When the Queen Mary first docked in Long Beach, Rabbi Wolli Kaelter of Temple Israel was curious about the status of the Torahs that had been in the synagogue. As a rabbinical student in 1936, Rabbi Kaelter had booked passage on the Queen Mary as he made his way to Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, and he remembered praying in the ship's synagogue. Rabbi Kaelter discovered that the ship's Torahs had been stored on the floor of a basement storeroom. Finding the situation unacceptable, Rabbi Kaelter volunteered that Temple Israel would be happy to house the Torahs and other items from the ship's synagogue in a more appropriate setting.
And so today, not only is Long Beach home to the Queen Mary, but Temple Israel is home to one of the Torahs and the Ark from the ship's synagogue.