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ABOUT THE TEMPLE
The
DEC Temple was designed by architect Nathan Myers and
completed in 1924. The
richly ornamented interior, has a dramatic multi-level
coffered ceiling that features a Star of David stained
glass skylight.
Formerly Temple B’nai Abraham, it is one of the three
oldest former
Synagogues in Newark, and the largest in the state of
New Jersey. Taking root in 1853 when a small group of
Jewish émigrés from Poland decided to form their own
congregation, they first met in the home of Abraham
Newman and where incorporated under New Jersey law as
“Congregation of the Sons of Abraham –
B’nai Abraham” in
honor of their benefactor and in recognition of Biblical
tradition’s first Jew.
In 1870 the congregation
bought its first edifice on Bank Street only to lose it in a
mortgage foreclosure. They built their first synagogue
building on High Street shortly before the turn of the
20th century but outgrew it in the early
1920s. In preparation for a move to a larger space they
obtained pledges for
$1,250,000 to build the Temple on Clinton and Shanley
Avenue in 1924; an enormous building complete with
school, social center, gymnasium, Olympic size swimming
pool and a majestic 2,000 seat oval shaped sanctuary
with a soaring hung ceiling with unobstructed views
throughout.
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Temple B’nai
Abraham had a magnificent home, but it was
nearly bankrupt. Built only a few years
before the Depression, many of its donors had
defaulted on their pledges and only 300 families
remained by 1939. The debts were
staggering. Rabbi Julius Silberfeld, forced into
retirement, had long since failed to provide his
congregation with any reason to be active or to
attend services on a regular basis.
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In July
1939 Rabbi Joachim Prinz, Ph.D. accepted an
invitation to become the Temple’s sixteenth spiritual
leader. He had originally burst onto the Berlin scene as
a 23 year old rabbi and gifted orator with a radical
approach to the pulpit. Early to comprehend the Nazi
threat, he urged Jews to leave Germany and was himself,
expelled in 1937. In the fall of that same year, with
the sponsorship of
Stephen S. Wise, noted American rabbi
and confidant of President Franklin Roosevelt, Prinz
began his life in the United States by lecturing across
the country for the United Palestine Appeal about what
was happening in Germany.
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For the next 40 years he brought
the same energy and independent thinking to the Temple
and to his leadership of Jewish
organizations
of which he became a part.
Combined
with the gifts of Abraham Shapiro, one of the
great cantors of the twentieth
century,
and the original music compositions of composer
Max Helfman, Rabbi Prinz dramatically
transformed the synagogue in a relatively short
time. Membership soared along with restoration
of the Temple’s financial health and eventually
the mortgage was burned.
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Rabbi Prinz’ life-long
commitment to Civil Rights
culminated in his 1963 March
on Washington
speech “I Speak as an American Jew”, which he made just
prior to Dr. Martin Luther King’s now famous “I Have A
Dream” speech. The two men were friends and united in
the common cause of human justice. Dr. King visited and
spoke in the Temple on several occasions as he traveled
the country speaking out against inequalities in the
United States.
In
1973,
the Temple building was
purchased from B’nai Abraham by
Apostle Arturo Skinner, founder of the
Deliverance Evangelic Center, one of the
important spiritual movements of the last century. Today
the Temple serves as an important Newark landmark. It
not only links the histories of two religious
institutions, but is significantly related to national
and international history as well.
It was and continues
to be a vital crossroad in the heart of the Clinton Hill
Community.
The DEC Ministries family
is proud to announce that the Temple has been added to the
National Trust of Historic Places, with the designation
of “National Significance.”
Please click this link to find out
more about The
Nehemiah Project and how you can help
partner with us in this very important work of restoring
the temple.
Edited by Rosalind Nichol, from
interview with Jonathan J. Prinz who
served the B’nai Abraham Congregation together with his
father in the 1960s.
Photos of Rabbi Prinz courtesy Prinz Family;
Exterior vintage Temple photos courtesy Old Newark Web
Group; interior photos courtesy O. Florian Jenkins.
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