Home

Congregation Poile Zedek, New Brunswick, held its 107th anniversary dinner on Nov. 2 at the Radisson Hotel, Piscataway.

Friends and family of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Elfant founded the congregation in 1901. Little did they know at the time that this gathering to celebrate the birth of their daughter would also be the birth of one of the oldest synagogues in the Raritan Valley region. Over the 20 years following that momentous occasion, Poile Zedek acquired a cemetery plot, formed a sisterhood, and began the plans for a building, completed in 1923 and now does double duty as a synagogue and a national historic landmark.

"We are calling [the dinner] Generation to Generation," said Jodie Lamhut, co-chairwoman of the dinner along with Pam Kammer. "It is commemorating the years at Poile Zedek."

"The idea is that Poile Zedek spreads across generations," Kammer added. "That’s why I think this is so important. The generations at Poile Zedek are immense. At this time, you can have up to four or five living generations at once in the shul. Some families in Poile Zedek are here for three, if not more, generations. Our journal compiles the generations all the way from a bris until [old age]."

Among the honorees were several long-time members, recognized for their dedication and service to the synagogue and the community at-large. Recipients of the Founders Award were Mr. and Mrs. Marvin and Myra Marantz of North Brunswick and Norman Mironov of Highland Park. Recipients of the Keter Shem Tov award were Marty and Elisha Klein of Edison. Recipients of the Lifetime Service Award were Miriam Goldman of South River and Helen Solomon of Somerset. Two additional Lifetime Service Awards were given posthumously to Seymour Kamp and Audrey Mironov for their lifetime of dedication to the congregation.

"I have been a member for 54 years," Marvin Marantz said about his time spent at Congregation Poile Zedek. "I go not to be honored. The minyans on Shabbos sometimes are so sparse that I feel obligated to go."

"His father was a Poile Zedek member and he attended as a child," said his wife, Myra. "He had his bar mitzvah there and everything. Right after we got married, we joined."

Poile Zedek Rabbi Abraham Mykoff said Marantz was bar mitzvahed at the shul, and confirmed Marantz’s regular Shabbat attendance at the Poile Zedek.

"He is a member of the congregation and the cemetery association," Mykoff said. "Both of them (Marvin and Myra) are very fine individuals who, in their unassuming way, have helped support and maintain the synagogue, both financially and through their active participation."

Poile Zedek recording secretary Dr. Ira Gang presented the Marantzes with the Founders Award.

"The people who we are honoring with this award are people who are at the very heart of Poile Zedek and its community," Gang said. "They have been magnets for people at Poile Zedek. From them, I have learned so much about the people who were part of the congregation, the day-to-day life of the shul, what was going on, what was happening. I know I’m in for a little bit of a delight when I hear Marvin, who sits two seats behind me in shul, say, ‘you know, Ira’ … [and] pulls me in about some little piece of information that I never knew about the shul, its history, and the people."

Stories such as these keep the shul’s history vibrant and fresh, and it is this intimate knowledge of the shul that earned the Marantzes the Founders’ Award.

Gang also presented the Founders Award to Norman Mironov.

"He has been a rock upon which the shul has been built and balanced," Gang said. "I’ve always felt a special connection with Norman. About 12 years ago, I became recording secretary, and Norman had been recording secretary for 10 years before that. A week after I became recording secretary, Norman came in with a package for me and this smile on his face and a twinkle in his eyes. It was minutes from the 10 years that he had been recording secretary, and I wondered what that twinkle was. Was it knowledge that he was passing on to me? Some secrets of the shul? Was it that he knew what I was about to experience?"

Gang also presented a Lifetime Service award to Mironov in memory of his late wife, Audrey.

"Truly, this was a lifetime of service to Poile Zedek," Gang said. "Her family was extremely active in this shul. I couldn’t imagine the shul without her. She was a mainstay of the Sisterhood, a mainstay of all the activities that went on in the shul that made the synagogue more than a place to come and daven. She made it a home. When things needed to be done, you called on Audrey to get them done."

"Mykoff presented Marty and Elisha Klein with the Keter Shem Tov award for their outstanding service to the congregation and the community.

"It was very nice to be honored," Elisha said. "We were very grateful and we were thrilled that so many people came. It was a very lovely evening."

Although the Kleins belong to several synagogues in the Edison/Highland Park community, Elisha says that she always preferred the homey feeling of Poile Zedek.

"Poile Zedek is a very unique place," Elisha said. "The people there are just something you don’t find everywhere else — a lot of old flavor, new flavor, and very traditional. There’s something about it that reminds you of old times. Being a regular member and to be singled out is very inspiring — inspiring to do more. When I go to shul, I have a choice. I choose P.Z. because I feel so comfortable and very at home."

"As Marty mentioned, he remains dedicated to his participation on Shabbos, which extends longer [than other congregations]," Mykoff, who has been the rabbi for more than 25 years, said. "He is our baal tefillah (cantor) on a regular basis. He helps to maintain the Shabbos minyanim. He is very dedicated in his humble way. He has greatly helped the shul."

Kevin Leff, one of the dinner chairmen, presented Lola Kamp with the Lifetime Service Award in memory of her husband, Seymour. "I was fortunate to know Lola and Seymour prior to coming into the Poile Zedek family here and benefited from their efforts to assist in the community," Leff said. "Seymour, in addition to being a regular at the shul, was involved in bikur cholim (visiting the sick) in the community. Some may not have realized that as the changed happened in the cemetery, Seymour and Lola were there to set up a new committee and be involved in all the record keeping hat was necessary in the transfer from one group to another. Seymour was always one to enjoy visiting and talking. He had a big smile and a big heart. He made sure that when someone new entered the room, they felt comfortable. He was a blessing to all of us, not just to Poile Zedek congregation, but to the community at-large."

"Seymour was an active member," Mykoff said. "He was the transitional administration of the cemetery when the original committee could no longer do it. Together with Lola, he was very active in re-establishing the association."

Miriam Goldman also received the Lifetime Service Award for her participation in the synagogue. She has served as treasurer and vice president of its Sisterhood. Additionally, she has also served as financial secretary and a trustee of the synagogue. "She has dedicated her life to the congregation and was always proactive in the synagogue," Mykoff said.

In order to reflect the theme of "From Generation to Generation," an award of recognition was presented to high school students Kivi Neuman and Moshe Heidemen for the Bowl-a-Thon they hosted to raise money to repair Poile Zedek’s vandalized cemetery earlier this year. Moshe’s father, Dr. Alan Heidemen, accepted the award on his son’s behalf.

"The dinner went very well," Mykoff commented. "I think, if nothing else, everyone had a very nice time. Deserving people received recognition for their efforts throughout the years. We had from generation to generation, from the old and founders to the future with the two students who raised $12,000 for the restoration of the cemetery."

According to synagogue administrator Caryn Lipson, about 125 people attended the dinner to honor those receiving awards.

"Thank God, the dinner was very successful," Lipson said. "There were people very committed to seeing that this was a successful event. This is the first dinner in several years and I am very happy with the turnout."