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theses

The consolidation of synagogues in post-war New Jersey is neither new nor unique. City synagogues country wide with the onset of suburbanization in the 1950s relocated to and/or reorganized in the suburbs. Yet, regardless of the relocations and/or reorganizations of city synagogues, the suburbs witnessed almost two decades of synagogue growth. In the 1970s, however, as the initial reasons for synagogue consolidation changed, net gains in synagogue growth ceased. Surprisingly, although the number of synagogues has decreased and the rate of synagogue consolidation has increased, there is a lack of academic sources dedicated exclusively to those issues surrounding synagogue consolidation. Indeed, the most notable literature concerning synagogue consolidation is that published by communal leadership. Providing congregations wishing to explore consolidation with insight into the issues that arise during the merger process, these sources are practice guides more than academic works. They do not place these mergers within the historical contexts of American Jewry and Judaism in post-war America nor do they examine the ways in which the details of such mergers are informed by these contexts. It is thus the goal of this case study to fill in some of the lacunae left by both the academic and communal worlds. In order to do such, this case study will concentrate on five Conservative congregations which were established in Woodbridge Township between 1913 and 1977 and were subsequently absorbed by a congregation outside of the Township in 2003 and 2006. It will examine the information obtained from: the interviews I conducted with clergy and congregants who served as officers and/or board members of the respective synagogues, the Woodbridge Township Library’s oral histories, the congregations’ archival records, local newspaper articles which discussed the consolidations and various other sources reviewed in order to properly locate Woodbridge Township’s Jewish community within a larger historical framework. It will thereafter explore the major issues that each congregation confronted in consolidating; and further discuss the phenomenon of merger in Woodbridge Township and its related issues within the contexts of post-war American Jewry and Judaism.

ETD_5143

M.A.

Includes bibliographical references

by Jason Ross Gosnell

doi:10.7282/T3VH5KV5

ETD graduate

The author owns the copyright to this work.