Hello Hal,

Welcome to the FJMC New York Metro Region Newsletter. In our year-end issue, you will find special club announcements, articles and exciting events happening around the region, as well as important programs, highlights and news within the FJMC and the Jewish Community.

Warm wishes for a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year from the New York Metro Region Officers and Trustees!

Temple Beth Torah (“TBT”) is pleased to finally be joining the Federation of Jewish Men’s Club. Our Conservative synagogue, located on Cantiague Road in Westbury, has been serving the neighboring communities of Jericho, Westbury and Hicksville since 1960. We were blessed to have been led by the same clergy, Rabbi Michael Katz, and Cantor Kalman Fleigelman for over 40 years, and continue to be blessed with our new Rabbi Jack Dermer and Cantor Scott Sokol.

Under the direction of our new clergy our Congregation has become “reenergized” and membership in the FJMC is part of that renewal. Historically, TBT’s Men’s Club has been a very informal arm of the Temple, which we now hope to change. Recent activities of our Men’s Club have included a Poker Night, attendance at the Jewish Heritage Night at a New York Islanders Game, and our now 2nd Annual Latkes and Vodkas event celebrating Hanukkah. Our Co-Presidents are Rob Shapiro, who has been president for the past 6 years and Ivan Ziegler, who is a past President of both Men’s Club and our Congregation.

We look forward to our association with FJMC and the many advantages we know we will be enjoying. We are certainly interested in joint Men’s Club and possibly Congregational events with other members of the organization.

Personally, we would like to thank Aaron Altman and Jay Steinmetz for visiting our Men’s Club and introducing and welcoming our members to FJMC’s New York Metro Region.

Temple Beth Torah

Jericho Gardens, Westbury, New York

templebethtorahli.org

(New York Jewish Week) — Crafted of bronze and gold-leaf plaster, and topped by a bejeweled crown, the astonishing 26-foot-tall ark of the Forest Hills Jewish Center fills its cavernous sanctuary with an imposing presence. 

When Temma Kingsley joined the congregation as a newlywed in 1965, she was taken aback by its style. 

“I thought it was really quite fancy, overdone,” she recalled recently, comparing it to the traditional wooden ark in the modest Philadelphia synagogue where she grew up. “But I’ve since learned what it’s all about, and I’ve become attached to it.” 

The ark, which houses the synagogue’s Torah scrolls, is the work of artist Arthur Szyk (1894-1951), a Polish-born artist who rose to fame in the United States with vivid, technicolor drawings on the covers of influential magazines, in the pages of high-profile newspapers and in fine galleries and museums around the world. When the synagogue dedicated its minimalist post-war building on Queens Boulevard in 1949, Szyk’s opulently designed ark stood out as entirely different.

Now, with the impending sale of the Forest Hills Jewish Center building, Kingsley is concerned about the ark’s future. So too are current synagogue leaders, as well as art historians and museum curators, who are scurrying to find it a new home. Meanwhile, the ark’s fate remains in question.

The Conservative synagogue announced last year it was selling its building and would look for a new home in the same area in Queens. In August, an investment partnership led by Joseph Yushuvayev and Uri Mermelstein of Top Rock Holdings announced it was in contract to buy the building and develop the site.

Read the article in its entirety!

Come early, Stay for Fireworks!



Convention is Thursday-Sunday but there's so much to do you're going to want to enjoy our pre and post-convention activities or plan a longer stay to explore Philly your own then enjoy the 4th of July celebration!

If your synagogue doesn't have an FJMC-affiliated men's Club, you may not be aware of the Build-A-Pair program, an outstanding arts and crafts and religious education program about tefillin. 

Questions:

Buildapair.fjmc@gmail.com

Hoping the WORLD WIDE WRAP will be in-person for many of you. 

Of course, it can be done virtually if needed, and whether virtual or in person,

FJMC has created an entertaining and educational WWW ’22 Video for you to use!  Download the video and have it on the ready during your Wrap program.

Order Shoah Yellow Candles now.

Early Bird Discount Ends January 6, 2023.

Light on Erev Yom HaShoah

Holocaust Remembrance Day

Monday, April 17, 2023