synagogue spotlight
Tiferes B’nai Israel’s Legacy
is Key to its Survival
Sasha Rogelberg | Staff Writer
O n
March 26,
1924, Harry Cohen chartered
Congregation Tiferes B’nai
Israel in Warrington.

The synagogue’s name means
“the glory of the children of Israel,” a
prescient title for the shul.

Cohen emigrated from Russia to
Neshaminy in 1910, bringing with him
his Torah and his family. His four sons,
Wolf, Benjamin, Louis and Reuben
Cohen, kept the synagogue active
following the patriarch’s death in 1943.

Today, a Cohen still leads TBI. Louis
Cohen, great-grandson of Harry Cohen,
is TBI’s president and has led services
for the past 20 years. Cohen’s father
still attends services at the synagogue.

TBI’s foundation as a spiritual commu-
nity built from a family’s legacy is what
has kept it alive for almost 100 years.

Growing up two blocks away from
TBI, Cohen’s father instilled in him the
importance of being active at the shul,
and when the time came for Cohen to
lead the synagogue, he didn’t question
the responsibility.

“There was no expectations, no
pressure,” Cohen said. “At a young
age, I just did it.”
“I’ve always viewed TBI as a home,”
he added. “I knew nothing more,
nothing different.”
Cohen took a similar approach in raising
his sons, ages 30 and 26. While both
sons help in event set-up and support
TBI’s programs, Cohen hasn’t pressured
them to take over as the synagogue’s
layleader when he steps down.

“I don’t judge anybody on the way
they practice or the way they want to
[go to] synagogue, and I tried to do
that with my sons as well. … I have to
say that they will definitely continue
to support TBI in any way they can,”
Cohen said.

Not everyone from the younger
Jewish generation has an interest in
24 JUNE 8, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
The sanctuary of Tiferes B’nai Israel in Warrington
supporting synagogues like the Cohen
family. TBI, not exceptionally, is dealing
with a shrinking community, having
gone from 150 family members in its
heyday to about one-third of that today.

The synagogue’s culture of everybody
knowing each other’s name has stayed
the same, but now there are fewer
names to learn.

TBI has tried to adapt to the times.

Originally an Orthodox synagogue,
it now leans Conservative, but with
Reconstructionist rabbis leading
the community in the past. Rabbi-
in-residence Seth Frisch has been
involved with the synagogue on and
off for about a decade.

Frisch is the founder and director
of Lerhaus Institute of Jewish Studies
in Philadelphia, a text study program
based on a German institute popular-
ized in the 1920s to serve as a beit
midrash for assimilated Jews.

He first joined TBI as a full-time rabbi,
then left to pursue the Lerhaus Institute.

Frisk rejoined the synagogue a few years
ago as a rabbi-in-residence, balancing
his obligations to Lerhaus with providing
Courtesy of Tiferes B’nai Israel
rabbinic oversight for TBI.

“I said, ‘I’m happy to be a rabbi-in-res-
idence, address what your needs are,
help where I can, be a rebuilding
presence,’” Frisch said.

The rabbi’s commitment to revital-
izing the synagogue has materialized.

“It would be a shame to let this
synagogue, with the legacy of the
founders from the 1880s, with a family
that’s involved — all the various families
many generations later — it would
really be a shame to let this go out of
business,” Frisch said.

Last year, Frisch helped hire
Education Director Shelly Shotel
to rebuild TBI’s religious school.

Attendance for TBI’s makeshift
religious school had dwindled to about
two kids, a reflection of the impact of
COVID and apathy on synagogue life,
Frisch believed.

“They said the heart of a synagogue
is its school,” he said. “And it had fallen
on hard times.”
This year, TBI’s religious school had
12-15 kids attend regularly, accord-
ing to Shotel, who was previously at
The 1924 charter of Tiferes B’nai
Israel, signed by TBI president Louis
Cohen’s great-grandfather Harry
Cohen Courtesy of Louis Cohen
Temple Sinai in Dresher for 18 years.

The school, taught by Shotel, uses the
chevrutah model of pairing students to
have them debate and discuss topics.

During the three-hour session on
Sundays, Shotel also spends one-on-
one time with students.

Shotel agrees with Frisch’s belief
about the necessity of a religious
school for the health of a synagogue
and modern Jewish life.

“It nurtures the family environ-
ment and strengthens the bond with
Judaism within the family,” she said.

As the synagogue prepares for its
100th anniversary, Shotel hopes to
further expand the religious school,
incorporating field trips, Shabbat
dinners and mitzvah projects into the
curriculum. The budget for the school is small,
but this year’s growth holds promise
for the school — and the synagogue’s
— survival.

“It’s a gem in the middle of Bucks
County,” Shotel said. ■
srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com



d’var torah
Does the Power of G-d
Still Exist?
Rabbi Elyssa Cherney
T Parshat B’ha’lotecha
his week, our Torah portion
literally means: when you rise
up. It refers to rising the seven
lamps before the Tabernacle but also in
the rising before G-d to offer sacrifices.

It used to be that G-d spoke and the
people listened. They followed that
which was commanded because they
believed in the power of G-d. There
are times in our society today when
power is certainly attained through the
organization of people and money.

But is there still a reciprocal relation-
ship with G-d such as the Israelites
had? The Israelites — specifically
through the Levites — would offer
sacrifices and obey G-d’s teachings in
exchange for divine protection of their
people. This past Shavuot, I was struck by
the changing nature of the people’s
relationship with G-d from when they
received the Torah and now. The words
found in this week’s Torah portion,
B’ha’lotecha, are no different.

G-d’s words are specific and infor-
mative, as G-d instructs Moses on how
to tell the Levites to offer sacrifices to
G-d. The boundaries around sacrifices
and consequences for failing to do so
are clearly laid out and expected to be
followed. The idea is that the owner-
ship of everything we have is truly
G-d’s — not ours.

As such, the Israelites acknowl-
edged their reliance on G-d by having
a system in which G-d was given the
first fruits of their labor. This created
a system in which the Israelites had
ongoing humility toward a greater
power. Therefore, the society was
sustained by a communal belief and
shared actions.

Today, the mental image of G-d
has transformed into one that would
be unrecognizable to Moses, Aaron
and Miriam, who awaited their divine
instructions. Talking to G-d is no longer
a two-way relationship — rather, G-d’s
voice can be heard in the self-reflec-
tion of those who seek G-d’s wisdom.

Prayer acts as a common form in
which to have set times and words with
which to connect with G-d and human-
ity. The actions of giving sacrifices
toward a shared belief and power have
significantly altered.

our behalf. We do have the ability to
give of that which belongs to us — our
own form of sacrifices.

G-d uses this Torah portion to set
out the guidelines by which we should
create our society. It makes me think
about how much more our commu-
nities would thrive if we were willing
and able to give them the best of our
personal resources. Not only finan-
Perhaps, if we put our belief back in
each other to offer the best of ourselves,
we could create a major shift for our
communities. There are many Jews who give their
time and money to support the commu-
nities of which they are a part. Yet, I
don’t believe it’s due to fear of G-d’s
consequences or to maintain a specific
relationship with G-d but rather to help
the community thrive.

In B’ha’lotecha, a certain structure
of how sacrifices are carried out is put
in place. The emphasis is put on who
is close enough to G-d to carry out
the sacrifices on behalf of the commu-
nity. Numbers 8:22 — “Thereafter
the Levites were qualified to perform
their service in the Tent of Meeting,
under Aaron and his sons. As G-d had
commanded Moses in regard to the
Levites, so they did to them.”
Moses and Aaron prepare the Levites
for the task of communal service to G-d,
and this becomes their ongoing job.

They are to serve in the Tent of Meeting
from age 25 for 25 years, and then
their service is excused at the age of
50. In turn, the community cares for the
Levites, and their service ensures G-d’s
protection of the whole community.

We no longer have set sacrifices that
we participate in or Levites acting on
cial sustenance for our organizations
which act for the benefit of all but
for our expertise, too. Many have
the resources of our education and
specialized training at our disposal.

Perhaps, if we put our belief back
in each other to offer the best of
ourselves, we could create a major
shift for our communities. Our self-sac-
rifices may even cause us to feel the
power of G-d once again. ■
Rabbi Elyssa Cherney leads life cycle
rituals for couples and families in
Philadelphia. She runs the organiza-
tion TacklingTorah to help everyday
people connect their Judaism to holy
moments in their lives. The Board
of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia is
proud to provide diverse perspectives
on Torah commentary for the Jewish
Exponent. The opinions expressed in
this column are the author’s own and
do not necessarily reflect the view of
the Board of Rabbis.

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