Temple Beth Ahm in Aberdeen held a celebration dinner on Dec. 12 in honor of the synagogue’s 40th anniversary at its Lloyd Road location. The temple’s library has been renovated and now serves as a combination daily chapel and library.
Photo courtesy Seth Arbital
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December 16, 2008
Temple Beth Ahm in Aberdeen has a lot to celebrate. The Conservative congregation was scheduled to commemorate its 40th anniversary at its Lloyd Road location with a series of events that included a celebration dinner on Friday, Dec. 12, and the dedication of the temple’s new daily chapel/library on Sunday, Dec. 14.
“The temple has achieved longevity because the membership is like one big family,” said Bob Blum, chair of the dedication committee and Beth Ahm’s board of trustees. Blum, a retired Monmouth County municipal judge who moved to Jackson Township last July, lived in Hazlet for the previous 40 years; he and his wife, Naomi, have been members of Beth Ahm since 1968, and their daughters, Alisa and Lainie, became b’not mitzva at the temple.
“There have been many long-lasting friendships that grew out of temple membership,” Blum said. “We’ve been there for each other through every kind of lifecycle event — good times, sad times, and everything in between. We’ve always been able to count on each other.”
The temple was founded in the 1960s by 45 families. Before it opened the doors of its permanent home in 1968, the Beth Ahm congregation met in the Aberdeen First Aid building. There are currently 280 members, who continue to watch the temple evolve into a place where the Conservative Jewish community can celebrate, pray, learn, socialize, and find love, support, and comfort, Blum said.
Many of Beth Ahm’s activities now take place in the new daily chapel, which also serves as the temple library. In 2002, Temple Ohav Shalom of Sayreville merged with Beth Ahm, and the merger financed the renovations, which began last summer.
The chapel’s ark now displays the doors that formerly enclosed the ark at Ohav Shalom. Other items from Ohav Shalom also have been integrated into the chapel, including two Torah scroll stands, a Holocaust memorial light, and a wood carving that bears a Hebrew phrase (“Da lifnei mi ata omed”) (“Know before whom you stand”) that hangs above the ark.
In the mid-1970s, the Keyport Jewish Center merged with Beth Ahm; during the temple’s summer renovation phase, two colored-glass windows from the center were installed on each side of the chapel ark.
“We take great pride in our sense of community and temple family, and the renovated chapel/library reflects that spirit,” said Rabbi Michael Pont, Beth Ahm’s religious leader. “It represents the coming together of the memberships of three temples, and we will continue to embrace Conservative Judaism as an exciting and meaningful way of life.”
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