In 1990, Bergenfield’s Jewish landscape looked quite different than today. 2015’s vibrant, active community, a place of spiritual growth and aspirations, with advanced learning going on late into the night, is a hallmark of Bergenfield and its many Orthodox residents, minyanim and shuls. The original shul and now one of several centers of Torah learning in Bergenfield, Congregation Beth Abraham, has had quite a bit to do with that.
But let’s go back a little further: Congregation Beth Abraham started humbly, in Marge and Ernie z”l Kohlhagen’s den, in 1967. A handmade curtain was used as the mechitza. They lived on Westminster Ave., and Ernie’s father, who lived on John Place, had had a heart attack and could no longer walk all the way to Teaneck’s B’nai Yeshurun for Shabbos services, where the family were charter members. The Kohlhagens didn’t know whether they should move or start a minyan, but they famously asked for an audience with the Lubavitcher Rebbe z”tl, who told them to remain in Bergenfield. The Rebbe even sent one of his bochurim, Rabbi Yaakov Goldstein, to help out in the early years. The Kohlhagens, with her mother-in-law, her father-in-law, her aunt and her uncle, bought a property for the shul, on South Prospect near Newbridge Road, and they would call people every week to come make a minyan. “It was slow going at first; Sometimes someone would stand outside and ask passersby if they were Jewish, to see if they could help out with the minyan,” said Marge Kohlhagen.
But after awhile, they built up a nice group, with several young and growing families. “We had people walking over from Englewood, and that was a big help,” said Kohlhagen, who still lives on Westminster Avenue, just down the street from the shul’s current location that initially housed a smaller property, what is now the shul’s Beit Midrash.
After Rabbi Goldstein left to get married, several other rabbis worked unpaid for the community, including Rabbi H. Zecharia Senter, who started the Kof-K. He and Rebbetzin Senter worked on behalf of the Bergenfield community for many years, and certainly had a role in helping it flourish and grow. The community grew so much that it became possible for the shul to hire and pay a rabbi.
In 1990, Rabbi Yaakov and Peshi Neuburger arrived, and the rest is, as they say, history. Recognizing what they have built, and with a level of dedication that is unparalleled, the Neuburgers are being lauded for their contributions as rabbi and rebbetzin of Congregation Beth Abraham over the past 25 years, at the shul’s annual dinner on June 3rd. Rabbi Neuburger is also a Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University.
There are rabbis and rebbetzins who show up when they have to, rabbis and rebbetzins who show up when they are asked, and then there are Rabbi and Rebbetzin Neuburger, who represent a rare breed of leadership of those somehow able to simultaneously act as role models and close friends. It’s impossible to forget the kindness bestowed from these role models; it inspires the Beth Abraham community every day.
Today in Bergenfield, halachic matters are addressed modestly and sensitively, around the clock. The Beit Midrash is buzzing from the early hours of the morning to the late evening. Children from Bergenfield are top students at all the area yeshivas. Master educators, in addition to their own rabbis and rebbetzins, regularly grace the sanctuary to teach and inspire. Four morning minyanim meet on Shabbos morning: Vasikin, Hashkoma, main shul, and beit midrash. The shul boasts what is believed to be the only 365-day-a-year vasikin minyan in the Bergen County area. Such riches would have been unimaginable 25 years ago in Bergenfield.
It is with the humility that comes with the acknowledgement of great blessings that Congregation Beth Abraham invites the community to help celebrate 25 years of leadership from Rabbi and Rebbetzin Neuburger at the shul’s 20th annual dinner. For more information, visit http://bethabraham.org/.
By Elizabeth Kratz
