At a time of rising antisemitism worldwide, Temple Israel is growing.
The 1,100-family congregation — the largest Jewish one in the state — has grown more than 60% over the past 5 years. They’ve tripled their pre-school, and doubled the Hebrew school. Next month, they welcome their 6th clergy member.
Between youth and adult programs, rites like bar and bat mitzvahs and baby namings, and Shabbat and holiday services, the building teems with activities.
Now Temple Israel is growing in another way.
On Tuesday, they closed on the property next door. Purchasing 6 Coleytown Road — owned by the same family since the 1960s — adds 2 acres to the 6-acre 14 Coleytown Road campus.
It’s a perfect fit physically. The land will fill in the fourth quadrant, just west of the existing land (to the right, driving in).
Temple Israel’s existing property is outlined in blue. The new purchase is in red (lower left).
It’s also a perfect fit dynamically. Rabbi Michael Friedman and the board of directors do not yet know how they’ll utilize the land. But as Temple Israel grows in numbers and activities, there will be no shortage of ideas.
“When we had the opportunity to acquire this, right next door, we realized it’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance,” Rabbi Friedman says. “They’ve been great neighbors, and we hope we’ve been good to them.
“It’s exciting. We recognize the responsibility of planning thoughtfully for a vibrant future.”
Formed in 1949, but without a permanent home for the first 10 years, Temple Israel has over the past years attracted young families, empty nesters and others, beyond its original Westport and Weston base.
The congregation’s footprint has expanded into Wilton, New Canaan. Fairfield, and beyond, Rabbi Friedman notes.
Temple Israel
“Our building and campus gets a lot of use,” he adds. “That’s a feature, not a bug.”
In an email to congregants yesterday, temple officials said: “As we move into the next 75 years of our congregation’s story, we envision a campus that supports the vibrant 21st century Judaism we have created, providing spaces where we can safely and joyfully gather, learn, worship and celebrate.
“There is still important planning work ahead, and we look forward to keeping you informed as conversations continue and next steps unfold. At the same time, we have begun to dream about how this opportunity could take shape — imagining how this space might enhance connection, expand what we are able to offer, and support the evolving needs of our growing community. While it is still early in the process, these initial conversations have been both energizing and inspiring as we consider what is possible.”
As antisemitism rises in the US and around the world, Rabbi Friedman says, “it is particularly meaningful to have hopefulness.”
He sees that hope in the continued growth of Temple Israel — programmatically, spiritually, and now physically too.
(“06880” regular covers religion, real estate, and more. If you appreciate our hyper-local focus, please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
They’ll need the room. I have a feeling they’ll be growing exponentially. Mamdani is reality (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
Statistically, Westport’s population peaked in 2019, with about 1000 more residents than today. It’s held relatively static over time because of our amazing planning and zoning, even though they are frequent cannon fodder.
People are getting married later. This year the median first marriage age for a man is 31, and 29 for a woman. In your day those numbers were 22 for men and 20 for women.
US birthrates are at historic lows, last year at 3.6M, a 20% decline from when we had our kids two decades ago.
I have no idea who’s buying all these massive relatively new homes, not my problem to solve. And no one who wants to live in NYC is leaving the city because of a Mayor.
Hi David,
Where do those statistics come from? There is only a decennial census — the last one was 2020.
Google Gemini
2026 projected – 28,622 – so equal to the peak, my bad
2021 – 27,279
2020 – 27,069
2019 – 28,539
—-
1970 – 27,318
Thanks!
The marriage and birth rate things are not just statistics. If you have kids you know. Westport will rue the day of way smaller houses because the next wave is coming in later and smaller. If I was a builder, high end 3000 sq ft homes is the future.
I heard from some that people were going to flee NYC to Fairfield County as soon as he stepped into office. It did not happen. Realtors and Sellers were telling me in Fall/Winter their houses will sell quickly because of it. Same houses still listed for sale or unsold. In fact, I know some investing and buying real estate in Manhattan.
Completely unbiased shoutout to Ellen Greenwald, president of the Temple, for using her passion and powers of persuasion to help drive this expansion forward!
Connecticut’s schools are individually funded and are administered by each individual town and city, unlike places like Florida and Maryland where there’s county school systems. There’s a negative effect along with a positive impact to local schools. Buyers are attracted to the fact that Westport’s schools are controlled by the town and not by the county. This fact makes Westport very attractive to homebuyers with children.