Temple Beth Ahm Celebrates 75th Anniversary

Congregation Beth Ahm of West Essex in Verona is celebrating 75 years.

The temple, located just off of Bloomfield Avenue on the corner of Grove and Personette, is not an especially enormous or bold structure, but an intimate synagogue, just the right size for its members who come from Verona, the Caldwells, Cedar Grove, Montclair, the Oranges and beyond.

"We have reached an historic moment in which we are celebrating our past with our alumni and current members, insuring that Beth Ahm continues to be a Jewish presence in the West Essex area for years to come," said Laurie Brandt, 75th anniversary chairperson.

The temple strives with services of worship, adult education classes, Hebrew school, support groups/community outreach, and interfaith relations. But, it wasn’t always that way.

In 1936, a small group of Jewish families in Verona felt the need for a center of religious life. They organized themselves into a shul (a Yiddish word for temple) called the Jewish Community Center of Verona and hired a young rabbi named Alter Kriegel, father of the current Rabbi Aaron Kriegel.  

At the time between the Depression and World War II, there was a different climate, one filled with the thick fear of discrimination and anti-Semitic sentiments. Hard-working Jewish people struggled to let others know them as loyal and upstanding citizens and as friends who lived amongst them in their communities.

Over the years, the Jewish Community Center developed into Congregation Beth Ahm and has become an integral part of the Verona community. Members of the temple have served as councilmen, as mayor, on the Volunteer Rescue Squad and as head of the Board of Education.  

The synagogue was accepted without prejudice as a part of the ecumenical community. And part of Personette Avenue was even named for Founding Rabbi Alter Kriegel.

The temple is nicknamed “The Little Temple with a Big Heart”—and that heart has a vibrant healthy beat. 

Congregation Beth Ahm of West Essex will celebrate its long and rich history on Sunday, June 12, with a gala dinner at the Richfield Regency in Verona. Tickets are $125 and include cocktail hour, dinner and entertainment. The deadline to buy tickets is Wednesday, June 1. For more information, visit www.bethahm.org.