By Wendy Greenberg

Last week at The Jewish Center Princeton, about 30 men and women over the age of 85 gathered for the “Seasoned Souls” lunch group, with bag lunches and desserts provided by volunteers. Later that day, sixth graders and their families met for a program and had dinner together.

The age range in the building was typical. The Jewish Center seems to have something for everyone: Yoga, Torah and Tea, knitting with Interfaith Stitchers, a book club, adult education, programs tied to religious holidays, weekly Shabbat (Sabbath) services, and more.

As its mission statement says, in part, “Our congregation includes children, parents, grandparents, and friends – families who have been here more than seven generations and recent college graduates. We embrace interfaith families, Jews by choice, people of color, and LGBTQ individuals. We provide a home for teens, empty-nesters, and seniors.”

The Jewish Center has been a spiritual, intellectual, and social home for a diverse Jewish community since 1949. On May 4, the congregation will embark on a gala 75-year, Diamond Jubilee event with a cruise ship theme (“The Chai Seas, referring to the Jewish number 18 — chai in Hebrew — which means life). Four couples will be honored, and members, former members, and community residents are getting together to celebrate.

“With what is in the news, at this time, the Jewish community is thrilled and excited to have a joyous occasion,” said Rabbi Andrea Merow. “It is an exciting time. This is something positive, because there is an uptick in events and participation.”

Ruth Schulman joined the congregation 60 years ago when she moved to Princeton with her young family. Since she had lived on a kibbutz in Israel in the early 1950s, she was asked to teach in the Hebrew School, and got to know a lot of people.

The community was, and is, a diverse one, she said, and had some robust discussions through the years, which was fine with her. “To me, what’s so impressive and so marvelous about The Jewish Center, is that we are a diverse community and we stay together,” she said.

According to The Historical Society of Princeton’s research on the occasion of The Jewish Center’s 50th anniversary, Princeton’s Jewish community first organized in 1926 as Congregation B’nai Zion, using a borrowed Torah scroll from a Trenton synagogue. Services were conducted in a rented ballroom on the second floor of the Branch Building at 35 Witherspoon Street.

In 1935, the congregation moved to a larger space on the Spring Street side of the building. The Sunday school was organized in 1944, with classes in private homes. In 1947, B’nai Zion hired its first rabbi, who was shared with the new Hillel on the Princeton University campus.

The rapidly expanding Jewish community formed The Jewish Center on December 11, 1949, adopting its first constitution, and meeting at 61 Olden Avenue (now Olden Street). The building at 435 Nassau was completed in 1958, and the structure now used for religious school classes was acquired in the early 1970s. The main building was expanded in 1983 to house the current sanctuary, social hall, and offices.

Today, the synagogue grounds are graced by blossoming trees. A plaza is often the setting for outdoor Shabbat services. Names of members and their families are celebrated and memorialized on a brick walkway leading to the entrances. A nature trail on the property was created by teens during the pandemic.

Rabbi Merow came to The Jewish Center in 2021, “at a very difficult time,” she said, referring to the death of Rabbi Adam Feldman, the rabbi since 2005, who died in December 2019. She considered Rabbi Feldman a colleague. Then, three months later, the synagogue shut down for Covid-19.

But, said Rabbi Merow, “I was grateful to come into a place that is thriving, and has a stellar lay leadership. It’s truly a community synagogue.” The congregation affiliated with the Conservative movement some 20 years ago, but maintains “an open tent,” she said. “There is a lot of Jewish expression, and there are lots of ways to be involved.

“We are not just celebrating 75 years but the future.”

Congregational President Heidi Joseph said while the founders are gone, some of their children are members, and there are second-generation Bar and Bat Mitzvah celebrants.

The membership is growing, she said, in fact, a new Tot Spot program for children under three years old was recently started. “It’s a warm and inviting community,” she said.

The Jewish Center is part of the Princeton community. Just last month, in recognition of the 75th anniversary, the congregation established in Tiger Park the first Holocaust memorial in Princeton – a daffodil garden which is part of an international program in memory of the children that perished in the Holocaust. The event was attended by more than 150 people.

And, the greater community is celebrating with The Jewish Center, which has received proclamations and letters of congratulation from U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, U.S. Rep Andy Kim, other elected state officials, area municipalities, national and local Jewish organizations, and the Jewish Center’s sister city, City of Omer in Israel. Being honored are Lori and Michael Feldstein, Linda and Michael Grenis, Arlene and Henry Opatut, and Alison and David Politziner.

Hazel Stix, who has been a member almost since the beginning, when she and her husband moved to Princeton in 1950, said that “everyone knew everybody. Everyone stayed friends. It’s a home away from home.”

Phil Carchman, a retired judge, came to Princeton with his wife in 1966 for a judicial clerkship, and one of his first stops was The Jewish Center, to have a place to observe the fall Jewish holidays. As a young married couple, he said, the congregation “adopted” him and his wife, and had them for dinners.

As it became the center of Jewish life in Princeton, more young couples joined, he said. “Many of our friends today are from The Jewish Center.” And as their friends had children, the children became friends.

Carchman, a synagogue president from 1976-1977, said the Jewish Center is where families celebrated milestone events together. “It is where people look to express joy, grief, and concerns about news in Princeton and the rest of the world. This is the place we go,” he said.

Added Ruth Schulman, “We’re there to help each other. The most important thing is, we stayed together as one congregation. It’s beautiful.”

The May 4 gala is sold out but raffle tickets are available through the synagogue website, thejewishcenter.org