Young Israel of West Hempstead

This article has been written for those who have wondered when and how the Orthodox Jewish Community in West Hempstead started and how it developed. Most Orthodox Jewish Communities develop in a set form. A group of families form a minyan to pray; they develop into a formal synagogue - followed by the creation of educational facilities for their children, if there are none close by. As the community develops and the need arises, other communal institutions are created according to the need such as: Mikvah, kosher food facilities, care for the aged, etc.

West Hempstead was formed in a slightly different manner. The first Orthodox institution established was a Yeshiva Day School - the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County in 1953.

This was the era when Rav Mendelowitz OBM, (who preferred to be called - Mr. Mendelowitz) of Yeshiva Torah V'Daas, preached to his students to go out to the hinterlands of America and build day schools which through traditional education would save American Jewry. This was the era of immense building growth by the Conservative Movement in every suburban Jewish area where Jews moved to from the large cities. Orthodoxy was on the defensive, a new generation of Jewish children were being raised on a watered-down Bar Mitzvah-only type of Jewish education. At the initiative of Rav Mendelowitz and Roshai Yeshiva, a new organization was formed called Torah U'Mesorah. Its purpose was to assist suburban Jewish communities to start and maintain Yeshiva Day Schools. It trained and sent personnel and helped produce curricula based upon traditional Jewish beliefs and sound educational principles.

In 1952, Rabbi Meyer Fendel, who was a new member of the staff of Torah Umesorah received an inquiry from a Levittown parent who was searching for a day school in Nassau County for his child. Rabbi Fendel contacted some local Rabbis and approached them with the idea of of establishing a Day School in Nassau County. A committee was formed consisting of local Rabbis including Rabbi Howard Levine and laymen from Franklin Square - Emerich Jacoby and Saul Finkelstein OBM,. The Hebrew Academy of Nassau County (H.A.N.C.) was thus launched. Together, they began a search for a suitable site. Mr. Jack Farber, a Vice President of the Flushing National Bank (and former owner of the present Joel & Florence Phillips home) approached Rabbi Fendel at Torah Umesorah and offered the property which now houses the Sam & Dora Elementary School of H.A.N.C. The property contained a 75 year old three-floor house called the "Oppenheim Collins Estate". The purchase price was $19,000. The deal was closed and teachers were hired. Miss Anne Abelow was the first teacher (now Mrs. Chana Zev of Ramat Eshkol, Jerusalem). She was hired to teach both Hebrew and English to the 1st grade. The living room and bedrooms of the house were turned into classrooms. A part-time cook was engaged and hot meals for lunch were provided for the children. Students were bused to and from many different communities. After six months of operation, Rabbi Meyer Fendel was engaged as the full-time Principal and Director and was to build that fledgling school from a one grade, two classroom building, to one of America's outstanding Day Schools. A dedicated and untiring school Secretary, named Ruth Provda, managed all of the school's paper work, served as nurse, a den mother, a confidant of the children, and general all-purpose manager.

By the time H.A.N.C. had a second grade, new people, whose children were students or potential students of the school, moved into the community. Among those early names were: Dershowitz, Simpson, Stemp, Kaufman, Goren, Friedberg and Schacter. Now that there were more Orthodox Jews, there was a need for a Minyan. It was realized that a Day School needed an Orthodox Synagogue in its midst. A Minyan began to meet in the school building on Shabbos. Often, in order to provide a quorum of ten, Rabbi Fendel, who was unmarried at the time, brought boys from the Chofetz Chaim Yeshiva to West Hempstead to help out.

The old 'haunted house', as it was called, school building was used for four grades. In 1956, David Schwartz was engaged as Executive Director to raise funds and the first half of the New Building was erected. If one wishes to see the names of the contributors and those present at the ground-breaking ceremony of this New Wing - their names are inscribed on a large piece of parchment hanging in the offices of the Elementary School.

As more newcomers arrived in West Hempstead, the Minyan rented a large room in the new wing for services. Rabbi Fendel served as the Rav of the Synagogue without remuneration for ten years, in addition to his full time duties as principal of the school. In order to attract more people to West Hempstead and garner a broader base of support, it was decided to join the Young Israel movement and to become The Young Israel of West Hempstead.

It was soon clear that the 'large room' in H.A.N.C. was inadequate to house the growing group. All of the adjacent land south of H.A.N.C. belonged to the one house (presently owned by Milt and Shevi Cohen) on Lester Court. It was offered to the synagogue (house and land) for $40,000. The synagogue would not go more than $38,000 and the deal fell through. The homeowner later sold the land to a builder who erected three homes on it.

A short time later a private house standing on the property of the present Young Israel building became available. The seventy families that now comprised the Young Israel membership under the Presidency of Dan Schacter OBM, decided that this was to be their move. A building committee initiated a building campaign and with the help of Ralph Schacter, Dan's brother, who was a builder, construction of the new A-Frame building began. In the midst of the construction, the community was tragically bereft of its dynamic lay-leader, Dan Schacter. It was decided unanimously, to rename the synagogue in memory of Dan - Zichron Daniel David. Specially designed Hebrew letters were secured by Morris Kaufman from the Jewish Museum in New York and are affixed today above the glass door entrance to the Synagogue building. Incidentally, Morris Kaufman also obtained a contribution of the stained glass windows which beautify our shul today.

The members of the Young Israel family was composed of dedicated young people with deep enthusiasm, committed to build a shul and a school. The tragic loss of a dynamic leader brought great shock to the community but also encouraged a rededication to the great task remaining before them - to go on and continue to build that which they had been inspired to start.

In 1964, Rabbi Harold Kanotopsky OBM, formerly the Rav of the Young Israel of Eastern Parkway was engaged as the Rabbi of the Young Israel of West Hempstead.. He retained that position until he made Aliyah to Israel in 1972. Rabbi Sholom Gold was then engaged as Rav until he, too, made Aliyah to Israel. Rabbi Yehuda Kelemer, formerly the Rav of the Young Israel of Brookline came to West Hempstead in 1983 and has since occupied the Rabbinical Chair.