synagogue spotlight
What’s happening at ... Congregation Kol Ami
Kol Ami Echoes Voice of the People
JARRAD SAFFREN | STAFF WRITER
O n June 26 at M’kor Shalom
in Cherry Hill, New Jersey,
Rabbi Jennifer Frenkel took
the Torahs out of the ark and handed
them to the seven past presidents
standing on the bimah. Th e group then
joined hundreds of their fellow con-
gregants in marching about two miles
from their Evesham Road home to
their new home: Temple Emanuel on
Springdale Road, also in Cherry Hill.

Later that day, two of South Jersey’s
biggest Reform synagogues unifi ed
under the name of Congregation
Kol Ami, which means “voice of
my people.”
Th e new community of about 700
families held its fi rst Shabbat service
on July 1. Frenkel, the former leader
of M’kor Shalom and the new senior
rabbi of Kol Ami, led the service from
the bimah.

Marylee Alperin, who with her hus-
band Stuart Alperin was one of the
founders of M’kor Shalom in 1974,
watched Stuart accept one of the
Torahs from Frenkel as a past president
before the march to their new temple.

Th en the couple walked to Springdale
Road together.

“It was beautiful,” Marylee said.

Th e Reform temples are unifying
because it just made sense, according to
leaders from both institutions. M’kor
Shalom and Temple Emanuel saw their
respective memberships decline from
over 1,000 to about 300 to 350 in recent
years. In becoming one, they could add
members, sell M’kor Shalom’s building
and devote their resources to a single
location. Th e June 26 “March of the Torahs,”
as a press release described it, was
the culmination of a two-year process
made possible by the retirement of
Rabbi Jerome P. David, who led Temple
Emanuel for 47 years. David’s decision
allowed Frenkel, who was ordained in
2009, to become the senior rabbi of the
unifi ed congregation.

But even with their senior rabbi role
fi gured out, the synagogues would not
have proceeded without the support of
their congregants. On Jan. 24, 98% of
24 JULY 14, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
them voted to come together, accord-
ing to former M’kor Shalom presi-
dent and Kol Ami co-president Drew
Molotsky. A few weeks ago, about 300
members marched together with the
Torahs. Th e new name was submitted
by a congregant.

“I believe that change is a good
thing,” said Amy Sussman, a Temple
Emanuel member for 11 years. “I’m
excited to make new friends and make
our community larger.”
For M’kor Shalom congregants, the
change was a little more bittersweet, as
they were leaving their building. Sharla
Feldscher, a Voorhees resident and PR
executive who wrote the release about
the “March of the Torahs,” was a mem-
ber at M’kor from the beginning. She
sang in the choir there for over three
decades; her daughters were confi rmed
there; her granddaughter went to pre-
school there.

During the last Shabbat service in
the building on June 24, Feldscher and
other choir members cried and hugged.

Th ey looked out at fellow members,
who looked back.

“It was a love fest,” Feldscher said.

But the M’kor alum is also “excited”
to become a Kol Ami member. She said
she’s looking forward to meeting new
people. Two days aft er that fi nal service,
she watched the presidents place the
Torahs in the new ark at the conclusion
of the “March of the Torahs.” At that
moment, “it felt like we were a part of
it,” Feldscher explained.

Marylee Alperin felt the same way.

She called the transition “diffi cult at
fi rst.” But she kept reminding herself
that she wanted all of their eff orts over
the years to live on.

“We must perpetuate Judaism,”
Alperin said.

If the last Shabbat service at M’kor
Shalom was emotional, the fi rst one
at Kol Ami was hopeful, according to
Sussman. People were saying hello to
each other and starting conversations.

“It was diff erent, but it was a good
diff erent,” she said.

Th e 39-year-old is part of a group
of about 15 Emanuel families called
“the up-and-comers.” Th e parents are
around Sussman’s age and the kids
The Lieberson family on the “March of the Torahs” to the new Congregation
Kol Ami in Cherry Hill on June 26
Photo by Sharla Feldscher
Longtime M’kor Shalom member Steve Friedman at the new and unifi ed
Congregation Kol Ami in Cherry Hill
Photo by Sharla Feldscher
are going through preschool, religious
school and Jewish life at the Cherry
Hill temple.

Th e Sussmans moved to South Jersey
because they wanted their two children
to “grow up in a more Jewish area,” the
mom said. Susan Marinoff , 40, joined
Emanuel with her husband and three
children because she always felt more
connected to her Jewish friends grow-
ing up, and she wanted the same thing
for her own kids.

Rob Baron, another “up-and-comer”
at Emanuel, also said it was important
for his two children to grow up in a
synagogue. Now, with the two temples
unifying, Reform Judaism in South
Jersey will have “strength in numbers,”
he said. Th at strength will give his kids
“a place they can call home.”
“It’s every parent’s hope,” Baron
explained. “So that when they leave the
house, they take those ideals with them
and build their own life in Judaism.” JE
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com



d’var torah
Could that have been
Elijah? RABBI ERIC YANOFF
O Parshat Balak
ne of my teachers, Rabbi Burt
Visotzky, tells the story of
meeting Elijah the Prophet
while on a mission meeting refuseniks
in the Former Soviet Union: Th ey were
advised that they would be followed by
the KGB.

In order to bolster Jewish life of
the refuseniks without exposing and
endangering the group, they had to
take special care in getting to their des-
tination. It was not safe to take a taxi
directly there, and so they got turned
around and lost. Rabbi Visotzky tells
the story that as they wandered, look-
ing for the meeting of refuseniks, a
man appeared suddenly, led them to a
non-descript doorway, and before they
could turn back to thank him, he was
gone. Rabbi Visotzky, a master storyteller,
calls that man “my Eliyahu.” In Jewish
tradition, Elijah oft en appears out of
context, unexpectedly and ahistorically
to off er support. I recalled this a few
summers ago when my family were
among several families on a day off
from Camp Ramah. We had planned to
meet up with a few other minivans of
camp families and go on a hike, but we
got separated and had no cell service.

I walked from the trailhead back to
the road, and aft er some time holding
my phone at diff erent angles in futil-
ity, a cyclist came by, off ered us some
fresh milk (a random detail, but true),
and encouraged us. He disappeared as
quickly as he had come, and just min-
utes later our friends arrived; they had
encountered him on his bicycle, and he
somehow “knew” that they were the
friends we sought. He led them in the
right direction… but again, our friends
barely saw him cycle away. We called
him “our Elijah.”
Have you ever encountered an Elijah
– unexpected support from a random
encounter? Perhaps more importantly,
did you recognize that unsolicited, out-
of-nowhere help as extraordinary?
Parashat Balak challenges us to open
our eyes, our ears and our voices to
appreciate that support sometimes
comes in the most surprising of places.

Th e story itself, of the Moabite King
Balak seeking the help of the faraway
prophet Bilaam to curse the People
of Israel, reads like a random inser-
tion into the Torah’s narrative; indeed,
some ancient sources viewed it as its
own “book” of the Torah. Aft er mul-
tiple entreaties, God assents to Bilaam
going on Balak’s quest – on the condi-
tion that Bilaam only prophesize using
the words God gives him.

What happens next is almost comi-
cal in its caricature of Bilaam’s obtuse-
ness: Riding on his donkey, Bilaam gets
increasingly frustrated as the donkey
strays from the path, scrapes Bilaam’s
leg against brush along the side of the
path and then sits down in the path –
all to keep Bilaam from harm. Finally,
with Bilaam enraged and beating his
animal, God opens the mouth of the
donkey and enables Bilaam to under-
stand the donkey’s noble intentions
to save the prophet from an angel of
death. All along, the narrative seems to
mock Bilaam’s absurd inability to
appreciate the help he is receiving from
an unlikely source. Th e caricature is
laughable in its irony: Bilaam, a noted,
sought-aft er prophet and seer, cannot
see the help off ered, even by a lowly
ass. And given Bilaam’s inability (or
perhaps biased refusal) to see the don-
key’s unexpected support, who then is
the true ass in the narrative, and who
is the better seer and orator of blessings
and curses?
On the other end of the spectrum of
unseen, miraculous support, Bilaam is
also not even receptive to the support
that God gives him, as God places
words of blessing (instead of curses)
into the prophet’s mouth. True, the
blessings enrage Bilaam’s contracted
employer (King Balak), but more nota-
bly, it takes Bilaam multiple attempts
to recognize God’s supporting role, just
as he could not see the donkey’s saving
role. Finally, in the end, he full-throat-
edly embraces God’s words in his
mouth, and off ers his most famous
blessing that begins our morning ser-
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vice: “Mah tovu ohalecha Ya’akov,
mishkenotecha Yisrael – How good
are your tents, Jacob, your dwellings, O
Israel!” (Bemidbar 24:5).

Th e story of Bilaam reminds us that
help can come from the most surpris-
ing sources – from a lowly donkey, or
from the Creator of Heaven and Earth.

Our role is twofold: First, we must
recognize that support as miraculous.

Don’t be the guy in the joke who is des-
perate for a parking spot for an import-
ant meeting and makes an impulsive
promise: “God, if you help me here, I
pledge to become more observant…”
– and when two parking spots imme-
diately open up directly in front of him,
quickly reneges, saying, “God, forget
it – I found a spot myself.” My rabbi
growing up, Rabbi Sidney Greenberg
z”l, said memorably, “Coincidence is
God’s way of staying anonymous.” We,
however, should be in the business of
uncovering God’s “cover” or anonym-
ity, and giving God – or whomever
comes to our aid – full “credit” in those
moments. Second, our role is to BE that unex-
pected, unsolicited and even unde-
served help for someone. It is a mitzvah
to recognize someone’s “Elijah” – but it
is an even bigger mitzvah to BE some-
one’s “Elijah.” I have seen it hinted and
off ered online and in-person – and so I
challenge us: In a world with plenty of
reasons for darkness, uncertainty and
fear – how might we step into that role,
light the way and become someone
else’s Elijah? JE
Rabbi Eric Yanoff , one of the rabbis
at Adath Israel in Merion Station, is
immediate past president of the Greater
Philadelphia Board of Rabbis. 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. nmls
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