Open door serves Temple Avodah well

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“However you define your family, we welcome you to ours,” is the official motto of Temple Avodah (pronounced Ah-voh-da), a reform temple in Oceanside. The unofficial motto seems to be “Not your parents’ temple.”

Since 1952, the temple has expanded from its first high holy days service – in a firehouse – to a sizeable complex with ballroom and several school rooms. The temple also acts as an event hall, and has a ballroom, an atrium and an in-house caterer – Kombert Caterers. There are diverse activites for all sorts of congregants – from post-Superstorm Sandy legal services to bowling to a book club. Congregants come from 27 towns, including Oceanside, Long Beach, Rockville Centre, Malverne, Freeport, Island Park, and Lynbrook.

The eccentric Rabbi Uri Goren has a wall in his office with several shelves full of toys – like a child’s dream – and tae kwon do certificates on his wall.

“I don’t work there. My favorite things is that temple is not like place of work only,” Goren said. “[It’s] sort of an extension of my home. I would be a member if I wasn’t a rabbi there.”

This combination of welcoming and an anything-goes attitude creates a lifelong loyalty to the temple.

The new cantor and educator, Jessica Gubenko, grew up in Oceanside, and went to Temple Avodah – she had her Bat Mitzvah and wedding there.

“Never thought I’d be sitting here right now,” said Gubenko, “but life takes you in crazy ways.”

After she graduated college, Gubenko pursued an acting and singing career in New York and Los Angeles.

“While doing that, [I] decided the lifestyle wasn’t really for me,” Gubenko said. “I’d always entertained speech pathology, and I said, okay be a speech pathologist.”

She went back to school and then worked as a speech pathologist for six years.

But last year, the old cantor got sick and was not able to sing. Gubenko and two other congregants were asked to fill in.

“Very last minute,” she said. “I said sure, whatever I need to do, whatever you need.”

Gubenko decided she wanted to work as a cantor for Temple Avodah, and then worked with the cantor and the rabbi to become a cantorial soloist.

“When the educator position opened up, it just seemed like a really good fit because I had a background in education,” Gubenko said. “And I was really getting involved in the synagogue and love working with children.”

Now Gubenko is the cantorial soloist and educator.

“And we’re delighted,” said Tom Wieder, president of the temple.

“And I am too,” said Gubenko. “A little overwhelmed because it’s the start to the school year and the high holidays – so just the craziest time of year, but I’m really excited too.”

Wieder estimates 17 percent of the congregant families are interfaith – including himself. His wife, Barbara, is a Baptist who does a lot of work for her church and Temple Avodah.

“When we joined the temple, I was the carpool mom,” said Barbara. “So at the beginning, I was more active than he was.”

She knew everybody and went to all the activities, while Tom was the guitarist at services.

“My role here… I was mom,” said Barbara. “It didn’t matter whether I was Jewish or not Jewish, we were raising Jessica and Jonathan [their children] in a Jewish household, so I was just mom.”

“In a lot of congregations, diversity, interfaith, are tolerated, not welcome, and there’s a difference,” said Wieder. “Here, it’s exactly the opposite of that. We want everyone who enters this building to be part of our family. Period.”

He is the first interfaith president of Temple Avodah. Barbara did a reading at Rosh Hashanah services last year and she will do that again this year.