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After celebrating its 90-year anniversary and hosting its first Israel Museum, Temple Beth El-Mekor Chayim in Cranford was awarded the Norman Glikin Synagogues of Excellence Awards by the New Jersey Region of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

The awards were presented at the USCJ-New Jersey Regional Biennial Conference in West Orange Nov. 16.

Synagogue President Elliott Ballen said temples need to apply for the Glikin Awards six months in advance, and there are different categories such as youth, intergenerational, fund-raising, religious, and social.

"Our peers and the United Synagogue recognize that we're doing outstanding programming," Ballen said. "We try to be inclusive of everywhere and make everyone feel at home."

TBE-MC received a Gold Award for creating an Israel Museum and a second Gold Award for its weekend long festivities celebrating its 90-year anniversary.

"Our religious school director, who's a bundle of energy to say the least, set up an Israeli Museum day for the Hebrew school," Ballen said. "The kids really liked it because it was much easier for them to grasp, and it was real to them."

Ballen said the economic downturn is actually helping the shul.

"A lot of the population seemed to be moving out to Warren, Watchung, Bernardsville, to the larger houses in the more expensive areas, and there's a little bit more stable and smaller houses here," he said. "As the economy started to back off, people were a little more hesitant to go to the more expensive areas."

He said the shul was gaining new young Jewish families because it was simply more affordable to buy houses in the Cranford area. Also, there have been about seven new families that have joined from the Roselle Park area, he said.

"It feels great, it really does, to see how many changes and second- and third-generation members we still have," Ballen said. "We're still moving forward; we change as we need to."

Temple Beth-El merged with Mekor Chayim in Linden 10 years ago.

"They decided to give up their Hebrew school, to save money and they just didn't have enough strong amounts of kids there," Ballen said. "Once you give up your religious school, it's the beginning of the end."

Ballen said the shul puts a great deal of emphasis on the Hebrew school and the youth groups because they don't want their Hebrew school to collapse as well.

"It was a great merger, the two congregations got along really well," he said. "We learned a great lesson from them because they drove it into us: 'Never let it happen to you what happened to us'."

Ballen said the shul is egalitarian and open to all different types of people.

"We have a lot of talented women that read Torah and do Haftarah, lead services, and we try to get programming for all the different ages so no one feels left out," he said.

Tamara Ruben, the education director at TBE-MC, who created and organized the Israel Museum, said she was very excited and honored to receive the award because it was a unique program that brought together people of all ages.

"Being the fact that I'm from Israel, I always look for creative ways to bring the spirit of Israel to young students," Ruben said.

Ruben said she asked members that have been to Israel before to bring items with them that they felt were meaningful to them.

"[The Israel Museum] also involved teens that made costumes and dressed up as wax museum figures," she said.

Ruben said each member that participated in the museum had a display with Israeli posters and flags.

"A task sheet was prepared with specific questions for the students of the Religious School," Ruben said. "As they walked through the exhibit hall, they interviewed the various "exhibitors" to find the answers to their questions."

"Additionally, the students had to find items that had a biblical quote, copy it down, and translate it," Ruben wrote in an email to The Jewish State. "They also chose three items that had something in common. Such items could be all made of the same material (e.g. olive wood, pottery) or in any other way had common elements. Students were divided into teams of five to seven persons and upon completion of each task, they received a piece of a puzzle that when put together at the end, formed a large Israeli scenery."

The wax museum involved teens who researched and dressed up as famous Israelis. They would stand still like they were in a wax museum until a child came up to them to find out who they were, Ruben said.

"Students would push a button and the wax statues would come to life and share information about themselves," she said.

Ultimately, Ruben said by having the Israel Museum, people were able to connect and share their love for Israel.