FEATURED JOBS
I was struck by this comment in the article:
“Since the trends in Judaism are favoring smaller communities, minyans and study groups, the panelists wrestled with just how the Conservative synagogue can serve contemporary needs.”
For many years, large synagogue structures have been built. They are filled on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Most of the year they host vast empty spaces. They are expensive to build and to maintain. Enormous amounts of energy costs are associated with keeping empty rooms cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
A mixed use structure is a much better model.
The Edward A Myerberg Center, at Fallstaff and Clarks, serves a significant need and population 6 days a week. It is closed on Shabbat and on major Jewish holidays. Chevrei Tzedek Congregation (a conservative shul with roughly 100 families), rents space from the Myerberg on Shabbat and holidays, holding minyanim there. The synagogue uses the building in the evening for meetings or study sessions. In this way, the building is in use 7 days a week. The residents in the Weinberg Woods housing next door can access the synagogue through a walkway and don’t even have to go out doors to get there.
Because the synagogue has a comparatively small number of members, we know each other well, have a tightly bound community, and thus the building is filled spiritually as well. The operation of the synagogue is much cheaper and by having one building with two uses, it is a “greener” approach to land use.
The USCJ would do well to encourage this type of model approach.
Granted, what goes on IN the synagogue is critically important to the movement, but smaller synagogues create smaller tightly bound communities.