2. The rabbi longest
and most-closely associated with B'nai Jeshurun was Rabbi Solomon Foster,
who had joined the congregation at its earlier location on Washington Street
in 1902 and served in the 783 High Street structure until 1942 when he was
succeeded by Rabbi David Wice.
As the only Reform temple in the area of Newark's main Jewish population, B'nai Jeshurun was also the only temple in which the services were mostly in English. Most Jews of the Third Ward area felt the prayers in English lacked the sound of piety so prevalent in the prayers of the numerous Orthodox synagogues in the nearby community. The sermons of Rabbi Foster, as one of his congregants described them, were "crisp and intelligent, and as a rule had more intellectual content than might be found in the sermons of nearby Orthodox congregations."
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Copyright 1998 - 2021 Glenn G. Geisheimer |