THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 3, 1996 TAG: 9608030047
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA MCNATT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 154 lines
FOR MORE than 90 years, the modest building on Bank Street was the setting of religious and family affairs - joy and sorrow, celebration and thanksgiving - for Jews in Suffolk.
But by the early 1990s, as the Temple Agudath Achim's congregation dwindled and it became harder for the remaining few to carry on, they entered a special arrangement with Norfolk's Temple Beth El for that synagogue to provide clergy and facilities.
Now, the white building that housed Agudath Achim - ``assemblage of brethren'' - is for sale. Religious artifacts, stained glass windows, memorial boards all have been removed.
A mincha - closing ceremony - held last December tore at the hearts of the few remaining members, mostly elderly, and those who held memories of the temple from their childhood.
But the end also marked a beginning.
Agudath Achim members were wel- comed into the Norfolk temple, and furnishings, artifacts and the windows have been shipped to South Dakota to become part of another temple in the shadow of the Black Hills.
On a chilly Sunday, the people of Agudath Achim Synagogue congregated for the last time. In the ancient traditions of their faith, they closed their house of prayer.
Three holy torahs - prayer scrolls - were taken from the building, wrapped in new prayer shawls and loaded into separate cars.
Suffolk businessman Larry Ruden, lay leader for the past 25 years, blew the shofar, or ram's horn, one last time.
``And, I have to admit, I cried,'' one former member said. ``I'm a grown man, but I cried. It was like a death.''
The ceremony marked the end of a local Jewish tradition and worship.
``The synagogue, in the early days, was always packed,'' said Stuart Levy. ``On high holy days, we had to be sure that members had assigned seats.''
Now, members of the former congregation may belong to Temple Beth El until their names join those of others on the Agudath Achim memorial boards.
A history of the temple, written in 1966, tells about Jewish men, mostly retail merchants, beginning to meet and pray together in 1903.
``All motivated by a loving spirit of Judaism which prompted them to have their first minyonim (quorum) cuddled behind a coal stove in the back room of the business establishments where they did their daily davening (praying) and observed the time-honored commemoration of the Yahrzeit (memorial) service for the precious departed ones.''
The pioneers of the temple dreamed of a ``shul,'' a place to meet and to educate their children in the ways of the religion. And, by the end of the year, a temporary shul was established upstairs at what was once a People's Drug Store.
The Jews of Suffolk met there for 13 years. Finally, in 1916, one member arranged to use the local Masonic Lodge. They continued with plans for a place of their own.
``Denying themselves the material things of life, sacrificing for the Jewish tomorrow, begging, soliciting, collecting funds from Jews and Christians alike, they prayed, toiled and exerted tireless efforts in raising sufficient funds for the verity of their golden dreams - their very own `shul'.''
In 1923, the dream came true. The gathering of brethren purchased the simple building that had once been a Presbyterian church.
``What pomp and glory marked the day.''
Later, an old home next to the church was connected, renovated, and the temple had meeting rooms, a social hall and a kitchen.
Some of the brightest days of the temple's history began in 1936, when Rabbi Murray Kantor arrived. He stayed for four years and returned to Suffolk in 1947.
``It really was an interesting time,'' a former member, Norman Kozak, said. ``It was always a fun place to go. Murray Kantor was one of those fire-and-brimstone speakers. His sermons were fantastic!''
Kantor was noted for promoting amity between races and religions. He was honored as Suffolk's First Citizen in 1967. He served on numerous boards for charitable organizations. He was a popular speaker throughout Hampton Roads. He was a Mason and a Shriner, serving as imperial chaplain of the Shrine of North America. In 1954, he was appointed by Eleanor Roosevelt as a delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Commission.
The temple thrived during Kantor's time, until his death in December 1969.
Larry Ruden, whose father, Al Ruden, was president of the congregation for 25 years, said that probably marked the beginning of the end.
In a newspaper article written about the decline of the temple in 1979 - the same year the elder Ruden died at age 85 - the man who was so devoted to the cause said: ``Some of the children who have moved away will come back. We'll get another congregation some day. You'll see.''
Levy, whose grandfather was the synagogue's first president, said that just didn't happen. Children grew up and went to college. They didn't come home to settle in Suffolk.
Much of the responsibility of running the temple fell on Ruden.
``It wasn't hard,'' he said. ``I had always been with my father. We had Hebrew school, a full congregation, a lot of children, 55 families. That's a lot of families at one time. I took the reins. I saw that we continued with the services.''
By the 1980s, Ruden said he began to really worry about the decline of the temple. As the '90s approached, he was ``agonizing.''
``I was already looking at what I had to do,'' he said. ``I did not want to see us lose the congregation. I did everything I could to see it continue.''
Finally, Ruden called the remaining members together.
``I told them the time had come,'' he said. ``It was heart wrenching. All of the members who had passed on - I know they will understand it was for the good of those who are left. And the Lord was looking out for us.''
It happened that the rabbi at Temple Beth El is Rabbi Arthur Ruberg. As a young divinity student, Ruberg had been called to Suffolk in 1970 to celebrate high holy days.
``I will never forget the warmth of the people and how well they received me,'' he said. ``I was sent to a place I'd never heard of, picked up at the old Norfolk Airport. I still have the letter the congregation wrote to my parents thanking them for letting me come.''
When the date was set for the final closing, Ruberg considered it destiny.
``The first love is always a love,'' he said. ``Agudath Achim was my first congregation. They turned to us. I was honored to be their rabbi again.''
Ruden chose Beth El for two reasons: because Ruberg was there and because ``Beth El has been there for 150 years. God willing, it will be there another 150 years. I had to go with a congregation I knew would be there a long, long time.''
In his sermon on the day of the closing of Agudath Achim, Ruberg talked about the Biblical character Jacob, who had to leave his home to seek new surroundings. On his way, Jacob encountered a place where he stopped, dreamed and felt the presence of God.
He realized it to be a holy place, Ruberg said, a place that gave his life renewed meaning. There, Jacob set up a shrine and named it Beth El, the house of God.
``Like Jacob, you've had to leave that place,'' Ruberg told the people gathered at Agudath Achim on that December day. ``We have said `shalom' - goodbye; we have shared memories, we have sung and prayed, and we have cried; and we have come here together with the torahs; and now, we are saying shalom again. This time, a shalom that means hello and welcome.''
Members of the Suffolk temple were welcomed into the Norfolk temple later that day.
``I'm very content,'' Ruden said. ``I feel confident that the right decision was made.''
In an alcove near the front of the Norfolk temple, memorial boards bearing the names of deceased members of the Suffolk congregation and a small pew from Agudath Achim will perpetuate the name forever.
And Agudath Achim lives on as well in the Black Hills.
The Synagogue of the Hills, near Ellsworth Air Force Base, was formed in the late 1940s by a group of local civic and military leaders, said Terry L. Fredricks, a member of the congregation, in a letter she wrote to Ruden.
``Your gifts will go a long way towards enabling us to build a first-class shul in the Black Hills,'' she said.
The South Dakota congregation plans to build a sanctuary capable of holding 100 to 125 people. They also plan for a facility with several small offices, three classrooms, a kitchen and a social hall. It should be small, close-knit, much like Agudath Achim.
``It is very heartwarming,'' Ruden said.
It's an unusual story, Ruberg said.
``Most people don't see their future after their death. These people, the people of Agudath Achim, can see their future and appreciate it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Michael Kestner/The Virginian-Pilot
Lay leader Larry Ruden blew the shofar one last time as Agudath
Achim Synagogue closed its house of prayer.
KEYWORDS: SYNAGOGUE by CNB