Text Box: Temple Israel   Text Box: Columbus, Georgia Text Box: "My House Shall Be called a House of Prayer for All Peoples"

Text Box: Visit us at : 1617 Wildwood Ave Columbus, GA 31906   Mailing address: PO Box 5086 Columbus, GA 31906   Phone: 706-323-1617 Fax: 706-324-6657 templeisraelga@aol.com www.templeisraelcolumbusga.org   Contact Webmaster    

President's Message

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                           

                                                     Temple Israel - A Reform Jewish Congregation                                     

Text Box: Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin Board Officers Captain Neil Block, US Navy, Retired, President  Mark Rice, First Vice President Gary Stern, Second Vice President Fred Steinhauser, Treasurer Stewart Brines, Secretary Dr. Joel Fine, Immediate Past President    

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Text Box:  Dear Website Visitor,   Welcome to Temple Israel, in Columbus, Georgia!!!!    Columbus is a city of approximately 200,000 located in the Chattahoochee River valley in far south-central western Georgia—about 125 miles south-south-west of downtown Atlanta.  Phenix City, Alabama is our contiguous neighbor to the west just across the Chattahoochee River which separates Georgia and Alabama.   Columbus is a comfortable, pretty, un-crowded southern city with a surprising cosmopolitan feel as a significant part of its population is composed of retired military persons and their families who hail from all over.  The attraction to settling here is proximity to the US Army Infantry Command Headquarters at nearby Fort Benning and its support facilities.  The area is an affordable place to live and retire and has all the amenities of larger cities, including a vast array of restaurants and retail establishments, all set in a bucolic, rural setting of trees, rivers, lakes and hills.  Of some surprise to many, Columbus is even the home of several Fortune 500 companies, the most visible of which is probably AFLAC Insurance, made famous by its quacking duck.   Temple Israel is a small congregation of about 130 families which celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2003.  Jews were established merchants in Columbus upon its founding as a city in the early 1800s and many current families still have roots to those earliest inhabitants.   Temple Israel is a robust reform congregation composed of about an equal number of “old families” and “newcomers.”  It is involved in many Jewish and community endeavors, with respected visibility in the area.  Tom Friedmann, a native of New Orleans, is its rabbi.  Congregants represent a broad cross section of careers—teachers, merchants, professionals, trades, crafts, etc—as well as a broad range of geographic backgrounds—everywhere US, eastern Europe, Central and South America.   The City of Columbus nexus with the US Army is very close.  There is a genuine affinity and embrace of the community and its military neighbor.  In that regard, Temple Israel serves as the coordinating entity for support of the Jewish Troop Program at Fort Benning.  That program is the largest Jewish program in the US armed forces.   We are a dynamic Jewish and citizen presence in our area, proud of our heritage and history.  We welcome your comments, questions, and visit to our website and would be more than pleased to actually welcome you here.  “Y’all come!!!”   Neil Block Captain, US Navy, Retired President, Temple Israel