Temple Israel
Community Center
207 Edgewater Road
Cliffside Park, NJ 07010-2201
Tel. 201-945-7310
Fax 201-945-0863
E-mail us at
shul.ticc@verizon.net

A member of
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism

In the mid-1920s, the members of the Cliffside Park Jewish community banded together to form Congregation Sons of Israel. The new synagogue conducted services and held meetings in a private home on Jersey Avenue, before moving into its own building on Edgewater Road.

That building, however, would eventually prove inadequate for the community’s needs. In November 1956, therefore, the now-renamed Temple Israel Community Center broke ground at 207 Edgewater Road (one block east of its location at the time) for its present building, which it has occupied since early 1958.

TICC has always been a “small” congregation, fluctuating between 110 and 125 membership units. This was the intention of its founders, who wanted to create an “intimate” synagogue community, in contrast to the trend towards larger, more impersonal environments. The main advantages of the larger congregations were twofold: They provided the critical mass of members necessary to allow for varied programs and services; and they were likelier to be more financially secure. Loss of intimacy — the warmth and sense of community — was the price to pay for those advantages. It was a price the founders of TICC were unwilling to pay.

When it became obvious that a new building was needed, the TICC community faced a critical decision. In erecting its new facility, should it create a structure that would allow for expansion and growth, or one that would continue to reflect the founders’ original intent? The community chose the latter path. The sanctuary itself would seat fewer than 150 people. Larger numbers could be accommodated only by opening up a movable wall separating the sanctuary from the social hall and setting out the requisite number of folding chairs.

This decision was not taken lightly. It was a conscious decision to keep the congregation intimate.

Throughout the ups and downs of communal growth and shifting religious ideologies within Judaism, TICC has held constant, at between 110 and 125 family units. Its “style” has won it a reputation for actually being what other congregations only claim to be—warm, friendly and caring. Even on the High Holy Days, when over 350 people fill the combined sanctuary and social hall and intimacy is impossible, TICC finds ways to make the stranger feel welcome. Some of the most active and involved members of the congregation—including past presidents and present officers and trustees—are seated on folding chairs in the social hall part of the room, amid many of these strangers. People whose names no one recognizes are added to the honors list, to be called to the Torah or to do a responsive reading from the pulpit. The rabbi makes several forays each service into “the pews” to try and greet as many people as possible, and especially those people who are new to the synagogue.

The point is to tell these people, “You may think you’re strangers here, but we don’t; what took you so long to come home?”