Archive Committee Traces 
Hebrew School’s Past Fifty Years

As a new school year begins, the Archive Committee has been exploring the history of our synagogue’s Hebrew School. In searching the Beth El Bulletin archive, we have read articles about the planning and construction of our Hebrew School wing, completed in 1961, and the awarding of certification to our Hebrew School by the Westchester Association of Hebrew Schools in November of that same year. We thought you would also enjoy learning about the most recent fifty years of Beth El’s Hebrew School and seeing memorable photographs documenting some milestones in our history.

From the late 1940s until the end of 1961, Beth El’s Hebrew School classes were held at its beautiful synagogue on Union Avenue in downtown New Rochelle. The building that we currently occupy, which was formally dedicated in December 1957 as the Beth El Community Center, originally served as a meeting place for social activities, youth groups, and clubs, as well as home to the synagogue’s business offices and Nursery School.

While the original plan in the late 1950s was to move the Hebrew School and Sunday School to the new North Avenue building as soon as possible, a shortage of funds precluded construction of a school wing. But as the Jewish community in the North End of New Rochelle continued to grow, the need for a larger school building became increasingly urgent. A major capital campaign was launched on Erev Yom Kippur, October 11, 1959, and the November 1959 Bulletin reported that $37,000 had been pledged. These funds, combined with an additional $53,000 raised the previous year, allowed the congregation’s Building Committee to set in motion the planning and construction of a “modern two-story building . . . [which would] provide for fifteen spacious classrooms, a library, a large basement assembly and meeting room, offices, a Sisterhood Gift Shop, a book showcase, and additional storage space.”

In November 1960, Beth El’s Board of Trustees approved the contract for construction of the new school wing for slightly under $250,000. By then, the total school population was nearly six hundred students, and further growth was anticipated. The November 1960 Bulletin reported that the fund-raising drive was again intensified to enable the congregation “to meet our commitment to the Jewish community of New Rochelle.”

  
Dig! Proudly breaking ground at the site of                     Presentation of Key to New Building 
the new School Wing, December 11, 1960,                      at the Dedication ceremonies.
are (left to right) Maxwell James, Philip 
Kasakove, Rabbi David I. Golovensky, 
President Stanley I. Batkin, Alfred R. 
Goldstein, Max Steindler, and Mayor 
Stanley Church.
.

Following a groundbreaking ceremony in December 1960, the construction project was underway, and just a few months later than originally planned, the new school wing was completed and formally dedicated on November 19, 1961. Before a large crowd of schoolchildren and their parents, Building Committee Chairman Alfred R. Goldstein presented the key to the new school wing to School Board Chairman Abraham Burstein. Beth El President Stanley Batkin affixed a mezuzah to the new auditorium door; Torah scrolls were carried into the new building; prayers were recited; and songs of thanksgiving were sung. At the dedication ceremony, a significant milestone was reached: Beth El’s Hebrew School received formal certification from the Westchester Association of Hebrew Schools. The November 1961 Bulletin reported that certification was awarded only to those Hebrew schools that had “a maximum age of admission of eight, a staff of licensed teachers, six hours of instruction [per week], and the highest standards of curriculum and instruction.”

Our Hebrew School is officially certified. The official instrument 
of certification by the Westchester Association of Hebrew Schools 
is presented by Samuel S. Silverstein (left), Chairman of the
 Standards Committee and former Beth El School Board Chairman, 
to Abraham Burstein, School Board Chairman (center), at the 
Dedication program. Proudly looking on are David Warshaw
 (second from left) Co-chairman of the School Board, 
Rabbi David I. Golovensky (second from right), and 
Educational Director Gabriel B. Schonfeld (right).
.

In January 1962, Beth El’s entire Hebrew School was transferred from the Union Avenue synagogue into the new school wing of the Beth El Community Center, described in that month’s Bulletin as “the most modern facilities in New Rochelle.” Two-thirds of Beth El’s North End project was finally complete. The third and last phase, the construction of the sanctuary, remained on the back burner until 1966 when the building of the synagogue was authorized by the Board of Trustees.