A piece of Jewish history was unveiled when a time capsule buried in 1965 was found on the grounds of the former New Milford Jewish Center (NMJC)/Congregation Beth Tikvah. It was unearthed by chance, during construction by a church that now owns the property.
Bob Nesoff and Howard Cohn, former presidents of the NMJC Congregation Beth Tikvah, gathered with Pastor David Yee in front of the former synagogue building, which now is occupied by Yee’s Top Stone Korean Church, on River Road, this past Wednesday. There, they opened the rusty steel tube with a hammer. After unscrewing the top, Cohn pulled out a roster of original members of the congregation and a well-preserved paper highlighting the congregation’s origins.
The congregation’s origins included its 1951 founding by 60 residents of Oradell, River Edge and New Milford, its building of a 120-member religious-school program for children in 1955, and its membership of 192 families by 1957. The historical account was signed on May 14, 1965, by Charles Nathanson, then-president of the New Milford Jewish Center.
“Anytime you’ve opened something that’s been buried for 60 years, you get goosebumps,” Nesoff said on the opening of the capsule.
New Milford once housed a burgeoning Jewish community, but as the population declined over the years, Congregation Beth Tikvah merged with Paramus Jewish Center to form The Jewish Community Center Paramus/Congregation Beth Tikvah, and sold their building to Top Stone Church in 2013. The time capsule was to be presented to the president of the Paramus Jewish Center and housed there.
Cohn said he is glad the building was sold to a religious institution that contributes to the New Milford community and has a friendly and welcoming clergy presence. Cohn runs monthly conversational English classes for members of the church, in order to alleviate the language barriers they face.
Nesoff said all religious institutions struggle getting members, especially younger members. He highlighted a conversation he had with Pastor David: “Pastor David called me up one day and said ‘Bob, I need a suggestion.’ I said, ‘What’s that?’ He said, ‘What can we do to bring in younger members and more members?’ I kind of laughed and said, ‘If I had the answer to that we’d still be here and you wouldn’t.”
Cohn and Nesoff attributed the decline in the strong membership of their synagogue to young people drifting away from religion and losing connection with their communities. However, while in 1965 there may have been a significant number of Jewish New Milford residents, enough to wish to bury a time capsule, they couldn’t possibly have imagined that 60 years later, there would be three emporium-style kosher grocery stores, dozens of kosher restaurants and 19 Orthodox synagogues on the landscape of Bergen County.
But while kosher amenities are plentiful within a two-minute drive, it’s true there is not as much Jewish life left in New Milford as there was over half a century ago.
The time capsule presentation was bittersweet, as Nesoff mused on the merging of Jewish history and the present.
“I could smell the air from 1965 coming out. I think these things are great because it connects the past with the present, and even with the future,” he said.
By Ally Scharf
