The MRT Bulletin is an exciting colorful array of articles, photographs, and information about your temple written by MRT clergy, professionals and volunteers. Read it and you will feel inspired to be connected to MRT!
If you would like to contribute an article or a photograph to The MRT Bulletin, please contact our Office Administrator Jordana Steinberg (jordana@monmouthreformtemple.org).
The MRT Bulletin is also a great advertising opportunity where every one of our congregants and their friends are prospective customers! Advertising rates are inexpensive AND help support the temple. Please contact Jordana for more information at the above email address.
Monmouth Reform Temple – Our Spiritual Community-Where We Nurture Meaning in Our Lives
OUR MISSION
We are an inclusive community where creativity and openness to new ideas harmonize with the traditions of Reform Judaism. For all ages we provide multiple pathways to spiritual growth and lifelong learning.
We seek to be inspired and to inspire each other in a spiritual journey. We engage in joyful, participatory, musical and meaningful experiences.
We build communities of enduring relationships that nourish commitment to each other and to Judaism. We are a source of strength to one another as we share the joys and challenges of our lives.
By speaking out and taking action, we seek to improve the quality of human existence and help heal our world. As we work together we create a Jewish presence in the community.
We create opportunities for individuals and families to study and learn together. We enable members to learn about and connect with the evolving relevance of Judaism in our lives.
We affirm our continuing support of Israel.We understand that to be a Jew is to be a part of the extended Jewish family.
Each of us is a steward of MRT’s financial, physical and human resources. This includes our temple’s good name.
OUR VALUES
In all aspects of temple life – spiritual, educational and social – these values are our common bond and support our common effort:
Spirituality
We are guided by Torah as we strive to live ethical lives. In search of spiritual and intellectual nourishment, we become aware of a sense of wonder, amazement and being in God’s presence. Our deeds reflect our gratitude for the gift of life and its blessings.
Respect
In all our relationships we treat each other in a way that preserves individual dignity and welcomes new ideas. Courtesy, directness, and openness to others will guide our interactions and demonstrate our trustworthiness.
Inclusiveness
We welcome all who choose to embrace Judaism in their lives and homes, regardless of background. As builders of community, we care about each other in all our diversity.
Lifelong Learning
MRT is a center of life-long learning, where we search for meaning, we study, we question, and we seek the sacred. Learning enables us all to progress from knowledge to commitment to action.
Engagement
In partnership with clergy and staff, we count on our members to contribute their talents, resources and energy to ensure the vitality of MRT’s community. We depend on our members to be informed and participate in decision-making.
We heartily welcome out new rabbi, Renee Goldberg Edelman to Monmouth Reform Temple! A native of the greater Boston area, she graduated from Brandeis University where she studied Journalism and initially pursued a career in that field until she fulfilled her childhood Rabbi’s prediction (when she was only seven years old) that she would become a rabbi. Rabbi Edelman is delighted to be taking on her new role at MRT having followed the congregation for a long-time. “MRT is such an amazing community, with incredible energy and excels in bringing people together.”
Cantor Clissold joined the MRT clergy team in 2002. Her husband John and their sons Asher and Simon are heavily involved in the activities of our temple. Cantor Clissold has transformed our synagogue by introducing new music and programs, leading the congregation to participate with enthusiasm. She is one of our co-clergy who leads worship, performs life cycle events and works with students to help prepare them to become b’nai mitzvah.
You can learn much more about Cantor Clissold by clicking here.
“Welcome to Monmouth Reform Temple, a place for creating positive Jewish memories and making your own unique contribution to the history and survival of the Jewish people. We invite you to make MRT your home away from home.”
Further detail about Rabbi Priesand and her Rabbinate at MRT can be found by clicking here. In addition, please Click here for a very interesting overview of Rabbi Priesand’s Rabbinic story.
Mission and Values
Mark Suggests: We should have our complete Mission and Values on this page.
Reform Judaism
Throughout history, Jews have remained firmly rooted in Jewish tradition, even as we learned much from our encounters with other cultures. Nevertheless, since its earliest days, Reform Judaism has asserted that a Judaism frozen in time is an heirloom, not a living fountain. The great contribution of Reform Judaism is that it has enabled the Jewish people to introduce innovation while preserving tradition, to embrace diversity while asserting commonality, to affirm beliefs without rejecting those who doubt and to bring faith to sacred texts without sacrificing critical scholarship.
Reform Judaism affirms the central tenets of Judaism – God, Torah and Israel – even as it acknowledges the diversity of Reform Jewish beliefs and practices. We believe that all human beings are created in the image of God, and that we are God’s partners in improving the world. Tikkun olam — repairing the world — is a hallmark of Reform Judaism as we strive to bring peace, freedom and justice to all people.
Reform Jews accept the Torah as the foundation of Jewish life containing God’s ongoing revelation to our people and the record of our people’s ongoing relationship with God. We see the Torah as God inspired, a living document that enables us to confront the timeless and timely challenges of our everyday lives.
In addition to our belief that Judaism must change and adapt to the needs of the day to survive and our firm commitment to Tikkun Olam (Social Action), the following principles distinguish Reform Jews from other streams of Judaism in North America:
Reform Jews are committed to the principle of inclusion, not exclusion. Since 1978 the Reform Movement has been reaching out to Jews-by-choice and interfaith families, encouraging them to embrace Judaism. Reform Jews consider children to be Jewish if they are the child of a Jewish father or mother, so long as the child is raised as a Jew.
Reform Jews are committed to the absolute equality of women in all areas of Jewish life. We were the first movement to ordain women rabbis, invest women cantors and elect women presidents of our synagogues.
Reform Jews are also committed to the full participation of gays and lesbians in synagogue life as well as society at large.
Sixty years ago, a group of 29 families in the Red Bank area came together to start their own Reform Jewish Congregation. That congregation, the Monmouth Reform Temple (MRT), has grown to over 325 families and maintains a packed calendar of programs and activities for its members’ worship, education and socialization. This includes its important tradition of “tikkun olam”– community service to “repair the world” in making it a better place.
Contributed and Updated by: Rabbi Sally J. Priesand – November, 2014
In early 1959, about 29 families discussed forming the first Reform Jewish congregation to
serve the area around Red Bank, New Jersey. In June of that year, 50 families attended a
dinner celebrating the founding of Monmouth Reform Temple.
Fifty years ago, Monmouth Reform Temple was founded to create a community that embraced the ideals of Reform Judaism: a house of learning, a house of worship, a house of assembly, and a membership with a strong commitment to tikun olam.
There was definitely a touch of irony as temple life began, recalled some of the founding members; from September 1959 until March 1967, the home of the temple, now located in Tinton Falls, was the Presbyterian Church at Shrewsbury.
Board members taking part in the 1966 ground breaking at the current location on Hance Avenue in Tinton Falls are, from left, Robert Newman, the late Warren Jailer, the late Albert Goldstein, and Gerson Friedman, then president of the United Jewish Council of Greater Red Bank
Now, as the temple prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary with a series of special events during October and November, congregants and clergy are taking a trip down memory lane. It’s a journey that has encompassed a few historic events along the way, including the 25-year tenure of Rabbi Sally J. Priesand, the country’s first female rabbi.
Priesand retired in June 2006 and continues to serve as MRT’s rabbi emerita; the temple’s current religious leader is Rabbi Jonathan Roos, who succeeded Priesand.
The congregation had its genesis during the late 1950s. At the time, the nearest Reform synagogue, Temple Beth Miriam, was in Elberon.
On March 20, 1959, 22 families met in a Rumson home to form the steering committee for the new congregation. By April 30, the Monmouth Reform Temple, with 32 member families, secured its seal and charter from the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (now the Union for Reform Judaism).
The first religious service was held at the Women’s Club in Red Bank.
“It was on Friday, April 17, 1959, with Rabbi Herbert Brichto, dean of the UAHC as guest rabbi,” recalled Barbara Goldstein of Tinton Falls, who, along with her husband, Albert, was among the temple’s founding members (both also serve on the anniversary committee).
That May, the church offered MRT the use of its sanctuary and school building for services and classes. UAHC loaned the new temple a portable ark and Torah scroll. Sabbath services began under the leadership Rabbi Henry Bamberger, then a student rabbi at UAHC in New York.
MRT’s Beautiful Building as it appears today
“For the next seven years, we converted the church hall to a synagogue each Friday,” said Albert Goldstein, who served as building committee chair and is a former temple president. “We removed the Christological symbols and installed Judaic ones, and reversed the process when we left for the evening.”
The friendship between the two houses of worship endures. A joint Thanksgiving service alternates between the temple and the church each year, and a plaque in the MRT lobby pays homage to the church’s generosity during the temple’s formative years.
In 1964, as temple membership continued to grow, fund-raising began for a permanent home. The temple purchased a vacant 10-acre tract for about $3,000 per acre on Hance Avenue in New Shrewsbury (now Tinton Falls), and on May 29, 1966, a ground-breaking ceremony took place.
The first Shabbat service in the new building was held in late 1966 — in a cold, damp, unfinished classroom. The completed sanctuary was dedicated in April 1967, and by the late 1960s, under the religious leadership of Rabbi Richard Steinbrink, MRT’s membership stood at more than 160 families.
The congregation now consists of 330 member families, approximately 40 percent of them interfaith.
“This anniversary celebration reflects how the temple continues to be a strong force in the community for Jewish worship, social action, and comfort,” said congregation president Mark Gruensfelder of Tinton Falls. “It reflects the hard work of the founders and the temple’s ongoing commitment to the ideals of Judaism.”
He and his wife, Beverly, who is a religious school teacher at MRT, and their two sons have been members since 1992.
“It’s a fulfilling experience for all of us,” Gruensfelder said. “There is a sense of family and continuity here, and everyone seems to feel it. It’s genuine.”
Rabbi Sally J. Priesand, America’s first ordained female rabbi, served as religious leader of Monmouth Reform Temple for 25 years. Photo by Jill Huber
In addition to Bamberger, Steinbrink, Priesand, and Roos, Rabbis Edward Ellenbogen (deceased), Harry Sherer, and Alton Winters also served as religious leaders at MRT. Several are expected to attend a 50th anniversary Shabbat and oneg on Friday, Oct. 23, at 7:45 p.m. A video montage is being prepared by temple member Lisa Calderwood, the anniversary committee has compiled a memory book, and students are contributing memories and mementos to a time capsule.
An informal social gathering at the temple on Saturday, Nov. 21, will close out the 2009 anniversary celebration with music, refreshments, and recollections of how a small group of Reform Jewish families built a temple that has continued to thrive for 50 years.
‘One mitzvah at a time’
Changes have occurred over the past 50 years, but the importance of family and feelings of inclusion among members of Monmouth Reform Temple in Tinton Falls has remained constant.
“The sense of family here is very strong,” said board member and publicity chair Margie Wold of Colts Neck. “Members of all age groups, lay leaders, and clergy were eager to share some of the thoughts and experiences they have amassed in the past 50 years.”
For Cantor Gabrielle Clissold, who has been with MRT since 2002, the temple’s family-like atmosphere adds joy to her cantorial tasks.
“We experience Jewish music on every level — we hear it, learn it, and sing it,” said Clissold. “Our greatest challenge is to keep Jews affiliated,” she said, “but we’re a healthy, strong, creative temple, and we’ll be part of the new generation.”
That new generation will continue to promote a dynamic spiritual life, said Rabbi Jonathan Roos.
“I believe that Jewish traditions and spirituality stand at the core of a congregation’s mission,” he said, “and my aim is to provide an inspirational, passionate, and confident pulpit presence for all services and occasions.
“It’s important that our youth develop a steadfast commitment to, and love for, Judaism,” he said. “Part of that effort involves supporting and guiding parents with family education programs and providing other opportunities for families to enhance their Jewish heritage together. As this temple begins its next 50 years, I hope to be a rabbinic leader who brings holiness, respect, self-awareness, and love of Judaism into everything I do.”
His predecessor at MRT was Rabbi Sally J. Priesand, the country’s first ordained female rabbi.
“Fifty years is a speck in the timeline of Jewish history, but in the life of a congregation, it is definitely something to celebrate,” said Priesand, who lives in Ocean Township. “During that time, we have fashioned a temple family, provided a Jewish presence in our community, created positive Jewish memories for our children and grandchildren, and studied Torah together in hopes of discovering what God would have us do and be.
“We’ve always tried to grow Jewishly, one mitzva at a time,” Priesand said, and “we take pride in knowing that what we do contributes to the survival of the Jewish people.”
— JILL HUBER
The Beginning of our Endowment for the Future
As the Temple approached its 50th Anniversary we decided to establish an endowment fund and named it the Rabbi Sally J. Priesand Endowment Fund for The Future. It provides needed funding to ensure our continuing presence in the community. Click here to see a short video that explains the goals of this endowment.
About Us
Monmouth Reform Temple is a warm, friendly, and welcoming Reform synagogue. Our synagogue is located in a peaceful suburb of New York City in Monmouth County, New Jersey, right at the “Jersey Shore”. Feel free to visit us for Shabbat Services or attend some of our many events listed on our Calendar. Our close-knit temple community welcomes you!
From the North: Take Garden State Parkway South LOCAL LANES to Exit 109. Turn left onto route 520 (Newman Springs Road). Just before 3rd light, turn right onto Hance Avenue. The temple is approximately ¾ mile on the right just past a church.
From the South: Take Garden State Parkway North to Exit 109. Turn right onto Route 520 (Newman Springs Road). Just before 2nd light, turn right onto Hance Avenue. The temple is approximately ¾ mile on the right just past a church.
From the West: Take the NJ Turnpike to Exit 8. Take Route 33E for about 20 minutes. When Route 33 splits bear left and stay on Route 33 to Halls Mill Road North and take to Route 537. (Halls Mill Road becomes Kozloski Road.) Turn right onto 537 East, you will pass Route 18 and Route 34. The road curves right. Shortly thereafter, turn left at the light onto Sycamore Avenue. Travel 1.5 miles to Hance Avenue. Turn left on Hance Avenue. The temple is on the left.
From Brooklyn/Queens: Take Verrazano Bridge to West Shore Expressway to Outerbridge Crossing. After the bridge, take the Garden State Parkway to Exit 109.
Continue: From the North
MRT’s 60th Anniversary History Document
