This photo, taken by Cal Norris on Dec. 16, 1979, shows Rabbi Albert Silverman with a group of children at a Hanukkah party at the Jewish Center of the Hamptons. The school-age children appear with two women in addition to the rabbi, gathered in front of a fireplace hung with a “Happy Hanukah” sign.
The East Hampton Star described the party as one in which the children of the congregation, none of whom were identified, “join in song for the festival of lights.”
The Star’s first reference to a local celebration of Hanukkah (spelled Chanukah) apparently came in 1956, as a Hadassah event, but observances on the South Fork grew steadily after the Jewish Center of the Hamptons was formed in 1959. Advertising here began to refer to Chanukah by 1971.
The Jewish Center of the Hamptons was established by 17 families to celebrate their religious traditions together. They initially held services at the East Hampton Presbyterian Church’s Session House, but in 1961, thanks to the generosity of Evan Frankel, the center was able to hold services at the two-acre property at 44 Woods Lane where it now sits. The property underwent a number of expansions before the most significant one, by the architect Norman Jaffe, in 1988.
The sole person identified in this photo, Rabbi Silverman, started at the center in July of 1975 after serving for several years in Riverhead and at Sag Harbor’s Temple Adas Israel. Rabbi Silverman was active in the interfaith community before he arrived in East Hampton, and he continued to be so here. He earned his law degree at the age of 52 and used it in conjunction with his activities with the interfaith group to support social justice cases in the area.
Music was another of his interests, particularly jazz piano.
Andrea Meyer, a librarian and archivist, is the head of collection for the East Hampton Library’s Long Island Collection.
