The Pelham Jewish Center was founded in 1953. Having emerged from the Pelham Community League, (a community center, not a synagogue), it was created to meet the social and educational needs of Pel
ham's Jews. The PJC rented space in the Pelham Community Church in its first year, then moved to the second floor of a commercial building at the corner of Pelhamdale and Boston Post Road. The Pelham Jewish Center evolved into a religious organization, incorporating as a Conservative synagogue. To serve as rabbis, the synagogue hired students from the Jewish Theological Seminary in Manhattan.
By 1956, the small group of families making up the PJC's membership, raised $40,000 to purchase a house in an residential section of Pelham Manor. The PJC is located in that same house today!
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The photo to above is the original Bimah, prior to our major renovation in 2005.
Over the past 60 years, the PJC has seen much change. We have grown. No longer a strictly local synagogue, it attracts members from Larchmont, New Rochelle, Mount Vernon, the Bronx, Bronxville, Parkchester, Eastchester, New York City, and upper Westchester. The Pelham Jewish Center is an integral part of the Pelham community. Our synagogue participates in programs with local churches and social action organizations. Having raised $1.5 million, the PJC undertook its first expansion and renovation in 2005. During this time, while members were "homeless," two local churches, St. Catherine's and the Parish of Christ the Redeemer, gave us space for services, a Hebrew school, an administrative office, and programs. These remarkable acts of kindness and generosity enabled the synagogue to focus on expanding, updating and refurbishing its facility, which is now a unique, wonderful home for Jewish life.
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