About Us
Our Mission Statement: We are a warm, welcoming, and inclusive community with both traditional and progressive beliefs. We are dedicated to Jewish values, family, worship, learning, and social action for the betterment of lives here, in Israel, and throughout the world.
More than 170 years old, we are a congregation that takes our own independent path. We strive to be faithful to the teachings of the Torah, to be dedicated to the acquisition of Jewish knowledge, and to be committed to the well-being of the Jewish people in America, Israel and around the world. We are one of the largest historically independent congregations in the country.
With an innovative religious school and a vibrant pre-school, Temple B’nai Abraham is an energetic center of Jewish life in Livingston, Short Hills, West Orange, and neighboring communities. Our membership is multi-generational, dedicated to the synagogue, and committed to the social values and actions with which Temple B’nai Abraham has historically been associated.
Our congregation has hundreds of member units, including individuals, couples, and single and dual head-of-household families. We welcome interfaith and LGBTQ families and individuals.
The religious backgrounds of our members, many of whose families have been part of the congregation for generations, range from secular to Orthodox. The many couples who came to their marriages from differing Jewish or secular backgrounds find we offer a welcoming, comfortable middle ground.
Religious services and practices reflect egalitarian respect for tradition, relevance to time and place, creativity, and musicality. We offer an extensive adult education, music, and lecture program to members and the community. We are well known as a public forum, where political candidates and other public figures from across the spectrum educate our congregation and the community on issues of current concern. Our teen and adult tikkun olam programs serve our most vulnerable populations locally as well as in the broader New York City area.
Who’s Who
President: Jay L. Kooper
Senior Rabbi: David Z. Vaisberg, M.A.R.E., M.A.H.L.
Cantor: Jessica Lynn Fox
Assistant Rabbi: Max Edwards
Rabbi Emeritus: Clifford M. Kulwin, D.D.
Executive Director: Mara Suskauer
Congregation
Independent
Congregation founded: 1853
Current building constructed: 1973
Worship
Erev Shabbat
Tot Shabbat
Shabbat Morning
Jr. Congregation
Parashat HaShavua
Two days of chag are observed.
The Early School
Director: Debbie Aronson Ziering
Ages: Toddlers to 5 years
Our youngest friends learn actively with an excellent student/teacher ratio and dedicated learning hubs for our STEAM curriculum. Before and after care is available and enrollment is open to members and non-members.
Jewish Learning Program
Director: Melissa Weiner
Grades: Kindergarten to 7th grade
We have one or two B’nai Mitzvah most Shabbat mornings.
We have an active high school program and Teen Tikkun Olam Group.
BBYO meets at our Temple once or twice a month.
Kesher Connection provides outreach to more than 200 college students.
Get Involved
Early School Parents’ Council
Jewish Learning Program PTA
Sisterhood
Men’s Club
Prime Time
Social Action
Facilities
Over 1,500 congregants attend High Holy Day Services.
The social hall can accommodate events for more than 300 people.
The Conservatory is a meeting and event space for approximately 130 people.
Our beautiful, newly renovated patio and gardens are used for services and celebrations.
B’nai Abraham Memorial Park
Located on Route 22, Union, NJ.
Attributes of the TBA community
- Temple B’nai Abraham has benefited from strong clergy, professional staff, and lay leadership for many years, resulting in stable and robust membership and school enrollments.
- Rabbi David Z. Vaisberg is only our fifth senior rabbi in almost 120 years. We are proud to have enjoyed long-term rabbinic leadership.
- We are financially strong with ample fundraising, sizable endowments, and no debt.
- The Temple’s youth education programs are dynamic, active, and very successful - starting with our Early School and continuing with our Jewish Learning Program.
- We are located in Essex County, an area with a large Jewish population that continues to attract young, Jewish families and provide us with stable membership.
- We have a sizable, committed congregation that is dedicated to the synagogue; a large, hardworking group of lay leaders; and lively Temple groups, including Sisterhood – the Women’s Connection, Men’s Club, Prime Time, Social Action Committee, and others.
- Our building is attractive, well-maintained, and offers a variety of flexible spaces that allow us to host a range of events and religious services.
- We have many multi-generational member families. We value our rich history.
- We have sufficient resources to provide Temple membership to those individuals or families with financial need.
- We are independent of the various synagogue movements, which allows us to evolve as we deem appropriate and continue to meet the needs of our changing Jewish community.
Our Creed
We believe in the Jewish people, a people ancient in its history and young in its aspirations. We believe in Judaism, a way of life, a faith in God. Judaism is neither literature nor a romantic nostalgic dream, nor a museum. It is a living reality, here and now. It has created customs, many of them still so meaningful as to deserve to be kept alive. It has created a piety, which can and must be translated into terms of our daily life. We believe in religion lived and not only preached. We believe that there can be neither sound interpretation of Jewish values nor proper understanding of Judaism without education of the young and old. We hate hypocrisy and love honest search for the kind of Judaism that will make our people and our basic values survive and live again. We are neither ashamed of customs so old that their origin is lost in the gray past of our great-grandparents, nor are we afraid to change the unacceptable and to add the new. That is why we call Temple B'nai Abraham a traditional progressive congregation.
Adopted 1949