Jewish Academy Marks New Home with Menorah Dedication

A menorah dedication ceremony was held last month at the Jewish Academy’s new home at the Suffolk Y Jewish Community Center in Commack. 

The menorah has been a part of the community for 30 years. It originally stood in front of the Hebrew Academy, but builders of the school in Hauppauge, which closed about 10 years ago, donated the menorah to the Jewish Academy.

Suffolk County Legis. Steve Stern was the honored guest at the ceremony, which also celebrated the partnership between the Y JCC and the Jewish Academy. Stern presented Jewish Academy founder and board president Anita Kaufman a proclamation in honor of the school’s move to the Suffolk Y JCC campus. 

The Jewish Academy has a renewable three-year lease agreement with the Suffolk Y JCC. The Academy was renting space in Commack School District's Cedar Road School, but moved just before the start of the school year, after the school district terminated the agreement over a financial dispute.

Suffolk Y JCC Executive Director Adam Bendeson said that he is delighted to have the Jewish Academy within the building.

“With cooperative spirit, our two organizations have formed a kinship based on shared values of community, with a mutual desire to nurture, body, mind and spirit,” he said in a press release.