Cover Story
March 21, 2008
Suburban Orthodox At 50; Modern Orthodoxy’s Future
Maayan Jaffe
Staff Reporter
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Editor’s Note:At the bottom of this story are links to an interview with Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb on the state of modern Orthodoxy today and past interviews with the late Rabbi Ervin Preis.
On 1957, Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue” was a top hit. Albert Camus received the Nobel Prize for literature; Lester Bowles Pearson received it for peace. The then-U.S.S.R. launched the first satellite into space.
And on April 8, 1957, Suburban Orthodox Synagogue—now Suburban Orthodox Congregation Toras Chaim—was incorporated as a religious organization under the corporate laws of the state of Maryland.
Less than one week later, it purchased a six-room cottage from Kogan Realty Co. at 7504 Seven Mile Lane, the land on which the shul stands today.
Almost one year past its official birthday, Suburban Orthodox, the first Orthodox-affiliated synagogue in Baltimore County, will celebrate its 50th anniversary March 30 with a gala event.
Today, its president, Mel Pachino, defines the shul as a “modern Orthodox, religious Zionist congregation with a priority toward growth in Torah learning and mitzvot.” In 1956, when 32 men and women came together in the Slade Avenue home of Mr. and Mrs. David Rosen to plant the seeds for the shul, its objectives according to the minutes were simply, “the formulation of a new Orthodox synagogue for the religious needs of the area, a Hebrew school and program for adult education, and a social center for the youth and adult groups in the Upper Park Heights area.”
Over the years, Suburban has undergone many changes. It has shifted along with the Jews of Baltimore, but continued, according to its members, to be in the words of past president Mitchell Posner “my spiritual home … my holy home.”
Then And Now
Dues: The first six months of Suburban Orthodox were unpretentious. Praying in the Rosens’ basement on Sunday mornings under the spiritual direction of Rabbi Benjamin Dinovitz and the late Rabbi Abraham Tunis, the first financial balance of the shul was $66.50, turned over by a couples club to which several founding members belonged. Each member gave $10 to defray miscellaneous operating expenses, which was later credited to their dues.
The first building cost $8,800 plus $2,000 for the ground. Individual members subscribed sums of $1,000 to meet the down payment.
Today, Suburban Orthodox’s yearly dues range between $315 and $630 per family, reflective of the price for synagogue membership across the city.
Buildings
The initial cottage on Seven Mile Lane has gone through many renovations. Between April and September 1957, the members determined to refurbish the building in preparation for the High Holidays. When on Sept. 14, the day before the building was supposed to be dedicated, the flooring was not yet complete, members flocked to 7504 and all night lay cork tile, washed windows, scrubbed, cleaned and hung drapes.
The dedication did occur the next day, and the first minchah, afternoon prayer service, was held toward evening.
Two years later, Suburban was bursting at its seams. An article published in The Sun describes the unusual remedy used to accommodate a growing membership and Hebrew school program.
“Suburban Orthodox members will soon be walking 130 feet farther to services. … The Suburban Orthodox building is now on stilts awaiting new foundations and a first floor 130 feet back on the synagogue lot. It was transferred by a house moving firm on huge jacks after the one-floor building was separated from its original foundation. …”
In 1960, one year later, an air-conditioning unit was installed.
Since then, Suburban Orthodox has seen many more “remodelings.” Though the outer structure has stuck, a revamped social hall, the installation of meat and dairy kitchens, and a fancier sanctuary mark its continual thrust toward beautification. The original cottage was later redone into a youth lounge, which accommodates a teen service on Shabbat mornings.
Banquets
The first annual donor banquet was held on May 1, 1957. As the primary fund-raising activity for the synagogue, tickets were $15 a couple. Music was by Stan Bridge. Solomon Liss, member of the Baltimore City Council, was the guest speaker. Catering was done by Bluefield. Approximately 200 people were there.
On March 30, 2008, the 50th anniversary banquet, according to banquet co-chair Esther Rechthand, will have “an expanded outlook.”
“It’s going to be a very formal affair at the gorgeous Grand Lodge in Hunt Valley,” she said. “It is kind of on the order of a chassana [wedding].”
Tickets cost $125 per person and are available online at www.banquet.suburbanorthodox.org. Music will be by the Zemer Orchestra with a special performance by Eitan Katz. The honorees are the current rabbinical couple, Rabbi Shmuel and Aviva Silber. Catering will be by Hoffman. Close to 250 people are expected to attend.
“I think the message we are trying to send is Suburban Orthodox is a thriving modern Orthodox shul that is still here. It started 50 years ago, and it has moved forward into the 21st century,” said Mrs. Rechthand. “We are proud of our shul and we hope to move forward.”
Members
Seven families founded Suburban Orthodox. In 2004, according to a BALTIMORE JEWISH TIMES article, the synagogue had 270 families. Today, 297 families belong.
And the membership is different—younger—than in years past.
Barry Nabozny grew up in the shul. He recalled there were not a lot of kids back then, pretty much just him and the rabbi’s children, then Rabbi Ervin Preis.
“Because I was one of the younger members, everyone always kind of fostered me to bring me in, they knew that my age at that point was the future of the shul,” he said.
Mr. Nabozny said the number of youth has grown significantly, which he says is reflective of the neighborhood.
“We have a lot of young couples moving into the area. … Baltimore has become a destination for frum families with all its choices of schools, shuls and shopping. With affordable housing around Suburban and a young rabbi, young couples are attracted,” he said. “Some of the young couples in our shul were kids in Baltimore, they’ve grown up and stayed. Before, I think people would grow up and move out.”
Mr. Nabozny, with friend Ritchie Broth, started the teen prayer service, which is a popular
Shabbat attraction, in the 1990s. He said there were a number of kids then that came to shul and just sort of hung out. Now, the kids run a prayer session of their own, feel empowered, and keep coming back for the tasty cholents—special for them—and other treats they get each week.
“It’s been growing ever since I started it,” said Mr. Nabozny.
As many as 40 boys and girls partake each week.
In the downstairs classrooms andbeit midrash, several more youths participate in Shabbat programming. Two years ago, the synagogue hired a new youth director, Rabbi Yitzchak Jaffe, to offer additional programming and a more-organized Shabbat morning experience. Upward of 100 children under bar mitzvah age attend each week.
Learners
It’s not just the number of children that have changed since the founding of the shul, it’s the type of children. Suburban’s Sunday school, established soon after the founding of the shul under the supervision of Clara Oxman for children 5-7 years old, was a jewel back then. In the early years, it continually expanded, eventually becoming a Hebrew school-Sunday school program for around 130 children.
“People loved Clara’s classes,” reminisced longtime member Janette Goldman. “The Hebrew school wasn’t big, but it was just like our shul is today, a friendly group. The children did not complain they had to go to Hebrew school. … It was a beautiful era.”
But the Hebrew school closed around 1970 as the day school movement heightened and, according to Mrs. Goldman, “we got more observant people and they started sending their kids to day schools. The trend in my day was to go to public school, now people go to [Yeshivat] Rambam, Beth Tfiloh, where they get an all-day program.”
If the synagogue began with around 25 percent of youth in day schools (as calculated by Mr. Pachino), today it is pushing 100 percent, said Herman Venick, who served as executive director from 1992 to 2004.
Four years ago, the BALTIMORE JEWISH TIMES reported that 40 percent of Suburban Orthodox’s youngsters went to BT, 40-45 percent to Rambam, and the rest to other Orthodox schools.
Mr. Pachino said he is unsure if the above statistics are still correct—“we pride ourselves on really not making those distinctions, I know we have members that send their kids to each of the day schools in the community.”
(A total of 205,000 American Jewish children attended day schools in 2004, according to a census by the New York-based Avi Chai Foundation.)
Pauline Goldberg has been a member of the shul since 1961. Born and raised in Baltimore, she was educated at Baltimore Hebrew College, now University. She said very few women went to school there in her day, and especially not religious girls. In terms of the young religious men, they would put on their kippot when they arrived at the college.
“You would never see a young man walking the street with his yarmulke, he was afraid of getting beaten up,” she said. “People are more comfortable being Jewish now and we, as a shul, have moved from a shul where very few people had a Jewish education on a college level to having many, many members who went to YU [Yeshiva University], learned in other yeshivas, have gone to Israel for a year after high school. My husband didn’t have that kind of education.”
She recalled how in her day then spiritual leader Rabbi Preis called upon her to run an evening course for Suburban’s women to learn to read the prayer book in Hebrew.
“These women were very active, but had never been taught to read Hebrew,” said Mrs. Goldberg.
“It’s a different world today!”
Leaders
Mrs. Goldberg said the synagogue’s three spiritual leaders accurately reflect the shift in the shul—and in Baltimore in general.
The synagogue’s first rabbi was Chaim Gevantman, who came from a pulpit in Ambridge, Pa. The rabbi offered his first year without payment, as the shul got on its feet.
The second rabbi was Ervin Preis, who served from 1976 until his death in 2002. Currently, Rabbi Shmuel Silber is spiritual leader.
Rabbi Gevantman had his rabbinical ordination, said Mrs. Goldberg, but he was not as much of a teacher as he was a pastor.
“He was very much with the people. If you were ill, he was there,” she recalled. “You could talk with him.”
Rabbi Preis was more of a public figure. Educated both religiously and secularly, his widow stressed that Rabbi Preis served on the Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore board, was involved with Jewish Family Services, and participated in programming through the Baltimore Jewish Committee. He also served as head of the local Vaad HaRabonim.
“He believed very strongly that it was important to have an Orthodox presence in communal things,” said Anita Preis Rubin.
“Now we have a rabbi who attracts many, many people. … He is a renaissance man in a way, a man of all trades, who really can inspire people,” Mrs. Goldberg said about Rabbi Silber. “That is what people are looking for.”
Rabbi Silber offers 18 classes per week, all of which are well-attended. They range in topic from daf yomi, daily Talmud study, to questions of business and Jewish law. His sermons attract the attention of prayer-goers, many of whom commented on his ability to arouse an audience and his uncanny level of knowledge for his age. (Rabbi Silber is only 32.)
“Rabbi Silber has an incredible sensitivity about him,” said Mr. Pachino.
“I was very impressed by Rabbi Silber in the beginning,” said Mrs. Preis Rubin, “and I continue to be.”
Rabbi Silber’s hiring, however, was a somewhat traumatic time for Suburban. While Rabbi Preis had moved the shul up a notch religiously, making it a condition of his hiring that the microphone that had graced the shul under Rabbi Gevantman be removed and redesigning the mechitzah or partition between the men and women so that it better met Jewish law standards, Rabbi Silber took the redesign a step further. His YU education, black hat and ”yeshivish“ lingo posed fear in some of the congregation’s members who were afraid to shift too far to the right.
Though Rabbi Silber was elected by a greater than two-thirds majority vote, when he arrived and at his year mark announced plans to revamp the mechitzah a group of 12 to 15 families broke off from the shul and were co-founders of a nearby synagogue called Netivot Shalom.
While sparks flew in 2004, shul members say it was all for the best.
“The community is large enough for more than one shul,” said Sheldon Berman, who has been Suburban’s Torah reader since 1977. “They definitely have a different hashkafa [religious outlook] than we do. That’s fine. There’s a place for them, too.”
Past president Posner put it this way: “They make chocolate and vanilla ice cream because people have different tastes. Personally, and from an organizational perspective, we were very sad to lose them.
Some of them were my closest friends. But I—and Suburban—am happy they have been able to create something they find more meaningful.”
The new mechitzah is comprised of two-way glass, obstructed from the men’s side to the women’s by a decal and specially engineered lighting system.
Mr. Posner added that Rabbi Silber “has taken Rabbi Preis’ legacy and taken it to the next level.”
Mr. Berman recalled that in his day Rabbi Preis’ changes—removing the microphone, moving the bimah to the center of the chapel and retiring the chazzan—also shook up the shul, just more subtly and “some people moved to more liberal synagogues in the community.”
But at the same time, said Mr. Berman, in the 1980s, it enabled a younger, more observant group to join and become active. Mr. Pachino said Rabbi Silber’s changes have likewise facilitated synagogue growth. It lost 12 to 15 families, but gains at least that many each year.
Nationally, according to a 2008 Jewish Telegraphic Agency article, younger generations of Orthodox Jews are moving to the right of their modern Orthodox parents. Baltimore is no exception, said most interviewed, and Suburban Orthodox has felt the push to align itself with mainstream Judaism, while not losing its special flair.
“Baltimore has moved way, way to the right,” said Mr. Berman.
Mrs. Goldberg, who has watched the shul closely over the years, said she thinks it has stood up to the task.
“This shul is not stagnant,” she said. “It has grown in order to meet the needs of the community.
There are places that go on in their original way and then deteriorate. This shul, with each generation, has moved forward and reflects what’s going on in the community.”
The Many Flavors Of Suburban
Yet it has not lost its trademarks.
“Diverse,” “diverse” and “diverse”—the term was repeatedly used to describe Suburban Orthodox.
From its members to its practices, Rabbi Shmuel Silber said he wants folks to know that if they come to Suburban they will feel welcomed. Suburban Orthodox in 2008, said the rabbi, is a shul committed to Jewish law, to the centrality of Torah, but operating with openness to every Jew.
“We can believe in commitment to Halachah [Jewish law] but create an atmosphere of acceptance.
No Jew will ever be looked down upon or alienated, but embraced with a warm smile, a handshake—and probably a few Shabbat invitations,” said Rabbi Silber.
“We have a nice energy. The people here want to be here.”
The other catch-phrase was Zionism. Many of Suburban’s members have moved to Israel in recent years.
Almost as many youth have taken part in programs surrounding the Israeli army experience. Rabbi
Silber talks of making aliyah with his family.
“We are not too much to the right. Not too much to the left,” said Mr. Berman. “We have changed. But the thing that has never wavered for a moment is our commitment to religious Zionism. Suburban is the address for religious Zionism in Baltimore.”
Special thanks to Dr. Bernie Kozlovsky, who supplied much of the background information for this article.
The BALTIMORE JEWISH TIMES interviewed Rabbi Preis shortly before his death and recounted his memory in an article shortly thereafter. Read archived versions of those stories:
The Jewish community mourns the loss of Rabbi Ervin Preis. Suburban Orthodox’s longtime spiritual leader looks ahead.
Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb On Modern Orthodoxy’s Future
What does “modern orthodox” really mean? Check out a Q&A with Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb.