Long Island's Oldest Reform Congregation
140 Central Avenue - Lawrence, NY 11559
(516) 239-1140

Are you aware of the precious treasure that Temple Israel possesses? A few months ago, I invited the Early Childhood Coordinator of the UAHC Department of Jewish Education to come and observe our nursery school. She spent an entire day observing the school in action, speaking with the Director and the faculty and inspecting our facilities. And the report that she sent me is eye-opening.

First, she commended our program and our staff. She had only the most wonderful things to say about our Director, Fern Leff, and our teachers. She called the program “exemplary.” One of the sentences in her report to me after her visit filled me with great pride. “It was clear that the teachers were knowledgeable both about early childhood and about Judaism. This is a rare occurrence that should be appreciated.” (Emphasis mine.)

She then detailed in her report the negative factors that have had an impact on the enrollment in the program. The problems that she found and explained in great detail can be easily remedied. Most of them deal with cleaning up the facility and making some important repairs. There are a few issues that may impact upon our nursery school program that will be more difficult to deal with; namely, the challenge of the recent opening of free programs in the community through the school system. However, even this is not an insurmountable problem and careful planning and some changes in our nursery school program can deflect the challenge of the free programs.

Upon reading this report, I sensed a confirmation of my own feelings about the value of Temple Israel’s early childhood program. It is an outstanding vehicle for giving our youngest Jews in the community an appreciation for being Jewish and an understanding of what Judaism is all about. It is also a great incentive for attracting the unaffiliated Jews who live in the Five Towns, a much larger number than the readily visible Orthodox Jews who live here, to join our congregation.