felt their way of life threatened
by the new ethnic arrivals. This
sentiment spurred the growth of the Ku Klux Klan which marched regularly
on the streets of Bridgehamtpon and
Riverhead in the 1920s.
Another
crisis hit Sag Harbor in 1925 when a huge fire consumed major parts of
both the Fahys Watchcase Factory and the Alvin Silver Factory forcing
both operations to lay off hundreds of workers and stop production. The number of Jewish families in Sag Harbor dwindled to fewer
than 12.
Despite
the decline in population most Sag Harbor Jewish businesses survived
during the Depression. In 1930, Gert Katz’s parents, Philip and Nettie
Rosenstein started the ladies clothing store known as the Fil-Net Shop. They established their business in Sag Harbor instead of
Great Neck because the Sag Harbor shop had two windows to display
merchandise!
While
some new families moved in and started businesses courtesy of the WPA
(Works Progress Administration) the Depression had a disastrous effect
on the Temple. There were
no funds to pay a visiting rabbi and the building began to deteriorate. The Mikvah fell into disuse and was boarded up in the 1940s;
it would not be seen again until 1975 when it was accidentally
discovered and is now the focal point of the Temple’s “museum”
room. In 1939, Rabbi Freimarch, who had fled Germany, moved to Sag
Harbor. He acted as shochet, raising and butchering kosher chickens and
meats for various Jewish families. He also taught Hebrew to the children
and helped prepare boys for Bar Mitzvah.
There were Shabbat services, usually on Saturdays, but sometimes
on Friday nights led by various “landsmen” in the community.
In
the early 1940s, Temple Adas Israel was open only for the High Holy Days
having been severely impacted by the economic downturn. While Jewish
owned shops still dominated Main Street, few Jews attended services and
the Jewish populations became proportionately smaller.
In the early 1900s as an example, there were five or six Jewish
children (out of 25) in each grade. In the 1920s, when Frances Raff was
in school, she was the only
Jew in her class. By 1950
there were only a few Jewish children in the entire school including
Margaret Abelman (Bromberg) and Linda Matles (Schiavoni), their siblings
and Michael Kelman. By 1945
only 12 families were active members of the Temple. Most of the founders
had died. There wasn’t money to pay a visiting rabbi or to make
structural repairs to the building.
In 1946-47 the Catholic Church offered to buy the Temple and move
the building. In order to
consider this offer, according to State law, the entire congregation had
to approve. Fritz Mayer
recalls that a meeting was called… “There
were about 40 families. They came from Montauk and Westhampton Beach…I
was angry…to even consider
that the shul should be sold to the church…why sell it at all? Here
were 40 families…who could get it together for the demise of a Temple,
but couldn’t keep a congregation going.”
A
group of male congregants figured that if they could get Rabbi Gold to
come from Riverhead they could keep the Temple active. But first they had to draft a new constitution because the
original charter papers couldn’t be found.
In 1948 the Temple left its Orthodox roots and became
Conservative, changing its name to Temple
Adas Israel. The
Spitzers gave the use of their potato house for a fundraiser. It was
underwritten by Max Katz; Jews and non-Jews alike came from as far as
Patchogue and the Temple raised $4000.
That
$4000 was used to repair
the Temple’s floors and walls, remove the bema (from the center) add
the platform that now is the bema and remodel the pews.
According to Fritz Mayer, the Spitzers donated two Torahs and he
gave the American and Israeli flags.
He also went to the Temple in Riverhead and asked if Rabbi Gold
could conduct services in Sag Harbor and find a student rabbi for the
High Holy Days…it cost $2500 which was astronomical for the time, but
they did it and Mayer became the first president of what had become a
Conservative shul. As Dave Lee, then a newcomer tells it …“services were held
on Wednesday evenings (because the rabbis were busy on Fridays and
Saturdays). Rabbi Gold officiated at first, then Rabbi Simon Resnikoff,
an Army Chaplain based in Westhampton took over.
When we hired these rabbis I
looked up said ‘this
may not be right, but it’s the best we can do. Is it all right? If
not, let there be a big flash’. Evidently it was all right because
there was no big flash of lightning.”
By
this time there were only nine Jewish owned businesses in the community.
However, despite their small numbers most of the Jewish children
recall their early years with fondness. There were Purim plays, block
parties and carnivals. “But
summer was always another world” remembers Gertrude (Rosenstein) Katz,
because of the large increase in populations. Almost every family had a
summer guest from New York City who would stay for weeks or longer. Many
of the children were sent to Jewish summer camps, but often found their
new surroundings difficult. Their fellow campers didn’t know where Sag
Harbor was…when told it was on Long Island, they would get responses
like “I have cousins in Forest Hills”-thinking that
was Long Island.
The
area was not without bigotry and hatred…Fritz Mayer said that a cross
was burned near their farm in 1933. The area was a
stronghold for Nazi sympathizers…and the German Bund movement
was active in the region.
After
World War II young professionals, artists and writers moved to the East
End looking for a cultural and economic environment conducive to their
energies and ideas. The Abelmans (Margaret Bromberg’s family) started
coming to Sag Harbor in the summer of 1945 and never returned to the
City. Ida York Abelman, Margaret’s mother, was a well-known WPA
artist painting murals in several post-offices, and producing many
lithographs. During summers
Ida Abelman taught painting classes to vacationers to generate income.
Her husband, Lawrence was one of four Jewish produce wholsesalers
in Sag Harbor during the 40s and 50s.
By 1950, Temple Adas Israel was once again the center of Jewish
life. Shabbat services were held on Thursdays. A Sunday school was
organized by Temple members; it was taught by Dave Lee’s late wife,
Vera, with an assist from Dave. He still remembers teaching Mike Kelman,
the oldest son of TAI long time member May
Kelman, enough Hebrew to prepare for his Bar Mitzvah.
Another of the few Village children who attended was Margaret
Abelman (Bromberg) whose parents were “proud non-believers”.
Margaret recalls that two or three Temple members took her under
their wing. She attended services without her parents and stayed out of
school during the High Holy Days when the services were totally in
Hebrew. “Someone arranged for me to have a confirmation when I was
about 14 or 15.” The
Temple was still without a full time rabbi.
But once again there was a fundraising effort and extensive
renovations were made. Dave
Lee remembers that one of the first checks came from a friend of his who
was an elder of the Presbyterian Church.
He said “Dave, you people have always supported everything we
have done, and you never asked for anything. We think it’s very
important that the synagogue be alive and well”
In
1956 the Temple acquired the adjacent lot for $1500. And the Orthodox practice of seating men and women separately
was abolished. More and
more summer people began coming to services. In East Hampton, a growing
Jewish community with 12 year-round families, many with young children,
took root. Many of them had come from Sag Harbor. By contrast the
members living in Sag Harbor were older. Many of the East Hampton
families were fond of Temple Adas Israel, and didn’t want to leave.
Yet, they wanted a year-round Temple in East Hampton where their
children could experience a deeper immersion in Jewish religion and
culture. In 1951 the East
Hampton contingent began raising money for a new Temple and in 1958
there were sufficient funds to create an independent center in East
Hampton. The forces of
change were now overwhelming, the summer populations was expanding
quickly and attracting prosperous and celebrated Jews to help build and
support the fledgling Jewish Center of the Hamptons.
In
1974, seeking a more natural way of life, journalist Karl Grossman and
his wife Janet, a teacher, bought a house built around 1905 –there was
even a barn on the property. They
are current members of the Temple and Janet serves on the Board.
Karl’s grandfather had been one of Sag Harbor’s earliest
Jewish residents and worked at the Fahys Watchcase Factory around the
turn of the 20th century. He had been brought over from
Hungary as an engraver.
In
the late 70s, still with only part time rabbis, Temple Adas Israel began
to thrive once again. Shortly
after the 1977 renovations began, a member discovered that the basement
held a traditional Orthodox Mikvah and it was restored to its original
condition. No one recalls
why it was ever covered. Other improvements at that time included the
replacement of the stained glass windows (new ones created by Romany
Kramoris who has a gift shop on Main Street); the creation of a new
entrance accessible from the parking lot and the removal of a long
staircase.
Changes
were also made in the Temple’s religious services. Reform practices were adopted in 1975 and Vera Sims was the
first woman ever to stand on the Temple’s bema. Interfaith services
became part of the community’s outreach including the Thanksgiving
service hosted by Temple Adas Israel each year.
“I think the best way to prevent anti-Semitism is to be part of
the community, not making your own ghetto and pretending other people
don’t exist”, said David Lee, who served several terms as President
and is now the Temple’s Administrator and Secretary of the Board.
Margaret
Abelman Bromberg, who had gone to college in the City, and lived in
other places after her marriage, returned to Sag Harbor in 1981 with her
husband and young family. “We chose the village for our home because
of its beauty, the rich diversity of its people and because I cherish
and treasure a place where I can walk to everything.”
For many years Margaret was very active in the Temple, serving on
its Board of Trustees and holding several offices including
co-President. She still attends regularly as do her children when they
are around.
Adas
Israel quickly earned a reputation as a center of liberal (Reform)
Judaism and attracts
hundreds of summer residents and second home owners to its High Holy Day
services. It is, today,
affiliated with the Union of Reform Judaism (formerly the Union of
American Hebrew Congregations) the congregational branch of the Reform
Movement in the U.S.
Many
well known rabbis have served Temple Adas Israel, including Albert
Silverman, Arthur Gilbert and George Lieberman. Rabbi Lieberman’s
widow, Sylvia, is still active in the Temple and is an honorary member
of its Board. Rabbi Paul M.
Steinberg, a Vice President of Hebrew Union College was the spiritual
leader for close to two decades. During his tenure he recruited student
cantors from the College’s School of Sacred Music (many from as far
away as Russia, Israel and Brazil) to enrich the Temple’s services.
Cantor Debra Stein, who has served the Jewish Center of the
Hamptons for over 20 years sang at TAI during her student days. Rabbi
Steinberg also brought in a number of fine student rabbis to officiate
when he was not in Sag Harbor.
While
the Temple has never had an active Bar/Bat Mitzvah program, the children
of members have received their training at Hebrew Schools in other
synagogues. Gertrude Katz took her son Hank –now a Board member –
all the way to Patchogue. A
group of parents formed a Temple Youth Group –Elijah…Eastern Long
Island Jewish Association – so their children could meet other Jewish
teenagers from Long Island and Westchester.
Esther Alpert drove her kids to Hebrew and Sunday school in
Riverhead twice a week as did the Wolf and Robinson families and Ida
Abelman. Later, Karl
and Janet Grossman sent their children to the Jewish Center of the
Hamptons where Janet taught in the school’s early years.
And, altho Laura Anker Grossman’s son, Joshua Schwartz was a
bar mitzvah at Temple Adas Israel, he was also prepared by teachers at
the Jewish Center of the Hamptons, where TAI still has an arrangement
regarding Bar/Bat mitzvah training for its members’ children.
The
activities and practices reflect the community’s spiritual commitment
to Jewish cultural and religious traditions. “I was brought up with
the admonition that everything I did reflected on every Jew in the
entire country” Gert Katz once said.
While
Jews are still a minority among the East End’s year round
residents…more and more Jews are now living full time in the area, or
purchasing second homes and making themselves very much a part of all
East End activities and professions. Both Temple Adas Israel and The
Jewish Center of the Hamptons receive support from non-Jews as well as
from the summer people. The two Temples have even produced a rabbi
–Beth Dina Davidson, daughter of the late Dr. David H. Davidson and
Barbara Delatiner Davidson, returned to officiate at TAI during her
rabbinical student days.
Jewish
traditions have also survived in interfaith households.
In the Sag Harbor home of Linda Matles Schiavoni and Paul
Schiavoni, both Jewish and Christian holidays are observed…their son
became bar mitzvah and at one time Paul Schiavoni made latkes at
Hanukah. Their daughter was also married at TAI.
Karl
Grossman, a journalist and college
professor upholds his Jewish traditions through community service; his
upbringing included the admonition that each Jew should help the
oppressed through education and political action.
Many members of the Temple have been active in the East End
Anti-bias Task Force, the Sag Harbor Initiative and other groups devoted
to fighting prejudice and celebrating the community’s increasing
cultural diversity.
In
1968 Donald Katz and a group of friends purchased the Bridgehampton Bath
and Tennis Club, the first totally unrestricted beach and tennis club
welcoming all faiths, races and backgrounds. Prior to that time most
country clubs restricted their membership, excluding Jews and other
ethnic groups.
David
Lee, Lawrence Abelman, David H. Davidson, Laura Anker Grossman and Evan
Frankel are among those who served at one time on influential village
and town Boards.
Donald
Katz, who served as Temple President for over 20 years continues to be
the Shofar blower for the High Holidays.
Before Don brought a real Shofar back from Israel, and learned to
blow it, it is said that a duck whistle for used for the Holy Day
services!
Since
the 1950’s when the Ladies Auxiliary was formed women have played an
increasing role in Temple life. The Auxiliary no longer exists, but Gert Katz’s mother, Nettie Rosenstein, served as its
president from 1955-1980! Now
many women serve on the Temple’s Board.
Women were, and still are, active in the Sag Harbor Ladies
Village Improvement Society and the Library.
The Temple could not have survived over a century without the
involvement and support of families like the Lees, the Katzs, the
Ecksteins, (all still, active today)
and the Masoffs, the Simms, the Browns, the Diamonds, the
Gibelmans, the Diners, the Appels, the Spitzs, the Simons, Harry
Oliphant and Benjamin Morrell.
Jewish
life has changed a lot since our Temple was founded. And there is a pledge by all current members to keep this
meaningful heritage and spirit alive for generations to come.
-Adapted
by TAI Communications Director, Leda C. Goldsmith from an article that
originally appeared in the Temple Building’s Centennial Journal in
1996
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