Jason Wasserman, president of Temple Beth Hillel in South Windsor, and Marcia Heneson, an Executive Committee member of Congregation Beth Ahm in Windsor, last week signed and filed legal documents that completed the merger between two synagogues.

The union was announced this past spring and was followed on June 24, by a symbolic act of blending, when members of both congregations participated in a Torah Tiyul, carrying Beth Ahm’s Torah scrolls along the 10-mile route to Beth Hillel, where they were placed in the ark of their new home. Days later, Congregation Beth Ahm closed its doors on Palisido Avenue in Windsor (see “A Windsor Synagogue Closes its Doors After 70 Years,” Jewish Ledger, March 2, 2018).

Over the summer, many ritual items and artwork from Beth Ahm were transported and installed at Temple Beth Hillel – including the Windsor synagogue’s ark that housed its Torahs. The ark is now the focus of a supplementary sanctuary at Beth Hillel, thanks in part to funding provided by the Jewish Community Foundation of West Hartford.

“During the past few months, members of both congregations have joined in numerous social and religious events, and we already are working together like longtime family,” says Rabbi Jeffrey Glickman, Beth Hillel’s spiritual leader. “We look forward to spending the High Holy Days as one.”

Established as a Reform congregation in 1960, Temple Beth Hillel moved to its current building on the corner of Governors Highway and Baker Lane in Windsor in 2000.

Founded in 1951, Congregation Beth Ahm, then known as the Jewish Community of Greater Windsor, held services and religious school at a local church until its own building was completed on Palisado Avenue in 1960 in an historic residential area.

CAP: Jason Wasserman of Temple Beth Hillel in South Windsor, and Marcia Heneson of Congregation Beth Ahm in Windsor, recently signed legal documents that completed the merger between their two synagogues.