Buffalo Congregation to Move into Church

The North Park Baptist Church will be taken over by the congregation of Temple Emanu-El March 1 and converted into a temple and center for Jewish activities.

Final papers in the transaction, #nvolving $75,000, have been signed. In accordance with an agreement made early in December, when the congregation of the temple was given a sixty-day option on the building, the Baptist group will remain in possession until March 1.

Decision to take up the option was made early last week, it was revealed Sunday evening.

A total of $15,240 in pledges was received at the banquet. The drive will continue until the sum of $25,000 is raised.

Nearly 1,000 persons attended the banquet Sunday evening. Some of the leading figures in Buffalo Jewry were guest speakers.

The program opened with an address of welcome by Barney Burman, president of Temple Emanu-El. Samuel Sapowitch was toastmaster. Eugene Warner, president of the Jewish Federation for Social Service, was the first speaker.

Rabbi Joseph Gitin, spiritual leader of the congregation, pointed out that the building “will not be a mere temple of mortar and brick but a haven of Jews, a spiritual center, a place not to visit but to #ve in.”

“If you would preserve Judaism in America, make sure that this temple is your own”, Rabbi Joseph L. Fink of Temple Beth Zion exhorted the congregation.

Rabbi Harry Silverstone of Temple Beth David, Rabbi Samuel Gitin of Congregation Anshe Emes, Herman Wile, president of the Bureau of Jewish Education; Joseph R. Morrison, chairman of the board of education of the temple, and Gilbert M. Finkelstein, chairman of the finance committee, also spoke.