synagogue spotlight
What’s happening at ... Beth Am Israel Synagogue
‘Soulful Shul’ Not Just a Tagline for
Beth Am Israel
ANDY GOTLIEB | JE EDITOR
V 28
Beth Am Israel Hazzan Harold Messinger (front row) sings with the synagogue's
Nitzinim class of 3- to 5-year-olds.

Rabbi David Ackerman
into its other activities, particularly
through its building and grounds.

“Our sanctuary is full of light,”
Dafi lou said. “Th e windows purposely
look over our woodlands, so we bring
nature into our sanctuary.

Speaking of the sanctuary, all of the
classrooms open directly to it.

“We feel having kids participate in
the service is essential to their Jewish
education,” she said.

As for religion, Ackerman said he’s
been able to experiment ritually and on
the education side during his 14 years
there. Th e prayer experience oft en is
fi lled with music.

“We want it to feel like a living room
jam, and it does kind of feel like a living
DECEMBER 8, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
room jam and camp,” he said.

Meantime, Beth Am Israel is working
on sustainability issues, doing things
such as converting to LED lighting,
tapping into wind credits for electric-
ity and only using compostable paper
goods, Dafi lou said.

And when nature presents a prob-
lem — a green patch in the center
of the parking lots regularly fl ooded
— attempts are made to resolve them
naturally. Th e space was turned into
a “rain garden,” with signage added to
explain its purpose.

Th e synagogue also encourages
activism. For example, it’s involved in
Hazon’s Climate Leadership Coalition,
distributes left over food to the commu-
nity and participates in the Lancaster
Farm Fresh Co-op.

“What sets us apart is that we really
live our beliefs,” Dafi lou said. “We go
to protests, we travel to Harrisburg, we
write letters ... if you have a cause you
feel strongly about, we will support you
and help promote it.”
Th at sense of activism extends to
the congregation, which long has been
LGBTQ-friendly. An October event
was entitled, “Judaism, Trans Identity
and Civil Rights.”
“Synagogues need to be welcoming
to all people,” Ackerman said. “To me,
there was not and remains not a hala-
chic problem. I’m proud and happy that
Cantor Jenn Boyle, the director of
family engagement and outreach,
prepares dough for a Shorashim
Limmud bread-making activity.

we’re seen as open and welcoming to
the LGBTQ-plus community.”
Th at includes having a gender-neutral
bathroom, along with signs on the other
bathrooms encouraging members to use
whichever one they identify with.

Ackerman expects Beth Am Israel to
continue evolving as its second century
approaches. That included some changes
prompted by the pandemic. Dafi lou
noted that the day aft er the shutdown
in 2019, the synagogue was conducting
services via Zoom.

“We’ve continued with Zoom ser-
vices to accommodate people who can’t
come to the synagogue,” she said, not-
ing that Zoom replaced the more-pas-
sive livestreaming because it allows for
greater interaction with those at home.

Th e synagogue will celebrate its
100th anniversary in 2024, having been
founded during the Roaring Twenties
at 58th Street and Warrington Avenue
in Southwest Philadelphia. As its mem-
bers moved to the Main Line, so did
the synagogue, relocating to its Penn
Valley location in 1973.

Events are in the planning stages,
including the commission of a new
Torah by Jen Taylor Friedman, the
fi rst-ever female soferim, Ackerman
said. JE
agotlieb@midatlanticmedia.com Photos courtesy of Beth Am Israel
isitors to the Beth Am Israel
website may notice the phrase
“BAI: the soulful shul of the
Main Line” and wonder if it’s just a
marketing phrase.

But longtime Rabbi David Ackerman
and Executive Director Lori Dafi lou
both say that’s not the case for the Penn
Valley institution.

“We’re pretty serious about growing
spirituality and spiritual space for our
congregants,” Ackerman said.

“Th e synagogue had always had a
reputation of doing its own thing,”
Dafi lou said.

And both Ackerman and Dafi lou
were quick to point out several pro-
grams that refl ect the spirituality of
the synagogue that the former some-
times describes as “Conservative with
a twist.”
For example, the synagogue is taking
advantage of its wooded campus to
incorporate outdoor learning into the
curriculum for the 54 students.

“Th e kids spend a lot of time in
the woods,” Dafi lou said, adding that
themes from the Torah and other texts
about caring for the world are peppered
into the lessons.

Bamboo on the property was turned
into wind chimes. Carrots were
planted and harvested (and tasted).

Composting is a mainstay. On a recent
day, the children made bread by wrap-
ping dough around a stick and cooking
it over a fi re.

For December, the theme of the les-
sons is light and darkness.

“Yesterday, it was 38 degrees at
four o’clock, and we were outside,”
Ackerman said, as the children
searched for sparks of light before
darkness. “Th ey had a ball. ... Th e kids
jump in the carpool line to get out
there.” Th e ya’ar (forest) featuring a ravine
was mapped out in recent years, with
some trails built, Ackerman said.

Th e synagogue, which counts about
340 families, incorporates the outdoors