synagogue spotlight
What’s happening at ... Congregation Beth El – Ner Tamid
CBENT Stresses Flexibility
to Attract Congregants
GALL SIGLER | SPECIAL TO THE JE
A t a time when Conservative
congregations are strug-
gling to draw members,
Congregation Beth El – Ner Tamid in
Broomall takes a unique approach — a
synergy of Conservative tradition and
Reconstructionist teachings.

Such flexibility, the unaffiliated
160-member congregation believes, is
necessary to keep tradition alive.

“We are really steeped in the tradition
of the Conservative movement but actively
try new things, involving new and differ-
ent ways to engage with Judaism,” Rabbi
Janine Jankovitz said. “We want people to
know our doors are open to Jews from
all walks of life, and non-Jews.”
The roots of CBENT date to 1956.

A few congregants from Beth El in
West Philadelphia moved to Broomall,
whose Jewish population was insig-
nificant at the time. They resolved to
provide congregational services in the
suburbs. One of the founding members of the
congregation, Lester Cohen, recalled in a
2013 interview with the Jewish Exponent
that the congregation did not initially
have a home. Members met at places such
as a local Presbyterian church and the
Paxon Hollow Country Club.

Once they decided to establish their
own synagogue on Paxon Hollow Road,
financial constraints did not dissuade
them. When the bank asked for insur-
ance, congregation members readily
offered their homes as collateral.

Larry Gordon-Marrow has been a
member of the congregation for more
than 20 years, yet wasn’t active until
his daughters reached bat mitzvah age
in 2011.

Two weeks before his daughter’s bat
mitzvah, Gordon-Marrow struck a deal
with the president at the time — the
latter would teach him how to read the
Torah and, in return, Gordon-Marrow
would participate weekly in a minyan.

Since then, Gordon-Marrow has
served as the congregation’s treasurer
and co-president and has been the exec-
28 Rabbi Janine Jankovitz 
Courtesy of CBENT
utive director for the last three years.

He continued crafting his Hebrew
skills, even taking Skype classes with a
tutor in Jerusalem.

“This is a wonderful place to be
Jewish,” Gordon-Marrow said. “It is a
warm, welcoming place.”
In 2020, Rabbi Barry Blum, who led
the congregation for three decades,
retired, paving the way for the newly
ordained Jankovitz.

Jankovitz, a Philadelphia native
and Temple University grad-
uate, was ordained in 2020 by the
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.

Judaism was dear to Jankovitz since
childhood. Inspired by her local rabbi,
Jankovitz developed a love for Jewish
learning. “I love study and Judaism and talking
to others about Jewish texts,” she said.

“I couldn’t believe I was lucky to have
a career being able to do something
like that.”
Meantime, members of CBENT con-
ceive of the congregation first and fore-
most as a community.

Christine Strieb and her husband
AUGUST 11, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
first became congregation members in
2005. The community’s commitment to
its members’ well-being proved unwav-
ering when Strieb’s husband suffered
from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

“Our community helped in so many
ways — from gift cards for groceries
and homemade kosher meals to help
shorten my time in the kitchen while
caring for three young children and his
health care needs,” she said. “Even now,
when I am there, people will still ask
how I am almost nine years after his
passing. Just thinking on that time fills
my heart with thankfulness.”
Beth El – Ner Tamid faces its share of
challenges. Due to diminishing mem-
bership, the congregation underwent
two mergers, in 1992 and 2000. And
the congregation is struggling with
membership to this day. While the
congregation comprised 270 families in
2013, it now serves just 160.

Jankovitz believes that a flexible
approach to Conservative Judaism is nec-
essary for the maintenance of custom.

“This congregation is really working
hard to figure out how we are staying
relevant the next 50 years,” she said.

“Part of that work is looking within
and asking where we need to grow.”
At the core of the congregation’s
belief is a commitment to inclusivity.

As such, Gordon-Marrow is certain
that welcoming interfaith families is
paramount to providing congrega-
tional services.

“The numbers of interfaith mar-
riages are exploding, and we are trying
to re-engage these Jews who are unaffil-
iated with a synagogue and don’t really
have a home,” he said.

Crucial to re-engaging Jews in inter-
faith marriages was welcoming their
spouses. “We have made some changes with
regards to interfaith family, where a
spouse who is not Jewish can partici-
pate in services,” Gordon-Marrow said.

Although Strieb never formally con-
verted to Judaism, she always felt part
of the “congregational family,” as she
calls it.

“I have never felt unwelcome or
thought differently of because I wasn’t
Jewish. We are a family at Beth El – Ner
Tamid,” she said.

The congregation also stresses inter-
faith interactions as both a way to
uphold that value and to strengthen
the Jewish identity of its members. For
example, the congregation has orga-
nized an annual seder with students of
St. Mary Magdalen Catholic School for
more than two decades. JE
Gall Sigler is an intern for the Jewish
Exponent.




d’var torah
Listen, People
BY RABBI ABI WEBER
E Parshat Vaetchanan
very evening for the last 19
months, my wife and I have
completed the same ritual.

First, there is the poem: a simple bed-
time story that we recite responsively.

Th en, the song: a familiar and soothing
lullaby taken from summer camp.

Finally, the climactic moment: We
stand above our baby daughter’s crib
and ask, “Are you ready to say the
Shema?” A smile breaks out on her
small face as she brings her hand to her
eyes and burbles along.

Th e Shema is, perhaps, the most
iconic piece of liturgy in the Jewish
canon. So essential is this ritual to our
people that the Mishnah, the fi rst com-
pendium of rabbinic law, begins with
the question, “From what time do we
recite Shema in the evening?”
And this centrality has lasted
through the generations. A story is told
of Rabbi Yitzchak Halevi Herzog, later
the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel.

Aft er the Second World War, he set out
on a mission to locate the thousands of
Jewish children who had been hidden
in monasteries and Christian homes
during the war. Walking into one such
monastery in 1946, Herzog turned to
the Reverend Mother to thank her for
rescuing so many young people. “Of
course,” the nun replied, “but how will
you know which children are Jewish?
Th ere are so many children here, and
some of them came as infants.”
Herzog was undeterred. He gathered
all of the children together in a large
hall and cried out, “Shema Yisrael,
Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad!”
Dozens of children instinctively lift ed
their hands to their eyes, then began
to weep and ask for their parents. Th e
ancient words of the Shema opened in
them the fl oodgates of memory.

Th is unbroken chain of memory
begins in this week’s parsha, shortly
aft er Moshe begins his recounting
of the Israelites’ time in the desert.

In Moshe’s retelling, God speaks
directly to the Israelites on Mount
Sinai, adjuring them to follow the Ten
Commandments. Overwhelmed by God’s thunder-
ous voice, though, the people beg for
Moshe to stand as an intermediary
between them and the Divine. Moshe
steps in, and among the fi rst words
that he transmits from God to the
people are those of the Shema. Hear,
Israel: Adonai is our God. Adonai is
one. Listen, people. God is One. God
is our One.

God’s transmission to Moshe
includes instructions on how we are
to continue this transmission for gen-
erations to come: Teach these words to
your children. Speak them when you
are at home and when you travel, when
you lie down and when you get up. Tie
them to your body. Write them on your
doorposts. Make them your six-word
mantra. Oft en, when I get into conversations
with non-Jews about Judaism, they ask
me about my “faith.” Th is word always
catches me off guard. I rarely think
of Judaism as a “faith.” Judaism, for
me, is a practice. It is making inten-
tional decisions every time I eat. It is
building a mindful and electronics-free
space every Shabbat. It is living in the
rhythms of the Jewish calendar, from
one holiday to the next. It is being in
community with fellow Jews, all of
us creating a deliberate alternative to
default everyday living in the United
States. Judaism is a way of being in the
world. Th e Shema is clearly a statement of
faith. And yet it is through its prac-
tice — its ritualized transmission
from generation to generation — that
the mantra gains its power. When we
consciously attend to the oneness and
unity of the Divine, we create unity
across time and space.

A baby in a crib in Philadelphia joins
with rescued children in European
monasteries and devout Jews in
shtiebels and temples and community
centers. We all stand again at Sinai,
listening to Moshe share his memories
with us. Listen, Israel, he says to us.

God is one. We are one. JE
at Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel (BZBI)
in Center City Philadelphia. Th e Board
of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia is
proud to provide diverse perspectives
on Torah commentary for the Jewish
Exponent. Th e opinions expressed in
this column are the author’s own and
do not refl ect the view of the Board of
Rabbis. BUSINESS / LEGAL DIRECTORIES
nmls 215-901-6521 • 561-631-1701
Rabbi Abi Weber is the assistant rabbi
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 29