East Meadow Beth-El administration looks ahead to vibrant future

It has been three years since the East Meadow Jewish Center merged with the former Temple Beth-El in Bellmore, creating the East Meadow Beth-El Jewish Center. Unified by shared spiritual, educational, and social values, the congregation — now made up of roughly 300 family units — quickly became one and began charting a path toward a vibrant future.

Until recently, East Meadow Beth-El’s administration consisted of co-presidents, co-vice presidents and co-treasurers — made up of members from both synagogues. As of July 1, the first sole president of the Jewish center, Seth Goodstein, began his tenure, alongside Molly Siegel, the new first vice president, Adam Raclaw, the new second vice president, and Jordan Silver, the new third vice president. The treasurer is Barry Marin.

Although on paper, the two congregations are now seemingly unified, Goodstein said it has always been this way.

“Once we consolidated a few years ago, we were one congregation,” he said. “We became the East Meadow Beth-El Jewish Center from the very beginning. As part of the process with the consolidation, the agreements were made — to make sure everything was a seamless as possible, to bring everyone together as one coalesce group — that they were going to have, at least initially for the first two years, co-positions.”

East Meadow Beth-El also has several committees, such as an education committee, finance committee, and membership committee.

“Some of the standing committee chairs were co as well,” Goodstein added.

Things were set up this way, Goodstein explained, to help with the consolidation.

“It was able to address the needs of all the constituents coming in as we went through this merging process, the consolidation process, to bring everybody in and make sure that everybody’s concerns from both synagogues were being addressed according to the new constitution so that no one would feel left out,” he said. “It was always the idea that after these initial two-and-a-half years that it would go back to a single position.”

Synagogues are bound by constitutions, which provide a framework for how it is governed, while also ensuring consistency and transparency in operations. East Meadow Beth-El created a new constitution following the merger.

“Nothing’s changed as far as who we are,” Goodstein said of the new administration. “It’s really just moving out of the consolidation process and really cementing now us as a consolidated synagogue. There’s no Temple Beth-El people, there’s no East Meadow Jewish Center people. It’s really been like that for the last few years, but we’re one congregation, with one membership and one board of trustees.”

Goodstein, who was originally part of the East Meadow Jewish Center’s congregation, has been a member of the synagogue for about 25 years, he said. Members of the synagogue’s administration are solely volunteers, and typically a president and the vice presidents will serve two, 1-year terms. Vice presidents will often move up the ranks and assume the higher title until they reach the presidency. Previously, Goodstein was a vice president about a decade ago, and has also been on the synagogue’s board of trustees, among other volunteer positions he has held.

“The administration, we’re responsible for, together with the treasure or financial secretary, making sure the day-to-day operations function (at East Meadow Beth-El),” Goodstein said.

Collaborating with the committees and other volunteers, the administration makes sure that the synagogue can hold its regular events and functions throughout the year. Everything is funded by membership dues and fundraisers.

This August marks one year since East Meadow Beth-El welcomed its new spiritual leader, Rabbi Aaron Marsh. Goodstein said while the new administration has only been working with him for a short time, they are looking forward to planning for the high holidays this fall. The synagogue will welcome a cantor, a trained vocalist who can lead congregations in prayer, during the holidays as well.

“This person will be coming in for the holidays, which is very exciting,” Goodstein said. “It’s great to have a new person, we get to see and hear some different tunes and songs, and it really makes for a great three days of the high holidays.”

As East Meadow Beth-El continues to thrive, Goodstein said the administration hopes to maintain the thriving community that defines the congregation.

“We are one synagogue,” he said. “We are all one, the East Meadow Beth-El Jewish Center. And it’s not to erase anyone’s history — that’s important, and we’ve brought that over from Beth-El. We have their memorial boards, and their torahs that were in their synagogue are now part of our collection which is great.

“We have the history of Beth-El, we have the history of East Meadow, but now we have this,” he said, “and it’s exciting.”

The synagogue is hoping to build its membership and attract new and possibly younger families. Branching from that, enhancements to youth programs may be on the horizon, as well as continuous growth in all sectors of East Meadow Beth-El.

“We’re really a very vibrant synagogue,” Goodstein said. “When you look at the programs that we do, and the different events that we have, it’s really amazing to see how many things are going on.”

Goodstein said if anyone is interested in learning more about the synagogue and its programs, they can call East Meadow Beth-El at (516) 483-4205.