What people are saying...
Lenny and I grew up in NYC. My grandparents lived with us and since Grandpa was Orthodox, so were we. Lenny grew up in a Conservative environment. When we moved to Barnegat with two small children we felt it was time to become involved with a synagogue. The JCC of LBI was available but they were only open during the summer. Shortly after we inquired about membership they became a year-round synagogue. Our children were Bar and Bat Mitzvahed there and I had my Bat Mitzvah in the year 2000.
Life moves on and we left that congregation. On a Pirates Day in Barnegat I met Cyndy Friedland and Madelyn Dunn. They spoke to me of the new Reform congregation they were trying to form in Barnegat and that there would be High Holiday Services that year.
Lenny and I were interested immediately. Our children were grown but we felt the need for some religious association. It’s been a lot of years...I guess we were pioneers and were ready to make the move.
To me Reform was a new planet...Lenny too had some questions about it and we agreed that we were at the stage in our lives that Reform offered what we needed.
We have a warm and caring Congregation and we welcome anyone and everyone who is looking for religious fulfillment as a Reform Jew. But, let me go back a bit...the best thing about this whole experience was meeting Cyndy Friedland who has become a dear friend and a part of our family.
...Phyllis and Lenny Feather
About four years ago while shopping for Passover in Shop-Rite, we met Madeline and Robert Dunn. We were looking at the display and thinking what a poor selection of Passover food was available. While standing there, we started a conversation and they told us about the reform temple they where they were members. We were very happy to hear this and decided to go to services and see what it was like. To our surprise we met some very nice people.We have been members for over three years. Anyone reading this who is not a member, come join us at our next service. We are sure you will enjoy our services and meeting fellow Jews in our area.
...Syble & Ernie Bleiweis
There comes a time in our lives when we take the plunge and move out of our comfort
zone to an area that is totally different but a place that we call home. Whether one moves due to retirement or for a better educational system it becomes a nervous time knowing that we will be making new friends, getting to know the area, and just settling in. Hal and I moved into an adult community in Waretown and decided that it was important to look for a religious affiliation. Residents of our community introduced us to Congregation Sha’arey Ha-Yam (Gates of the Sea) and it became the bond that Hal and I were looking for. The congregation is close by in Barnegat. We attend Shabbat services on a regular basis and look forward to seeing the friends we have made along the way. Through this connection we found a sense of belonging, a place where our Jewish heritage was renewed. After services we look forward to the Oneg Shabbat where there is much storytelling and fun times are discussed. We are proud to be a part of a congregation that is involved in programming and fundraising projects. Both Hal and I enjoy working, with other Temple members, to assist with community projects. The twice monthly services at Sha’arey Ha-Yam (Gates of the Sea) have become a very important part of our lives and we look forward to attending Synagogue with our friends.
...Thelma Polon
Slightly over four years ago, I made the move to Osborn Island with family and friends wondering and worrying about my transition; they underestimated my ability to adapt : ) Within a few months, I connected with the Director of the Holocaust Resource Center of Stockton College and began my volunteer project of re-designing the expansion of their filing system. Then while reading the local Mailbag, I spied a boxed advertisement for the Reformed Jewish Community of Barnegat. Immediately I checked Map Quest for location (services were held at that time at a nursing home in Barnegat, however, I wasn’t quite certain exactly where Barnegat was). I was relieved as it apparently was almost a straight line; even I couldn’t get lost. (Although if I had a dollar for every time I passed right by the nursing home and had to make a U turn, I’d have a down payment for a new car : )
I called the phone number listed for Cyndy Friedland, President, with some hesitation; however, Cyndy allayed any concerns I had regarding the people and process and my “fitting in” noting that the community was an eclectic one and I would be very comfortable. Since it was nearing the end of the summer (I was traveling back every week involved with all the particulars of “feathering my new nest”), I explained that I wished to attend Services for the High Holy Days and perhaps join the Congregation. Several phone calls ensued and I became acquainted with Cyndy, a warm and welcoming personality encapsulated in a dynamo. So during Rosh Hashanah of 5767, I walked in …. “cold” and stayed.
I think one of the more amazing features of being Jewish is the capacity to “connect” when you are long away and far from home; when you meet another landsman, it is like finding a relative. You may not have met them before, but they are familiar to you. Perhaps it is genetic memory!
Raised by my grandparents, I grew up in a household in which little English was spoken, but unfortunately I do not speak Yiddish as well as once I did, but I can still understand the Litvak dialect. The adults I spent time with were of my grandparents’ generation: immigrants all and one of the most common expressions of greeting among my grandfather’s chaverim was: “Vos Macht a Yid” … instead of how are you or how do you do or how ya doin’ … instead, they asked … how is does a Jew “make” (this is literal, but idiomatically … how goes it for a Jew? A greeting, no doubt, from the “old country” where the very nature of that greeting indicates the precariousness of their situation (the analogy of the phrase “Fiddler on the Roof” … realizing of course that for someone to fiddle while standing on a roof .. especially in Eastern Europe took stamina, fortitude and dexterity and a finely honed survival mechanism.
What I most enjoy about the services... is Kaddish, for it is then I close my eyes, reach back into memory and watch my grandfather rock back and forth... from the balcony, I hear the chanting of male voices … somewhat out of sync as each man walked his own road in sorrow.
...Rosalie Donadio
My wife and I have found, in our young congregation, an openness and acceptance that flies in the face of what many find alienating about organized religion. In our congregation, there are no requirements; there are no demands; there are no divisive rules. It is truly a come-as-you-are and serve-as-you-can congregation.
Our children enjoy and regularly attend the weekly Hebrew school, where they are learning all about their valuable heritage and rich history. And the friendships we've made through the congregation are truly priceless.
As a member of the Executive Board, I've enjoyed helping to steer us toward the goal of one day having our own home. And I look forward to continuing as a participant in our community as it grows.
...Gary J. Daley
Life moves on and we left that congregation. On a Pirates Day in Barnegat I met Cyndy Friedland and Madelyn Dunn. They spoke to me of the new Reform congregation they were trying to form in Barnegat and that there would be High Holiday Services that year.
Lenny and I were interested immediately. Our children were grown but we felt the need for some religious association. It’s been a lot of years...I guess we were pioneers and were ready to make the move.
To me Reform was a new planet...Lenny too had some questions about it and we agreed that we were at the stage in our lives that Reform offered what we needed.
We have a warm and caring Congregation and we welcome anyone and everyone who is looking for religious fulfillment as a Reform Jew. But, let me go back a bit...the best thing about this whole experience was meeting Cyndy Friedland who has become a dear friend and a part of our family.
...Phyllis and Lenny Feather
About four years ago while shopping for Passover in Shop-Rite, we met Madeline and Robert Dunn. We were looking at the display and thinking what a poor selection of Passover food was available. While standing there, we started a conversation and they told us about the reform temple they where they were members. We were very happy to hear this and decided to go to services and see what it was like. To our surprise we met some very nice people.We have been members for over three years. Anyone reading this who is not a member, come join us at our next service. We are sure you will enjoy our services and meeting fellow Jews in our area.
...Syble & Ernie Bleiweis
There comes a time in our lives when we take the plunge and move out of our comfort
zone to an area that is totally different but a place that we call home. Whether one moves due to retirement or for a better educational system it becomes a nervous time knowing that we will be making new friends, getting to know the area, and just settling in. Hal and I moved into an adult community in Waretown and decided that it was important to look for a religious affiliation. Residents of our community introduced us to Congregation Sha’arey Ha-Yam (Gates of the Sea) and it became the bond that Hal and I were looking for. The congregation is close by in Barnegat. We attend Shabbat services on a regular basis and look forward to seeing the friends we have made along the way. Through this connection we found a sense of belonging, a place where our Jewish heritage was renewed. After services we look forward to the Oneg Shabbat where there is much storytelling and fun times are discussed. We are proud to be a part of a congregation that is involved in programming and fundraising projects. Both Hal and I enjoy working, with other Temple members, to assist with community projects. The twice monthly services at Sha’arey Ha-Yam (Gates of the Sea) have become a very important part of our lives and we look forward to attending Synagogue with our friends.
...Thelma Polon
Slightly over four years ago, I made the move to Osborn Island with family and friends wondering and worrying about my transition; they underestimated my ability to adapt : ) Within a few months, I connected with the Director of the Holocaust Resource Center of Stockton College and began my volunteer project of re-designing the expansion of their filing system. Then while reading the local Mailbag, I spied a boxed advertisement for the Reformed Jewish Community of Barnegat. Immediately I checked Map Quest for location (services were held at that time at a nursing home in Barnegat, however, I wasn’t quite certain exactly where Barnegat was). I was relieved as it apparently was almost a straight line; even I couldn’t get lost. (Although if I had a dollar for every time I passed right by the nursing home and had to make a U turn, I’d have a down payment for a new car : )
I called the phone number listed for Cyndy Friedland, President, with some hesitation; however, Cyndy allayed any concerns I had regarding the people and process and my “fitting in” noting that the community was an eclectic one and I would be very comfortable. Since it was nearing the end of the summer (I was traveling back every week involved with all the particulars of “feathering my new nest”), I explained that I wished to attend Services for the High Holy Days and perhaps join the Congregation. Several phone calls ensued and I became acquainted with Cyndy, a warm and welcoming personality encapsulated in a dynamo. So during Rosh Hashanah of 5767, I walked in …. “cold” and stayed.
I think one of the more amazing features of being Jewish is the capacity to “connect” when you are long away and far from home; when you meet another landsman, it is like finding a relative. You may not have met them before, but they are familiar to you. Perhaps it is genetic memory!
Raised by my grandparents, I grew up in a household in which little English was spoken, but unfortunately I do not speak Yiddish as well as once I did, but I can still understand the Litvak dialect. The adults I spent time with were of my grandparents’ generation: immigrants all and one of the most common expressions of greeting among my grandfather’s chaverim was: “Vos Macht a Yid” … instead of how are you or how do you do or how ya doin’ … instead, they asked … how is does a Jew “make” (this is literal, but idiomatically … how goes it for a Jew? A greeting, no doubt, from the “old country” where the very nature of that greeting indicates the precariousness of their situation (the analogy of the phrase “Fiddler on the Roof” … realizing of course that for someone to fiddle while standing on a roof .. especially in Eastern Europe took stamina, fortitude and dexterity and a finely honed survival mechanism.
What I most enjoy about the services... is Kaddish, for it is then I close my eyes, reach back into memory and watch my grandfather rock back and forth... from the balcony, I hear the chanting of male voices … somewhat out of sync as each man walked his own road in sorrow.
...Rosalie Donadio
My wife and I have found, in our young congregation, an openness and acceptance that flies in the face of what many find alienating about organized religion. In our congregation, there are no requirements; there are no demands; there are no divisive rules. It is truly a come-as-you-are and serve-as-you-can congregation.
Our children enjoy and regularly attend the weekly Hebrew school, where they are learning all about their valuable heritage and rich history. And the friendships we've made through the congregation are truly priceless.
As a member of the Executive Board, I've enjoyed helping to steer us toward the goal of one day having our own home. And I look forward to continuing as a participant in our community as it grows.
...Gary J. Daley