At the May 26 ceremony unveiling of the new Yedid Nefesh synagogue building in Modi’in are Bill Lipsey, left, president of Congregation Agudath Israel in Caldwell, and Yedid Nefesh’s Rabbi Paul Arberman.
June 5, 2008
A Caldwell synagogue helped make history last week when an Israeli congregation with which it has a special bond became the first-ever Masorti (Conservative) synagogue funded by the Israeli government.
Congregation Agudath Israel of West Essex president Bill Lipsey of Livingston represented his synagogue at a festive ceremony May 26 unveiling the new Yedid Nefesh synagogue building in Modi’in, which was built as a result of receiving government funds that in the past were reserved for Orthodox synagogues alone.
The allocation came when Israel’s Construction and Housing Ministry was under the control of the Labor Party’s Isaac Herzog, who has close ties with American Jewry. He decided to arrange for funds to go to the building of synagogues from all religious streams — as opposed to Orthodox only — for the first time. The initiative enabled the building of six Reform and Masorti synagogues, including the Yozma Reform Temple in Modi’in, which was also dedicated last month.
According to the arrangement with the government, Yedid Nefesh had to supply a 10th of the funds for the building, which came from congregation members and the Masorti Israel Foundation — in addition to a $35,000 contribution from the members of Congregation Agudath Israel. CAI’s donation helped renovate and beautify the prefab building.
“Members of our community thought it was a wonderful way to connect to their counterparts in Israel,” Lipsey said. “We are also building a new facility, so we saw that the symmetry was really nice. This is a source of pride for our community that at the same time that people have been allocating resources for our building, we can also help build theirs.”
CAI is undergoing a major renovation and expansion, which will be completed this summer.
Building relationships
The connection between Agudath Israel and Yedid Nefesh came from CAI Rabbi Alan Silverstein’s involvement in the Masorti Israel Foundation, where he is an incoming vice president. Before that, he led efforts to reach out to Conservative synagogues around the world through his five-year role as president of Masorti Olami, which oversees congregations outside the United States and Israel that are affiliated with the Conservative movement.
Yedid Nefesh had been holding services in kindergartens and private homes since its founding eight years ago. Now it has a building with 180 seats, an ornate wooden ark, and an interior designed by a congregant that combines modern and traditional styles.
“I think it’s an honor to be chosen to be the first government-funded Masorti synagogue,” said its religious leader, Rabbi Paul Arberman. “But it gives us an extra responsibility to reach out to the people of Modi’in, especially those who believe in a pluralistic approach. It’s only worthwhile if we make it available and useful for people.”
Modi’in, which is located halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, is the fastest-growing city in Israel. It is considered overwhelmingly secular by Israeli standards.
Lipsey said he was impressed by the relatively young and mixed crowd of sabras and immigrants from English-speaking countries who attended the ceremony. The deputy mayor of Modi’in came, as did Labor MK Ophir Paz-Pines, a former interior minister who has worshiped at Masorti synagogues in Israel for many years.
“It’s nice that Masorti Judaism is speaking to young Israelis and not just transplanted Americans,” said Lipsey, who unveiled a plaque at the ceremony that thanked CAI members for their gift.
In remarks at the ceremony, Lipsey said that when God gave the gift of the Torah to the Jews, he hoped to maintain the relationship. CAI’s gift, he said, was intended not only for Yedid Nefesh’s building but also for relationship building.
“That’s what we are hoping for, too,” Arberman said. “We want their gift to give continued nachas to both communities.”
A CAI delegation is planning a visit next February to Yedid Nefesh and other Masorti synagogues in Israel with which it has developed relationships. CAI has ties with congregations in Jerusalem’s French Hill neighborhood, the northern town of Zihron Ya’akov, and Kiryat Bialik outside Haifa. Lipsey and his family spent Shabbat with the Ramot Zion synagogue in French Hill and its rabbi, Chaya Baker.
“Our community feels blessed to be able to partner in mitzva projects with Masorti communities in Israel and to build increasingly deep bonds of friendship when we visit one another,” Silverstein said.
On his journey to Israel, Lipsey was accompanied not only by his wife and children but also by a Torah scroll he brought from CAI to Zihron Ya’akov’s Kehillah V’Ahavta synagogue. The CAI scroll had been donated by congregants Leona and Herbert Wreschner of Montville in memory of family members who survived the Holocaust.
The loaner scroll, which will be inaugurated during CAI’s February trip, will serve Kehillah V’Ahavta until it gets its own scroll, and then it will move on to other Masorti synagogues in Israel that are in need.
Rabbi Paul Arberman addresses the crowd gathered for the dedication of the Yedid Nefesh building.
“I have a connection with many American communities but I don’t know of such a commitment to Israel in general and the Masorti movement than I have seen from Agudath Israel,” Wolfin said. “Every time we connect with them it makes me m
ore emotional. It allows us to feel much larger than the small community that we are, and it empowers us to know we have these ties that stretch across the ocean.”
Lipsey and his family spent their second Shabbat in Israel on the trip with Kehillah V’Ahavta. The trip that was intended to focus on family matters — like meeting members of his daughter’s fiance’s family — turned into a mission to reach out to Masorti Jews.
Lipsey said he does the same no matter where he goes. He gave credit to Silverstein for inspiring him to do so.
“I am incredibly blessed to be a member of Agudath Israel and to be raising my family in a community that is so dedicated to the notion of am Yisrael chai [the people of Israel live],” Lipsey said. “Wherever there are Jews, we make sure there is a connection. It makes being a Jew richer when you have that human connection.”
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