05/17/2019
Jewish Advocate
B’nai Israel, Revere closes after 113 years
| May 08, 2019
By Heather Alterisio
Advocate staff
REVERE – Temple B’nai Israel here is closing its doors after 113 years and holding its last service at the end of the month.
“In typical Jewish fashion, we soldier on,” said Debby Cherry, longtime member and current temple president.
Temple B’nai Israel, which opened in 1906, was one of three synagogues that served a thriving Jewish community for most of the 1900s.
Now, Revere, once a bustling hub with kosher delis and bakeries, will accept its fate and say goodbye to its last synagogue. As memberships dropped and families moved away, changes had to be made. In 1998, Congregation Ahavis Achim shut its doors and in 2015, Congregation Tifereth Israel followed suit.
The decision to sell Temple B’nai Israel was “inevitable,” according to Cherry. “We just thought we had a little bit longer in front of us,” she said. “Then we realized, ‘Why are we doing what we’re doing for 15 people?’ It doesn’t really make sense to keep going.”
Cherry, who served as the temple’s first female president from 1998 to 2003, returned to the office of president last year. Some of her earliest memories include being trained for her bat mitzvah, “being banished to the balcony” with the other children, and preparing break fast for Yom Kippur with the woman living next door to the synagogue.
“At one point, my father volunteered me to help her prepare the break fast,” Cherry said. “I was probably 10 years old, I imagine, and it became my job every year for about 30 years. I only stopped when I became president for the first time.”
“There’s a long history here,” she said. “It’s a good place with good people. We help each other.”
Congregants aren’t moping around, though. “At High Holidays, we determined that we wanted to have a year of joy and not a year of sadness though,” Cherry said. “I think we’ve had a marvelous year. Ironically, it’s the same 15 people.”
The building will most likely remain a house of worship, which is what the congregation wanted. The stunning structure featuring stained glass windows and Stars of David drew 15 prospective buyers, according to Cherry. “The building is in excellent shape, given its age,” she said.
With the congregation’s approval, she recently signed a purchase and sales agreement. It is now pending sale to a local Islamic organization.
“It’s been a typical year, but we’re happy to be with each other,” Cherry said. “When you lose something, you really cherish it. It’s bittersweet.”
In their final newsletter, Reb Misha Clebaner, who has served as the rabbinic figure since August 2017, noted, “TBI is more than just a building. It is more than a just a spiritual community. It has been home to many of us – some for many decades. Whether it is the packed High Holiday services that we remember or the photos of our parents getting married here – TBI represents the best of what Jewish Revere had to offer.”
“When you are here, you are family,” he continued. “Only a couple of years younger than America’s Oldest Public Beach (Revere Beach) itself, TBI has been a staple of the overall Revere community.”
“As family, we may only see each other during the holidays, but that does not reduce the love and care that we have for each other,” he noted.
