“Let us honor the generations that came before us, keeping the promise for those yet to be.” —Mishkan Tefilah, Shabbat morning service
On the second floor is a beautiful rendering of our original sacred home in honor of our founders, lovingly sketched by Yafim Massarsky, a member of our building committee and longtime member of the TBE community, in honor of his parents, Rakhil and Lazar Massarsky.
History of our first building:
On February 20, 1952, the Jewish Community Group of Wellesley authorized a Building Committee to buy a site or a building for use as a school and synagogue. In November the Committee purchased a 43,930-square-foot piece of land in Wellesley at the corner of Worcester Street and Oak Street for $2000. But in August 1956, the state bought part of the land to widen Route 9. Using the money realized from the sale of the Route 9 parcel, a new parcel of eight acres on Cedar Street was purchased in January 1957 for $5000. In April 1959, the Group started a building fund drive, chaired by Morton Darman and Stanley Feldberg, with the goal of raising $75,000. In six weeks they received pledges of $84,600. On Sunday, March 20, 1960, ground was broken for the first Jewish house of worship and religious school in Wellesley, culminating an 11-year dream for many.
