Century-old
synagogue keeps the faith
By Steven Rosenberg, Globe Staff |
June 4, 2006
Reprinted from the Boston Globe
If the children and grandchildren of Eastern European Jewish immigrants
had listened to demographers, the old brick building near Revere
Beach where generations have faced east in prayer might have
closed decades ago.
With American Jews experiencing a 50 percent intermarriage
rate and synagogues struggling to stay open as memberships
decline, Beachmont's Temple B'nai Israel has beaten the odds. It
turns 100 years old this month.
``There's a sense of tradition and history here that many
other places would be envious of," said Rabbi Mark Sokoll, who
has been the congregation's spiritual leader for 20 years.
Beyond its part-time staff, including Sokoll and a cantor,
B'nai Israel depends on its members to do everything from ritual
observance to building maintenance. These responsibilities,
combined with its congregation's desire to connect to Judaism,
make social connections, and honor the memory of their relatives
through prayer and charity, have allowed the temple not just to
survive but to thrive, members say.
They say that Sokoll, who leads Friday night services twice a
month and conducts a ``lox and learn" breakfast discussion on
Sundays, has brought enthusiasm and made Judaism accessible and
understandable through his sermons and classes. Sokoll can quote
the lyrics of the Grateful Dead and Bruce Springsteen in his
sermons as well as references to traditional Jewish texts and
mystical tracts such as Kabbalah.
Over the years, the congregation has held an increasing
numbers of events and become more close-knit. In 1994, 44
members went on a trip to Israel with Sokoll. They've also held
movie nights and healing services. Women have begun to meet
regularly to celebrate the beginning of the new month. Also,
members come together during periods of sadness. Last month,
when Miriam d'Amato died, her friends from the synagogue helped
arrange food for the period of mourning and were there to pray
with d'Amato's son, Julian Lander.
``They prepared the meal after the funeral and provided food
for a few days after that. I was really touched," said Lander,
who helps lead services at the temple.
Members of B'nai Israel are creating a $125,000 endowment
fund, and next weekend they will celebrate the congregation's
100th year. On Friday there will be an evening service at the
synagogue, and on Saturday they'll meet at the Peabody Marriott
to mark the milestone.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Jews poured into
Revere from Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine. While kosher
butchers and other merchants set up shops on Shirley Avenue,
another heavily Jewish neighborhood emerged in Beachmont. There,
Jewish-owned variety stores, restaurants, and shops opened. In
1906, B'nai Israel first held services in a Beachmont house, and
four years later moved into the temple on Wave Avenue.
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``I love
everything about it," Sumner Freedman, 83, said of B'nai Israel, which
he has attended since he was a child. During his youth, the synagogue
was Orthodox, and Yiddish could be heard in the streets around the shul.
Freedman remembers that much of life in the neighborhood revolved around
the synagogue. He said one of the values he learned from the community
was giving to others in need. ``The rabbi would make an announcement
that there would be a bar mitzvah on Saturday, and one family would make
pickled herring and another would bring a bottle of wine. Everyone would
chip in," said Freedman. Unlike modern synagogues that have ornate
sanctuaries and arks, B'nai Israel's appearance is modest, in keeping
with the spirit of its working-class founders.
At the top of the temple's main entrance, Stars of David sit opposite
the Ten Commandments , which are engraved in Hebrew into the concrete.
Inside, memories of earlier generations are everywhere: A picture of
a former president hangs in the lobby, and inside the off-white
sanctuary several plaques line the walls to honor the dead. The names of
B'nai Israel's founding members, such as Abraham Shulkin and Morris
Sokolove, are recorded on the stained-glass windows. A whole window
honors men from the Sugarman family.
Below the simple wooden ark that holds five Torahs is the bimah, or
stage, where American and Israeli flags are positioned. On a recent
afternoon, Debby Cherry paused at the fourth row of benches where she
sits with her mother on Fridays and Sundays -- a tradition she's
followed for as long as she can remember.
``It's a time to sit and take a deep breath and just relax for a few
minutes, and maybe let more of the world into your life as opposed to
just pushing through it every day," said Cherry, 48, a third-generation
member who served as the congregation's first female president.
Part of the core group of volunteers who help run the synagogue,
Cherry credits the congregation's women in its revival over the last 25
years. In the social hall, she pointed to a plaque honoring a former
member, Sally Fein, who insisted that women be allowed to assume
responsibilities that had previously been reserved for men.
``She was right, because if women weren't on the bimah for honors, we
wouldn't have any women here, and we wouldn't have a temple," said
Cherry.
With 200 members ranging in age from 40 to 96, the congregation has
found a niche offering services to Jews of every background, whether
divorced, married or single, straight or gay. While many of the regulars
live in Revere and Winthrop, some travel for holiday services from as
far away as Wellesley, Newton, and Lexington.
Margie Apfelbaum comes to synagogue on Sunday mornings even though
she lives in Waltham. For Apfelbaum, the synagogue is like a second
home. Her father, Paul Chebot, served as the temple's cantor from 1958
to 1999. Apfelbaum, who recently married her partner, Meridith
Apfelbaum, said the congregation has been supportive of her marriage.
Apfelbaum still sounds the shofar, or ram's horn, on Rosh Hashana and
Yom Kippur, and finds a sense of awe in the temple during prayer.
Said Apfelbaum: ``There's something about this old building that is
so simply adorned that you can really focus completely on the task at
hand, which is spirituality."
Steven Rosenberg can be reached at
rosenberg@globe.com.
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
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