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Northwest Philadelphia Chavurah
Celebrates 50 Years
Sasha Rogelberg | Staff Writer
O n Dec. 17, a handful of families
will sit down for a Shabbat
meal, a celebration of a prac-
tice they’ve sustained for half a century.

Chavurah Bet, a small Jewish group
based in Northwest Philadelphia, will
celebrate 50 years since its fi rst conven-
ing. Since 1972, the group has hosted
Friday night Shabbat dinners, High
Holiday services, Passover seders,
movie and book groups, b’nai mitzvahs
and weekend retreats.

“Th is is one that got going and kept
going,” said Dick Goldberg, a 42-year
member. Common among the 12 member fam-
ilies was a desire to break free from the
mold of synagogue traditions and large
congregations that proved diffi cult for
some in fi nding community.

“We were looking for an alterna-
tive structure other than a synagogue,
where families together would do their
own planning and think about what
Judaism meant to them, to try to create
our own traditions,” member of 45
years Elliot Seif said.

Th e group created programming
driven by its values, but the structure
of the chavurah was not unique. In the
1960s and ’70s, many Jews, inspired by
the counterculture movement of the
time, desired to create their own small
communities. And before there was
Chavurah Bet, there was Chavurah
Aleph. Chavurah Aleph emerged years
prior, operating out of Germantown
Jewish Centre. Th e rabbi there allowed
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the chavurah to use the space, the
beginning of the creation of GJC’s cul-
ture of “a community of communities”
according to Ellie Seif, Elliot’s wife and
Chavurah Bet member.

But as the chavurah movement
began to pick up steam, the group gen-
erated too much interest to accept new
members, while also maintaining its
internal culture and feel.

“It been going on for several years,
and they were a cohesive group — as
it should be,” Chestnut Hill resident
and Chavurah Bet founding member
Judy Levy said. “Because it needs to
be small; it needs to be intimate. ... In
order to make this work, you had to be
on the same page.”
Levy didn’t take it personally when
Chavurah Aleph told her she was
unable to join the group. Instead, she
created a second iteration of the group,
wanting to take all the best parts of
Aleph’s operation and, together with
a group of families also interested in
chavurot culture, make it their own.

Dedicated group members began to
organize services loosely based on the
traditional structure. Four groups of
three families were randomly selected
to have Shabbat dinners together —
totaling about 200 dinners since the
group’s inception — and the groups
rotated regularly. Th e chavurah created
a cookbook of Shabbat dinner favorites.

Th e group had retreats at Camps
Reeta and Arthur and lively conversa-
tions about Judaism, despite theological
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diff erences among members.

“We once had a fi ght about God —
which was, when I think about it, quite
lovely — between someone who was an
atheist, a raging atheist, and a very reli-
gious member,” Levy said. “I remem-
ber it with great fondness because I
couldn’t believe it was happening.”
Chavurah Bet celebrated life cycle
events with one another: births and
b’nai mitzvahs, with Levy’s son being
the fi rst to come of age in the group.

And the group, 50 years later, is expe-
riencing yet another profound life cycle
stage. Particularly over the past few
years, several of its members have died.

Levy said she was not able to attend
the funerals of members because of
COVID. Th ough the deaths were a defi ning
part of its continued existence, the
chavurah remained resilient over the
pandemic. Attendance and events have
always waxed and waned over the years,
Goldberg said, but the pandemic and
increased use of Zoom enabled the
group to host frequent book clubs and
virtual movie viewings.

However, the group is mostly sus-
tained by its original generation, with
the children and grandchildren of the
Chavurah Bet members at their 30th anniversary
celebration chavurah moving away and no longer
attending events.

“Th ey basically formed their own
lives ... they developed their own
paths,” Elliot Seif said.

Th e chavurah’s core group is still
strong, according to the Seif couple.

Even during years with a scarcity of
programming or events, there’s an
understanding that not everyone in the
group needs to be organizing services
or holidays; the chavurah has a future
as long as the members keep in touch in
some capacity.

“It’s tradition and friendship that
have kept us together,” Ellie Seif said. JE
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