synagogue spotlight
Congregation Leyv Ha-Ir Remains a
‘Link in the Chain’ of Jewish Continuity
Jarrad Saffren | Staff Writer
34 JUNE 1, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
Leyv Ha-Ir was founded by women
who had been “excluded from even
touching a Torah” in other Jewish
communities, the rabbi said. While the
community has always had a spiritual
leader, with Greenberg serving as the
third, it also maintained that lay-led
spirit. Members organize minyans and
book groups, among other activities.

Once a month, Greenberg leads a
Shabbat service. Every other weekend,
congregants take control.

And the rabbi prefers it that way.

Like a member, she just enjoys seeing
people multiple times a week. She’s
part of a Wednesday morning Zoom
session about heavy topics like coping
with memory loss. Every week, the
topic is different, and the 15-25 people
who attend really talk.

“You’re not anonymous in this
community,” Greenberg said.

Bobbi Cohen, the synagogue’s presi-
dent, joined in 2000 after a friend told
her about it. As she started attend-
ing services and other events, Cohen
connected with the Reconstructionist
Leyv Ha-Ir members at a congregational event
experience. She liked the emphasis on
music and the openness of the rabbi at
the time, Rayzel Raphael, who allowed
members to “question things as they
were taught,” Cohen recalled.

For the first time in her adult life, the
single woman felt like she belonged
in a shul. While living in Marlton and
Mount Laurel in South Jersey, Cohen
tested out a few synagogues. But she
could tell that they were places for
families with kids.

Leyv Ha-Ir felt open to anyone.

“It was more casual, and casual in
terms of the way people dressed.

People would sometimes interrupt the
rabbi to ask a question. If people were
singing a song, you could make a
suggestion as to what you would sing,”
she said. “Everybody is a participant. It
felt right.”
At first, Cohen commuted to Center
City for shul activities. But she was
considering a move into the city
anyway, and the synagogue made her
decision easier. She moved to Center
City and became an official member
around the same time that Greenberg
started. “I said if I move into Center City and
like the new rabbi, there would be
no question that I would join,” Cohen
recalled. As Greenberg put it, despite its lack
of property, children and a full-time
rabbi, Leyv Ha-Ir is “thriving.” It has
more members and money than ever,
yes, and, of course, that’s nice. But it’s
not even about that, according to the
rabbi. It’s about living Jewishly without the
pressure of maintaining the business
of a synagogue.

“We are a link in the chain of continu-
ity meeting the needs of people in this
community. The purpose of Judaism is
to be a vehicle for the flow of Jewish
wisdom and spiritual connection into
the world,” she explained. “As long
as we are doing that and people find
meaning in that, there will be Jewish
continuity.” ■
jsaffren@midatlanticmedia.com Courtesy of Congregation Leyv Ha-Ir
Rabbi Julie Greenberg
Courtesy of Rabbi Julie Greenberg
C ongregation Leyv Ha-Ir is a
Reconstructionist synagogue
with no property, no program-
ming for school-age children, a
part-time rabbi and suggested but not
mandatory dues. But the Center City
community is nonetheless a formal
one along the lines of a traditional
synagogue, according to Rabbi Julie
Greenberg. It just caters to a different
type of congregant.

“It’s a Jewish community for adults
who want Jewish community for
themselves,” Greenberg said. “Not
because they need a bar or bat mitzvah
for their offspring.”
In most cases, they don’t even have
offspring, according to the rabbi. There
are around 85 individual members
in Leyv Ha-Ir. On occasion, congre-
gants will bring their grandchildren
to High Holiday services. Other than
that, children do not really appear at
congregational events.

Some members have already raised
families. Others never had kids in the
first place. Most are empty nesters over
60 who live close enough to Leyv Ha-Ir’s
Rittenhouse Square meeting rooms.

Membership lengths range from
one year to five years to 10 years to
33 years, dating to the synagogue’s
founding in 1990. On High Holidays,
Greenberg leads services in the First
Unitarian Church of Philadelphia, and
hundreds of people attend for free.

And each year, new congregants join
the community. The rabbi said that
Leyv Ha-Ir’s congregation and endow-
ment are bigger than they’ve ever
been. In the era of hybrid services,
some members have joined from
California and Massachusetts.

“Our people take soup to each
other, give each other rides to doctor’s
appointments and send birthday cards
to each other,” said Greenberg. “It’s a
very caring community.”