Anshe Emeth celebrates shul’s 150-year history

The century-and-a-half milestone of Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple will be commemorated at the New Brunswick synagogue on Sunday, Oct. 11, with a ceremony featuring dignitaries, music, and food.

A permanent street marker also will be unveiled at the intersection of Livingston Avenue and Delevan Street, marking the ceremonial renaming of the corner Anshe Emeth Plaza.

Livingston Avenue will be closed to vehicles for the 2-4 p.m. ceremony, during which New Brunswick Mayor Jim Cahill will read a proclamation declaring it to be Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple Day in the city. The charter for the congregation was issued on Oct. 11, 1859.

“We’re very proud of our history of being the first Jewish congregation in Middlesex County,” said synagogue president Deborah Cohn. “We’re very proud of our contributions to the growth of not only the Jewish community, but also the whole city.” The congregation is also the fourth oldest in the state and the only one of the top seven oldest to still be in the city where it was founded, according to Cohn.

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“We identify very strongly with this city,” she added. “That’s why in the ’70s, when other congregations were leaving the cities for the suburbs, our congregation decided to stay in New Brunswick. We’ve never left New Brunswick, and we don’t ever plan to leave New Brunswick.”

Also participating in the day’s festivities will be city and county officials and representatives of the Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County.

The Middlesex County Board of Freeholders and the county’s culture and heritage commission are erecting a historical marker in front of the synagogue, which, said Cohn, the congregation hopes will be in place by Oct. 11.

She also hopes to see many of the temple’s members and neighbors at the event. “We’d love the whole community to be there,” said Cohn.