The Temple celebrates 140 years of deep roots in Jacksonville
Congregation Ahavath Chesed, known to almost everyone in Jacksonville as The Temple, commemorated its 140th anniversary with a gala in May by reflecting on its storied past to build a vibrant vision for the future.
Like the Israelites in Exodus, The Temple spent decades moving around Jacksonville before settling into its current location on San Jose Boulevard in 1979. The Temple was chartered in 1882 in a beautiful building on Laura Street, and its first president, Morris A. Dzialynski, was Jacksonville’s only Jewish mayor. This original building was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1901, and was the first house of worship rebuilt afterwards, at the corner of Laura and Ashley streets.
In 1927, the congregation purchased a Henry Klutho-designed building in Riverside, at the corner of St. Johns Avenue and Mallory Street, to serve as a community center. That building was also destroyed by fire, in 1940, which resulted in the loss of all Temple records. Again, the congregation rebuilt and eventually outgrew the space, necessitating the move to San Jose.
Many families have remained faithful to The Temple in all its iterations.
“My mother was born in 1904, and she was confirmed at The Temple,” said Linda Wilkerson (nee Fink), whose family has belonged to the congregation for generations. “My husband had a relative who was a charter member.”
Wilkerson and her husband, the late Dr. Albert Wilkerson, Jr., both grew up going to services at The Temple. The Wilkersons married in 1955 and have four children and nine grandchildren, all of whom have been confirmed at The Temple. Many have also had their bar- or bat-mitzvah there, as well.
“When I was young, the rabbi was Israel Kaplan, and his wife [Cora] was a wonderful storyteller. I remember going to the temple home and listening to her tell stories. In fact, one of my children had a birthday, and I asked Mrs. Kaplan to come tell stories at the birthday party,” said Wilkerson.
Rabbi Kaplan was succeeded by Sidney Lefkowitz, who drew Wilkerson back to The Temple.
“Before that, I tried to get my parents to join the [Episcopal] Church of the Good Shepherd because they had a pool,” Wilkerson said. “I was a teenager when Sidney Lefkowitz came; he was like the pied piper. He restored my faith in The Temple and in Judaism. It was a big period of growth for us.”
The Temple’s current rabbi is Maya Glasser, who moved to Jacksonville two years ago at the height of the pandemic. Unlike many rabbis who have led the synagogue, Rabbi Glasser is young and female, yet she sees herself as fitting perfectly well into the lineage of forward-thinking, community-focused leaders who have held the position.
“One of the themes in our history is our interfaith work,” Glasser said. “We know that we are not in a primarily Jewish area, so it’s been one of our values to get to know our neighbors.”
The congregation’s history is a testament to this commitment. In 1917, Rabbi Israel Kaplan organized Jacksonville’s first Interfaith Thanksgiving Service, a tradition which continues to this day and involves around thirty different faith groups. The Temple was one of the founding members of OneJax, an interfaith organization created in 2005 to emphasize civility and respect as cornerstones of the community. In addition, The Temple participates in an annual pulpit swap with Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church, and every Christmas the congregation members bake cookies for first responders and the homebound.
Rabbi Glasser, who moved from New York, has come to love her new hometown. “I love the pace,” she said. “I love that people want to have conversations with each other and interact with each other. I love that everyone is polite and respectful.”
Rabbi Glasser gave a speech at the 140th anniversary gala in which she reminded members to live out their values as they continue to look forward. “I’m helping us acknowledge where we came from in order to build a strong future,” she said. “Especially in this era we’re living in, where people are not coming together to explore different viewpoints. Our doors are always open. People are welcome to come to our services, come to our programs; we love when people come with questions.”
The Temple holds regular services on Friday at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday at 10:30 a.m. All are welcome.
The theme of The Temple’s gala was “Honoring our Past, Celebrating our Present, and Building our Future.” The steering committee, co-chaired by Miriam Greenhut and Nicole Brown, chose to embody this theme by using the synagogue’s 100-year-old, stained-glass windows as inspiration. This milestone has given the members of The Temple an opportunity to reflect on how they can continue to be a force for good over the coming decades.
“My hope for the future of the temple is that it continues to draw people who will support it and let it support them,” said Wilkerson. “Hopefully this celebration will remind people how much the temple has meant to them through the years. It will indicate permanence. It’s been part of our community for so long and still serves as a living, functioning entity which adds to the quality of life in Jacksonville. We’ve stood for something, and I hope we always will.”
By Mary Wanser
Resident Community News
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