synagogue spotlight
Darkaynu Continues With
15 Members
Jarrad Saff ren | Staff Writer
I 28
MARCH 16, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
Rabbi Jon Cutler founded
Darkaynu with a group of
congregants in 2009.

that religion off ers learning, spirituality, a
sense of closeness with God.”
Burstein, 74, mentioned similar reasons
for staying involved. He also off ered
another, more existential, motivation: “As
we get older, we tend to think more about
God and the afterlife, things like that.”
Both men like that Darkaynu is a
smaller, more intimate community.

When they walk in the door for Shabbat
services, they see their friends. The
congregants go out socially, too,
even when there’s no Jewish activ-
ity involved. Burstein said that, “The
people in the group really enjoy being
together.” And, according to Feingold,
“It’s a very comforting group. There’s
virtually no confrontation.”
“It’s just that we’ve known each other
for so long,” Burstein added.

All of those qualities were present
from the beginning, according to the
rabbi who started the congregation,
Jon Cutler. In 2009, Cutler had just
returned from a deployment to Iraq as
a chaplain for the Army. After serving
From left: Darkaynu lay leaders Mark Feingold and Jay Burstein
in a war zone, Iraq’s Anbar province,
Cutler wanted “a more intimate
(synagogue) community than to deal
with boards and politics.” He started
Darkaynu with people who knew him
from his previous post at Tiferet B’Nei
Israel in Warrington. Members viewed
their new community as a chavurah,
or a smaller group that still engages in
congregational activities, like services.

But the gatherings, as Cutler
described them, were “more lay-led.”
Services featured a live band with
musicians and singers. Communal
outreach projects included collections
for a local food pantry and an eff ort to
house six diff erent homeless families
in Bucks County. At the once-a-month
Shabbat dinners, people set up chairs
and provided homemade dishes. A
craftsman in the community, Harvey
Soll, built an ark from scratch. His wife
designed a Torah cover. All of the
congregants pitched in to buy a Torah
from another local synagogue.

“It was wonderful because people
had say in it,” Cutler recalled. “People
would not only commit fi nancially but
timewise.” The rabbi, though, could only make a
small salary from Darkaynu. He also had
to work for the military and for Abramson
Senior Care Hospice in Blue Bell. So, in
2015, he left to take a full-time job at Beth
Israel Congregation of Chester County.

The rabbi remains there, leading a
congregation with more than 100 house-
holds. But he still marvels from afar at
Darkaynu. He said that he wasn’t sure in
the beginning if it would last a year.

After Cutler’s departure, Darkaynu
tried to fi nd new members, according
to Feingold. But it did not have much
luck. That’s why congregants decided
to close the website. It wasn’t getting
much traffi c. But through it all, the
existing members never lost interest.

“There’s a real longing for intimacy
and community. This could be a model
for that,” Cutler said. 1
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com
Courtesy of Jay Burstein
f you Google “Darkaynu,” you will
see a listing for an organization at
2040 Street Road in Warrington.

But if you click the website link and
go to darkaynu.org, you learn that the
“account has been suspended.”
A Facebook search yields a similar
result. Darkaynu has a page. But it has
less than 100 followers, and its last
post came on May 25, 2022.

But despite some evidence to the
contrary, Darkaynu is alive.

The nondenominational synagogue
remains what it pretty much has always
been — a small group that sees value
in worshipping. The community started
with 30 members in 2009, grew to
about 60 or 70 at its peak in the 2010s
and contracted back to its current total
of 15. Several of those 15 are original
congregants. All of them, just like in
2009, are empty nesters. And they
continue to meet once a month for a
Friday night Shabbat service.

“We’re a pretty cohesive group.

We’ve gotten to know each other well.

We enjoy each other’s company,” said
Mark Feingold, a longtime member
and a Doylestown resident.

In addition to the Shabbat service,
members meet once a month for a
Torah study. Both take place inside
the BuxMont Unitarian Universalist
Fellowship in Warrington, where the
synagogue rents space. But Darkaynu
does not have a rabbi. Its last one,
Rayzel Raphael, left in 2021. Now
Feingold and another member, Jay
Burstein, lead the services.

“The problem of having too small
of a group is you don’t have enough
resources over time. We could not
aff ord to keep a rabbi,” Feingold said.

But for Feingold, Burstein and others,
the small congregation, light schedule
and limited resources are not deterrents.

Feingold, 67, participates because, as
he explains, “I’m Jewish, and I believe



d’var torah
Holy Time, Holy Space,
Holy Community
Rabbi Shelly Barnathan
F Parshat Vayakhel/Pekudei
or several weeks now, the Torah
has discussed the Mishkan —
the portable sanctuary that the
Israelites were instructed to create for
their journey through the midbar, the
wilderness. Back in Parshat Terumah, Exodus
25:8, we discovered the purpose of the
Mishkan. “V’asu Li Mikdash v’shachanti
B’tocham,” "They shall make me a holy
place, and I will dwell amidst them.”
The sanctuary was about holy space,
and its primary purpose was for G-d to
dwell among the people.

With so much discussion of the
sanctuary and the details of its
construction, what is the chidush, the
new teaching, in Vayakhel/Pekudei?
The Torah begins, “Vayakhel Moshe
Et Kol Adat B’nei Yisrael,” "And Moshe
gathered all of the community of the
children of Israel."
The chidush begins with the opening
word, Vayakhel, which comes from
the same root as the word for kehillah
— or “community.” And adat refers to
“community” as well.

What an appropriate time for Moshe
to be calling the Israelites together
as a kehillah. Having only recently
been freed from slavery, the identity of
the Israelites was still unformed. How
could the Israelites become a kehillah,
a holy community?
To live a life of holiness, Moshe
reminds the Israelites to observe
Shabbat as a day of rest. In her book
“Torah Journeys,” Rabbi Shefa Gold
refl ects, “When Moses calls the people
together for their fi nal instructions
for building the Mishkan, we are fi rst
warned that there must be a holy
rhythm to our lives ... Without the
practice of Shabbat, this work of build-
ing the Mishkan, even though it is
holy work, will kill us ... Work becomes
life-giving and wholesome only when it
is balanced with the Shabbat.”
Moshe is telling the Israelites that
to become a people, not only do
they need to create holy space — the
Mishkan — but they must also create
holy time — Shabbat — time to enter
into the holy space that they are creat-
ing as a community.

As the Torah reading continues,
another chidush, based on repeated
words and expressions, reveals itself.

What are these expressions?
1. “Lev — heart or mind,” as in, “Take
from among you gifts to Adonai —
everyone whose heart so moves him.”
(Exodus 35:5)
2. “Ruach — spirit,” as in, “And every-
one whose spirit moved him should
bring his off ering to G-d.”(Exodus 35:21)
3. “Chochmah — wisdom,” as in
the expression “Chochmat Ha-Lev”
— wisdom of heart/mind. Chochmat
ha-lev is used repeatedly to refer to
the special talents and skills that each
person would off er in the creation of
the Mishkan.

4. And fi nally, “Nashim v’Anashim,
Kol Ish v’Ishah,” referring to “each
man and each woman,” indicating that
the skills and talents of every man
and every woman were critical to the
creation of the Mishkan.

Taking these repeated expressions
together, what central message is
created? The message is that when each one
of us off ers the authentic gift of our
uniqueness, from the wisdom of our
hearts and spirits, then, and only then,
can we create holy community.

And what better message could
Moshe deliver to bolster the self-es-
teem of a people who were searching
for their own identity and self-defi ni-
tion? Moshe, the talented leader and
community organizer that he was,
recognized and honored the talents
of each person and invited each man
and woman to add these talents to the
creation of the holy Mishkan.

Vayakhel/Pekudei provides us with
a model for creating holy time, holy
space and, perhaps most impor-
tantly, holy community — all through
the central endeavor of building the
Mishkan. What is your unique gift? How
can you off er it to others and to the
communities to which you belong?
How can you make your life and your
community holy?
May we take to heart the messages
of Vayakhel/Pekudei, using our authen-
tic talents and gifts to create holy time,
space and community. May we each
be a Mishkan, a traveling vessel of
holiness. And as we complete the
book of Exodus, let us say Chazak,
Chazak, V’nitchazek — be strong, be
strong and let us strengthen each
other! Shabbat Shalom. 1
Rabbi Shelly Barnathan is the rabbi
and founder of Or Zarua, a congre-
gation for baby boomers and empty
nesters located in the Main Line
suburbs. Barnathan serves on the
executive committee of the Board
of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia.

The Board of Rabbis 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 refl ect the view of the
Board of Rabbis.

JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 29