Every synagogue’s leadership is different. Some have only one rabbi; some have more. Some synagogues host services every day, and some only for Shabbat. How a synagogue conducts its operations depends on the size and activity of its congregants and leadership.
Typically, the bigger the synagogue, the more active it is. For Kol HaLev, although the congregation is small, the community is active.
“There’s tremendous interaction and [collaboration],” said President Alan Silver. “The rabbi creates an opportunity for discussion. It’s not a monologue; it’s back and forth between the congregants.”
An example of the “back and forth” with the community happened during Rosh Hashanah. This year, the synagogue hosted “very musical” services on the first day of Rosh Hashanah and included a seder instead of the traditional Rosh Hashanah services.
“People loved it,” Silver said. “I talked to a lot of people afterwards; they’ve never experienced anything like it.”
The Rosh Hashanah seder, which Silver said he hadn’t heard of before joining Kol HaLev, was called Bask in the Blessings. It included a portion in which everyone received a card with a blessing written on it, such as “strength,” “courage” or “delight,” and had to imagine that blessing or characteristic as their superpower, think about how they would bless the others at the table with that characteristic and then give the blessings.
“Everyone felt really blessed, hopefully,” said Rabbi Emily Stern.
The seder also included special dishes, which congregants brought to say blessings over. People brought bean dishes, apples and honey, challah and more.
Stern told the Baltimore Jewish Times that many of the dishes included puns, such as a lettuce dish to “let us” say blessings for the new year.
“If you go to a traditional synagogue, my experience is, I know at 11 o’clock exactly what’s going to happen. I know at 11:15 what’s going to happen; it’s a template. It’s cookie-cutter,” Silver said. “Rabbi Emily and the congregation is anything but cookie-cutter.”
Silver believes the congregation’s ability to meet people on their journey in Judaism and connect with them in “outside the box” ways is its superpower. Stern said the synagogue had less than 100 attendees at Rosh Hashanah services, but, despite being a small community, they continue to offer programming every day. Many members often help organize and lead events on a regular basis.
For Sukkot, for example, one congregant, who teaches Zumba classes in her free time, led a Zumba session in the sukkah. Stern said congregants “bring food after every Shabbat service.”
“Everyone loves bringing food,” she added. “People in the community really like creating with food and cooking.”
Other congregants have been known to bring their musical talents to services. During Rosh Hashanah, Kol HaLev had congregants play larger instruments like the cello and smaller ones like the harmonica.
Kol HaLev even has its own ensemble of musicians, KHL Unplugged, who lead a Shabbat service once a month.
Although the synagogue does not have its own building, being located inside the Church of the Holy Comforter in Lutherville, Stern said she couldn’t ask for better people with whom to share a worship space.
“I’ve done a lot of interfaith work, and one of the most amazing things about Anne [Nicholson, the rector at the Church of the Holy Comforter] is that she doesn’t try to make our religions the same, and be like, ‘Oh, we both have this, this comes from Judaism, or that,’” said Stern. “She really lets them be separate religions, which I think means a lot to just say, ‘No, it’s its own thing.’”
Silver and Stern both said their goal is for the synagogue to be welcoming to all and to continue to grow.
Despite the synagogue’s location, sharing a space, Stern said, “There’s nothing that we don’t have at this shul. I feel like it’s so full.”
