Waterford - About seven or eight years ago, a visitor from another synagogue paid a visit to Temple Emanu-El as part of a study group and was moved by the outgoing nature of the congregation.

"I remember what he said to me," Rabbi Aaron Rosenberg said. "Everyone here is smiling."

In Yiddish, Rosenberg explained, the prevailing spirit at the temple is known as "heymish," meaning folksy or home-like.

"Most of our congregants view the temple as an extended family," he said.

And this year, the Emanu-El family will be celebrating its 50th anniversary with a series of special services, guest speakers and a gala to be held in the fall.

The first such event took place Friday, as Rabbi Eric Yoffe, the president of the Union of Reform Judaism, which oversees more than 900 congregations nationally, spoke during services.

Sherry Barnes, the cantorial soloist at the temple, said Emanu-El has been "a second family."

"It's not just on Friday and Saturdays," she said. "It's about the bonds you have with each other and having an ear to talk to."

Emanu-El started in the New London living room of Clem and Jeanne Prokesch with just five families and held its first service on May 20, 1960, in the ballroom of the Mohican Hotel on State Street using a borrowed Torah and prayer books.

Shortly after the first service, the temple moved around the corner to All Souls Universalist Unitarian Church for eight years.

In 1969, Emanu-El moved again, this time to the former Bishop Seabury Church on Fort Street in Groton, now the site of the Islamic Center of New London.

To this day, members who gathered at the Groton site are called the "Fort Street Gang."

In 1979, Emanu-El built its current temple on Dayton Road in Waterford, which was remodeled in 1996.

Along with the changes in location, Emanu-El has also seen shifts in Reform Judaism - the more socially liberal wing of Judaism, as more traditional aspects of the faith, such as wearing yarmulkes, have made a comeback.

"Now there is more Hebrew in the service,' Rosenberg said, adding that some members now wear a tallit, or prayer shawl.

But amid the celebration, there is also cause for concern. Rosenberg, who has been at Emanu-El for 30 years, said the congregation is facing many of the same challenges of other mainline faiths, declining attendance and an aging population.

"It's a real concern for Jews in eastern Connecticut," he said. "There are diminished numbers in general."

Currently, the temple has 235 households in its ranks, but tends to see spikes in attendance during the high holidays, when more than 550 people attend services.

Rosenberg cited a more mobile young population that tends to live away from family as a prime reason in the decline in attendance, though the temple still runs its Hebrew school on Sunday and Wednesday.

Also, the local economy and the job losses at Pfizer have hit home at Emanu-El.

"We've had six families lose jobs there," Rosenberg said. "They are hoping to stay in the area, but it's difficult to find the right employment."

Despite that, Barnes, who said she saw some new faces at the temple recently, is optimistic about the upcoming year.

"I love this place," she said. "But a building is just a building ... it's the people that make it grow."