The Conservative Synagogue Turns 25

THE CONSERVATIVE SYNAGOGUE CELEBRATES SILVER ANNIVERSARY

GALA MARKS 25 YEARS

February 15, 2012, Westport, CT—Nearly 300 members of The Conservative Synagogue (TCS) turned out for the Synagogue’s 25th anniversary gala, an evening of dinner, dancing, live music and an auction. “This is an exciting milestone for The Conservative Synagogue as we have become a vibrant center for Jewish life in Westport,” said Rabbi Jeremy Wiederhorn.  “We have a thriving congregation and are proud of the extensive educational, religious and social programs that we offer our membership and the community at large,” Rabbi Wiederhorn noted.

TCS HISTORY

The Conservative Synagogue began in March 1987 with a handful of Jewish families who had a dream to build a Conservative synagogue in Westport. The group first met in office space donated by a local attorney and philanthropist, Leo Nevas, in a building on Post Road East in Westport, above Baskin-Robbins ice-cream store.

In 1989, the congregation hired its first full-time rabbi who also took on the role of religious-school principal before the school’s first full-time principal was hired. With many of the congregation’s children approaching bar- and bat-mitzvah age, the need for establishing a permanent home had become evident.  In the early 1990s, a building fund was launched, drawing donations not only from congregants, but from Jewish families in the community who were not members.  By September 1995, a site was identified and the town approved the permit to build the 21,000 square foot building on 30 Hillspoint Road in Westport (its current home). 

TCS GROWTH

Today, the Synagogue has grown to more than 425 families from Westport, Weston, Wilton, Easton, Norwalk and Fairfield.  There are more than 50 students enrolled in the TCS preschool, 250 students enrolled in Kehillah, the religious school, and many teens are active in the Hebrew High School program.  Under the leadership of Jeremy Wiederhorn who arrived in 2008 and Cantor Laura Berman, who has been with TCS for nine years, the dedicated professionals and staff and devoted Executive Board and Board of Directors, the Synagogue continues to grow. 

“Aaron Copeland said that music is in a continual state of becoming and so it is with our Jewish community,” said Cantor Berman. “TCS started with an ideal, then a service, a school, a building, and is now a thriving center of Jewish life. Our future is built every day, person by person, by connecting to our Jewish heritage, to Israel, to each other, and to the experiences of Jewish community that we pass on to our children,” she concluded.

The synagogue board of directors is co-led by Ilene Frost and Margie Labarre, both of Westport. “TCS has grown from infancy to adulthood in 25 years,” Frost said. “We are proud to offer dynamic programs that span all ages from our preschool and religious school students through to our adult members. We look forward to sustaining and building Jewish continuity in the years ahead, not only for our members, but for the entire community,” she added.

“It is thrilling to see how the dream of a handful of individuals 25 years ago has turned into a thriving community,” says Labarre. “All of our growing pains are now well behind us and we look forward to a very bright future.  I am very proud to be leading, along with my co-president, a very special congregation at this important time in our history.”

To learn more about The Conservative Synagogue and what it has to offer, visit www.tcs-westport.org or call (203) 454-4673.  The Conservative Synagogue, located at 30 Hillspoint Road in Westport, is affiliated with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the Association of Conservative congregations of North America.