Stuart Frieman and Aaron Weintraub unveiled a reproduction of Congregation Agudas Achim’s newly restored and preserved Articles of Incorporation. Photo: Andy Heller.
“This is amazing!” Those words were heard over and over at a gathering to celebrate Congregation Agudas Achim and its community. Dubbed the “Incorporation Gala,” the March 11 party was organized to celebrate the preservation and restoration of the congregation’s original articles of incorporation, a document dating back to 1911.
Molly Jacobs, the synagogue’s current president, pointed to the articles as evidence of the congregation’s durability, its ability to weather difficult times, including the Covid pandemic. As the pandemic has eased, the synagogue has made more services and events in person, and Jacobs encouraged congregants to re-engage with the community, to rediscover the joys of being together as a community.
Stuart Freiman, a former president of the congregation with a lifelong interest in ephemera, took the lead on the restoration project. “What drew me to this hobby was when I realized that these documents are primary sources of history, and that when I touch one, I’m connected to the people who originally wrote, signed, sealed, mailed, and handled these papers.”
Freiman worked with the Northeast Document Conservation Center in Andover, Mass., to preserve the document. At the gala, Freiman and fellow congregant Aaron Weintraub unveiled a perfect digital reproduction, which will be on display at the Reconstructionist congregation’s synagogue in Attleboro.
Nearly a hundred people attended the gala on March 11 at the Pawtucket Country Club, including rabbis from other Reconstructionist synagogues in Massachusetts. Entertainment included a band of congregation members performing hits from the 1950s through the 2000s.
