Posted on August 3, 2022
On January 13, 2008, Temple Israel, a Conservative synagogue in Union led by Rabbi Meyer Korbman, closed its doors and merged with Temple Beth Ahm. In addition to bringing its Torah scrolls (except for one, donated to the Highland Park Minyan), Temple Israel installed in its new home its yahrzeit plaques, which were affixed to the walls of the temple, along with artwork and Holocaust artifacts. The post-merger congregation became known as Temple Beth Ahm Yisrael.
What its members brought was memories. Temple Israel — originally known as Temple Israel of Irvington, Maplewood, and Union — began in a storefront in Irvington. It moved to Morris Avenue in Union in the early 1960s; at its peak, membership reached as high as 500.
In a procession to mark the union, congregants drove the Torah scrolls from Temple Israel to Temple Beth Ahm. As each one arrived, it was greeted with a blast of the shofar. Then the sifrei Torah were marched down the sanctuary’s center aisle, welcomed by singing children and more shofar blasts.
