Dedication to one Jewish tradition, rooted in temple times, was the starting point of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue. Origins often get lost in the midst of the past, but as one who was there from the start, I can describe what took place.

At last an old building, on a lot very deep but much too narrow, became available at a back-breaking price. How could one create a synagogue on such a site, which seemed to dictate construction on auditorium lines?

A Jewish architect, Percival Goodman, found the solution in the traditional Sephardic layout, which calls for a bimah and ark in a clear central area, with facing sections of worshippers. Thus the depth of the lot became its chief advantage. This architecture, much admired ever since, is wholly halakhic. It looks like the last word. And the Ezrat Nashim, the Court of Women in the balcony, is crowded every Shabbat. Tradition sparked the whole thing, and tradition showed how to execute it.

And so, week in and week out, year in and year out, the Fifth Avenue Synagogue has been diffusing tradition in the elegant heart of New York for twenty five years, and Jewish men and women have been davening and learning in the old way. The members and the visitors have become, over the years, a Who's Who of World Jewry.

The pattern is single and clear; Torah Judaism, stepping forth into new times and assuming new leadership tasks. That is, I suggest, the secret of secrets of our tradition; that in all times and places, rededication works.