East Windsor author’s book pays tribute to past presidents of synagogue
Michael Arges
“Self-sacrifice” is a hallmark of the history of the Jewish community in East Windsor, said Lew Meixler, author of “History and Recollections of Beth El Synagogue.”
A member of the conservative Jewish congregation since 1967, Mr. Meixler lives on Cherry Brook Lane in East Windsor. His book is a tribute to past presidents of the synagogue who will be honored during a program at 8 p.m. Saturday (April 1) at the synagogue at 50 Maple Stream Drive in East Windsor.
“It was a tremendous amount of sacrifice to build the building and keep the organization running,” Mr. Meixler said, describing his book and the evening as tributes to those “who gave of themselves.”
Establishing a Jewish community in the area required great sacrifice, Mr. Meixler said, great sacrifice to build the places of worship, and great sacrifice to change beloved old patterns to accommodate the needs of new, young families who moved into the area over the years.
Started in 1910 as the First United Hebrew Association of Hightstown, the congregation “existed for many, many years just as a group of people who met in each others homes,” Mr. Meixler noted. “They didn’t have a rabbi, just a lay member who was knowledgeable and who would lead services.
“Traveling itinerant rabbis would come for special occasions such as holiday services,” he added. For the larger crowds who attended on high holidays worship often was held at an opera house — no longer standing — on the west side of the railroad tracks one block south of Stockton Street. Many of the first Jewish settlers in the area had been farmers and agricultural workers in Europe and came to the area seeking to continue that way of life, but there also were tradesmen and shop owners.
A draft version of Mr. Meixler’s book provides a striking example of the great challenge of establishing a Jewish presence and identity in the area. The certificate of incorporation, given by the Hightstown commissioner of deeds to the congregation in 1911, refers to them as “a congregation of Christians and a religious and charitable society.”
In 1937, “in the depths of depression,” the congregation built their first synagogue in Hightstown “by their own hands,” Mr. Meixler reports: “They actually had to take out three separate mortgages to get the money.”
This original synagogue, a red brick office building with a big star of David just below its peak, still stands at 219 Franklin St. Around the time of World War II there was an influx into the area of Jewish families including many professional people: doctors, dentists and pharmacists. This was the first of three waves of new families that would challenge the congregation to change and make adjustments.
The next big challenge came in the late 1960s when the Twin Rivers community began to develop, drawing a second wave of newcomers: young Jewish families. This led to the need for a larger building, but the congregation was forced to sell their beloved Hightstown building in order to secure funds for the present building on Maple Stream Road.
“It was a wrenching decision,” Mr. Meixler said, “because the older families felt that they had opened the doors to these younger people and now they came and sold the building. There was tremendous love attached to the building, it was part of their soul, so to speak.”
In one of the memoirs appended to Mr. Meixler’s book, past president Leonard Winter recalls that “every discussion of moving was a stab in the heart of the pillars of the synagogue, the families whose members literally built the building and supported it through thick and thin. I could sense and feel their anguish.”
According to Mr. Meixler’s draft, “the final vote to build the new building was made at a raucous General Membership Meeting held in the cafeteria of the Walter C. Black School.” On March 27, 1977, a marching band from Hightstown High School accompanied the members in procession as they carried the Torahs from the old synagogue to the newly finished place of worship.
A third influx of Jewish families came in the early 1990s at the end of a moratorium on new home construction in East Windsor.
“So we’ve gone through another expansion phase when we’ve put a school wing on,” Mr. Meixler said. “There’s been three main waves of population growth, and each one brings its own challenges, because you have new people coming in with new ideas and changes.”
Mr. Meixler’s wife, Deb, uses the Yiddish word “hamish,” meaning “home-like” to describe how members and visitors feel about the Beth El Community.
“Even the older members, and some of the newer members, say that being part of the synagogue is part of being a big extended family, and that’s the warmth of being here for so long and not being so big,” she said.
Copies of the history will be provided to everyone attending Saturday’s program as part of their $35 admission. Proceeds will go to the work and ministry of the synagogue.