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<br />with the financial woes of Miami Beach as its many low-rise housing units <br />had fallen into disrepair and the city's demographics showed a <br />disproportionate number of elderly residents. The glamour of Miami Beach <br />had been lost. <br /> <br />Beginning with the efforts of Barbara Capltman who founded the Miami <br />Design PreseNation League in 1976, the beginnings of a renaissance were <br />in motion. In 1979 the "Art Deco District" was listed In the National Register <br />of Historic Places, starting a major development boom on the beach. More <br />and more people moved into -the beach" achieving a level of success not <br />thought possible. <br /> <br />Temple B'Nai Zion was founded In 1983, and flourished as a ConseNative <br />temple. By 1986, the temple had grown to 400 families, and was the largest <br />in Sunny Isles.21 Because of its increasing growth, the temple purchased the <br />Sunny Isles Lutheran Church in 1997. Most recently the temple changed <br />from ConseNative to Orthodox. fi..s a result a renovation took place to <br />comply with the religious imperatives. The temple's seats that previously <br />faced west were moved so that they face eastward towards Jerusalem. <br />The ark where the Torah Is kept was also moved, and a separate section for <br />women was created as in Orthodox rules, women did not sit with the men <br />of the congregatlon.22 Today, the temple is unoccupied. <br /> <br />An Unmecedented Ceremony <br />On Sunday, March 28, 2004 over two hundred of the nearly three hundred <br />men and women who made their homes in Sunny Isles Beach, sUNivors of <br />history's most cruel and ignominious chapter--- the Holocaust-met <br />together at the Temple B'Nai Zion for a somber, yet joyful, reunion and <br />celebration of life. The brainchild of Mayor Norman S. Edelcup, ably assisted <br />by City Historian Richard C. Schulman, the City of Sunny Isles Beach paid <br />tribute to Sunny Isles Beach citizen's who had survived the Holocaust. <br /> <br />Dignitaries from the city, state and nation joined the sUNlvors to pay <br />homage to those whose fragile lives were spared. The attendees Included <br />Mayor Edelcup and the Sunny Isles Beach City Commission, State Attomey <br />Katherine Femandez-Rundle; State Senator Gwen Margolis: Representative <br />Dan Gelber; Martin Goldman and Naomi Katz of the National Holocaust <br />Memorial Museum, and Rossita Kenigsberg of the Holocaust <br />Documentation and Education Center. <br /> <br />Others who could not attend but wished to acknowledge this extraordinary <br />gathering, sent their well wishes, including: U.S. Senator Robert (Bob) <br />Graham; U.S. Senator Bill Nelson; U.S. Congressman Peter Deutsch; Martin <br />Goldman, the Director of Survivor Affairs for the United States Holocaust <br />Museum. and Martin J. Levy from the SUNivors of Shoah Visual History <br /> <br />21 -Max KrIeger, Temple B'Nal ZIon Founder (obituary) The Miami Herald, 21 November 1984, <br />~.3C <br />2 .Synagogue Seats Now Face East. The Miami Herald, NeIghbors Aventura, 28 May 2006 p, <br />3AV <br /> <br />11 <br />