by Johanna Ginsberg
NJJN Staff Writer

May 29, 2008

The Englishtown Synagogue in West Orange received zoning board approval on May 15, two years after first opening on 37 Buckingham Rd.

The terms of the approval limit the Orthodox congregation to Sabbath and holiday observances, but its leaders were relieved when the decision was issued.

“We are very pleased,” said congregation president Daniel Needle.

The synagogue opened at its site, in the Englishtown section of West Orange, on Shavuot in June 2006. By that September, the congregation had hired a part-time rabbi. It was an auspicious formal start of a community that had existed informally in people’s homes for nearly 20 years.

But seven months later, in January 2007, the township ordered the synagogue closed, saying it did not have approval to use the single-family residence as a house of worship.

Now, two years after the original opening, preparations are under way to reopen.

The zoning variance was granted with certain conditions, however, in keeping with the residential character of the neighborhood, according to a copy of the resolution obtained by NJJN. The synagogue will not be permitted to hold a daily morning minyan or prayer service; no large celebrations, such as weddings or bar mitzva receptions, may be held there; and regular classes cannot be conducted on the premises.

The variance was also issued with the understanding that traffic will not be affected except for a few days per year, after the congregation assured the zoning board that its members do not drive to the synagogue on Shabbat and most holidays, as recorded in the resolution. The shul will not be permitted to put up a sign, and the building must continue to look like a single-family residence.

The congregation will also have to renovate the synagogue interior to meet township safety requirements, including strengthening the support of the building and making the bathrooms and entrance accessible to the handicapped, said Needle.

Needle said he hopes these changes will be completed, and a certificate of occupancy issued, by the end of the summer.

“We are eagerly looking forward to completing this process and meeting as a congregation in our own building. In the interim, we continue to rely on our own members to host weekly Shabbat and holiday services,” said Needle.

While he expressed some disappointment at some of the limitations placed on the congregation, none would change the way it plans to use the building in the foreseeable future, he said.

“Our goal is to be able to have regular services as a congregation on Shabbatot and holidays, and of course we appreciate the concern of the board for not wanting to create any nuisances for the neighborhood,” Needle said. “Our shul is a neighborhood shul, we live in the neighborhood, and the shul’s neighbors are our neighbors too. Good neighborliness is not only our policy, it’s a mitzva.”

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