Celebrating a centennial

Temple Shalom of Sussex County marks 100 years in Franklin, By Cindy Weightman Franklin — A lot has changed in this building over the years but for Temple Shalom of Sussex County, after 100 years, the essentials remain the same. Estelle Mindlin fondly refers to herself and her husband Edward as “the last of the Mohicans,” because they are the very last Orthodox Jews attending the temple — and the Mindlin family was among the first. Edward Mindlin’s father Samuel was the very first Jew allowed into Franklin, she recalls. Mindlin describes a period when the New Jersey Zinc Company was like royalty and they decided who could take up residence in the town. According to Temple Shalom’s Web site, Samuel Mindlin and 16 other immigrants founded Congregation Sons of Israel in 1909 and began meeting first in each other’s houses. Eventually they bought the building at 15 Oak Street in 1919 for $100. The building that would become the first synagogue in Sussex County had been built in 1823; it began as a Presbyterian and later was a Baptist church. At its peak, more than 100 families attended the temple. “It’s a lovely little building with stained glass windows,” Mindlin said. Changes Much about Franklin and about the community has changed over the years. When the iron ore deposit ran out, people began to move away. The temple would only open for the High Holy Days and more members began to age and die off. Mindlin says when the ski resort opened up in Vernon, the area’s population grew and more Jewish people began to move in, looking for a spiritual home, though they were not Orthodox Jews like her congregation. “They had people and no temple and we had a temple and no people,” Mindlin says. The members decided that an active Jewish community was better than nothing at all. Differences In the temple’s early days, the women would sit upstairs, away from the men with a curtain blocking them from the men’s view. But as the numbers dwindled, eventually the women came downstairs. Temple President Lary Wasserman says the temple is now officially a Reform synagogue and he agrees that makes for some big differences from the original orthodox denomination. For one, the Reform movement accepts interfaith couples. Some synagogues refuse to marry people of mixed faiths but not Temple Shalom and Wasserman says that’s one of their attractions. “We don’t set up a lot of barriers and that’s unusual in all of New Jersey. We don’t require a conversion. We’re willing to train kids for their bar mitzvah and the building is readily available to rent for wedding or other religious events,” Wasserman said. Despite that welcoming philosophy, the temple’s congregation is a small one made up of between 60 and 80 families. But that’s still a far cry from the 1960s when the rabbi had to make phone calls to make sure there were at least 10 men over the age of 13 present for Yom Kippur. Services cannot be held without the “prescribed minion” of 10. Although that isn’t an issue any more, the congregation has room for more families. Some things stay the same The Mindlins still come for Friday night services but the couple has become less active in the congregation built by their ancestors. Estelle Mindlin has adapted to some of the changes and admits that it has become more difficult to keep to the strict kosher diet that she grew up with. “Times are changing and it isn’t the same but nothing stays the same,” she says.