habaim!habaim!

About our synagogue....

South Huntington Jewish Center is a warm, family-oriented, egalitarian Synagogue within the  Conservative Jewish tradition, dedicated to worship, study and our community.

We are a congregation of over 500 families who come together to pray, to learn, to share and celebrate life experiences, and to strengthen our spirits, both individual and collective.

Our Rabbi, Ian Jacknis, has been with us for sixteen years, our Cantor, Hazzan Brian Shamash, for almost five.  The Hazzan adds his beautiful voice and great enthusiasm to our services and classrooms.  Rabbi Jacknis and Hazzan Shamash each bring us unique strengths and talents, and both help us forge deeper connections with our Judaism and our humanity.

We believe strongly in the education of our children, imbuing them with a love for our tradition and a love for learning.  We have an accredited Nursery School and Religious School, and are the headquarters for the regional Hebrew High School, SHMA.  Family and Adult Education opportunities abound.

We embrace the future while maintaining a strong respect for the past, and are delighted to count many of our founding members still among the most active of our congregants.

SHJC was founded in 1960, when a group of twenty-five men and women joined together to form a House of Worship and Learning, which was in a storefront on Route 110. 

The building began as a simple, all-purpose sanctuary and four classrooms.   Over the years, several additions and renovations have been undertaken.  Today we are blessed with a beautiful sanctuary, a weekday prayer chapel, the Rabbi Morris and Rochelle Shapiro Religious Education Center, which contains dedicated classrooms for our preschool and religious school, a separate facility housing our youth lounge and library, the state-of-the-art Evelyn B. Maiman Playground, and a sophisticated and classy kosher catering facility.

As we said, however, a synagogue is more than a physical structure.  Our synagogue is as much -- if not more -- about its people, as it is anything else.  From our clergy and professional staff to our dedicated lay leaders, volunteers and general members, we are all pleased to be a part of the South Huntington Jewish Center family.  This family, together with the fine services and exceptional programs we offer, defines South Huntington Jewish Center.  

Find out who we are and what we do.