Synagogue Life

Getting Hold of All the Right Stuff

By:

Nine-year-old Leedaar Alon giggled as she lowered a bright light over a metal grasshopper, setting the solar-paneled toy into a nervous skitter. Behind her, other fourth-graders in her class at the Congregations of Shaare Shamayim raced tiny cars using the same "solar" technique. On Sunday, Hebrew lessons took a back seat as the entire religious school rotated through a series...

Synagogue Life

A Sign of the Times

By:

Bryan Schwartzman

Following years of steadily declining membership, Suburban Jewish Community Center B'nai Aaron, a longstanding Conservative synagogue in Havertown, is entering into merger talks with Adath Israel in Merion Station. The decision to enter negotiations came at a Dec. 19 congregational meeting, more than a year after synagogue leaders said it no longer made fiscal sense to hold on to its...

Synagogue Life

Shul the Proper Place for Politics?

By:

Bryan Schwartzman

At least once every election cycle, it seems, there's a flap surrounding a Jewish institution's decision to host or not host a political candidate or group -- invariably stoking partisan passions and raising questions about the role synagogues can or should play in politics. So far in 2010, two such incidents have made waves. Lower Merion Synagogue just canceled a...

Synagogue Life

At Holiday Time, It's All About Inclusion

Nitzavim-Vayelech, Deuteronomy 29:9- 31:30

By:

Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell

For many Americans, Labor Day weekend marks the conclusion of summer. Schoolchildren and college students, teachers and administrators begin a new year with hopes of achievement and growing friendships and excitement about fulfilling projects and dreams. For others of us, September is the beginning for new projects at work, a time of diving back in after vacations and summer schedules...

Synagogue Life

'Paying to Pray': Can You Get Around That?

By:

Bryan Schwartzman

Not a synagogue member? Don't have High Holiday tickets? Don't feel like shelling out money for admittance to services? Truth be told, free options locally for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are not very plentiful. But they're out there if you know where to look. In addition to the region's Chabad Lubavitch houses -- which request, but don't require, a...