Friday, June 17, 2022
In the US, some fading Reform and Conservative synagogues go Orthodox to stay afloat
Though at first reluctant, Mitchell Friedman realized the best chance of saving the synagogue he'd always considered to be "liberal Conservative" was turning it into a Chabad House.
For 88 years, the Howard Beach Judea Center occupied a sand-colored brick building on a quiet residential street in Queens just four miles (6.5 kilometers) from John F. Kennedy International Airport. Over time, membership dwindled and board members like Friedman began wondering how long the synagogue could remain open.
Meanwhile, a few blocks away, Rabbi Avrohom Richter and his wife Zeldi were in search of space. They'd opened a Chabad House in their home back in 2003, and while they once struggled to make a minyan, or 10-person prayer quorum, they now struggled to fit everyone inside for services.
Richter doesn't remember who made the initial contact, but after several meetings with the board it was decided: the once Conservative synagogue would become Orthodox.
The story isn't unique to Howard Beach. As Reform and Conservative synagogue memberships decline nationwide, some synagogue boards are reaching out to Orthodox congregations, primarily those affiliated with the Chabad movement.
In the past 20 years, more than one-third of Conservative synagogues and one out of five Reform synagogues closed, according to a 2020 Pew Research Center study. Also, while nearly 25 percent of American Jews consider Jewishness important, only one in five Jews attend synagogue monthly. Among the many reasons for this are membership dues — which can range from $1,500 to $5,000 annually — to the variety of ways people are now choosing to express their Jewish identity.
According to the same study, 38% of American Jews have engaged with Chabad programs in some fashion.
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