synagogue spotlight
What’s happening at ... Aish Chaim Synagogue
A JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
Aish Chaim Attracts
Young Families
ish Chaim does not own a
building. For services and other
weekend programs, the Modern
Orthodox congregation rents space
in the Jewish Family and Children’s
Service building in Bala Cynwyd. On
some occasions, synagogue members
have shown a willingness to gather in
other places, such as backyards during
the High Holidays last fall.

As long as the roughly 100 or so
younger to middle-aged families are
together, according to Rabbi Binyomin
Davis, the shul, which he runs with his
wife, Gevura Davis, is not an address;
it’s a community.

And that’s why younger fami-
lies have flocked to it in recent years,
they say.

“What I love about Aish Chaim is it
brings together Jews of different spiri-
tual practices. Some are more spiritual,
some are more religious,” said Melinda
Engel, a Center City resident and Aish
Chaim board member. “It’s a place
where everyone can feel connected.”
Rabbi Davis moved to Philadelphia
in 2015 to work for Etz Chaim, a Torah
outreach organization. But in 2019, Etz
Chaim merged with Aish Philadelphia,
a group that brought “enlightening
programs” to Jews on the Main Line,
according to a Facebook description.

The rabbi and his wife were lead-
ing Etz Chaim as executive director
and director of programming, respec-
tively, and they took over leadership of
the new organization, Aish HaChaim,
as well. What started out as Aish
HaChaim became Aish Chaim and,
in the ensuing years, its membership
grew, Davis said.

“We’ve probably grown it about one-
third,” he added.

That one-third consists of people
like Jason Blau, a 42-year-old Bala
Cynwyd resident. Blau and his 8-year-
old daughter joined the shul about
seven months ago.

“We were looking for a Modern
Orthodox community that would help
us become more observant Jews,” the
father said.

Blau and his daughter attend both
Shabbat services and other events. The
father credited Rabbi Davis, Gevura
Davis and the community as a whole
for opening its doors.

He said, “They’ve treated us like
family,” and “given us the tools to
guide us in our journey.”
That one-third also includes con-
gregants like Engel, who joined Aish
Chaim a couple of years ago.

In 2017, Engel met Gevura Davis on
a trip to Israel and became friendly
with the Davises. As she learned more
about their shul, she realized that it
could fill the void at the heart of her
Jewish life. The mother of two was not
a member of a synagogue at the time.

Now, Engel attends Gevura’s
Saturday morning Torah class, while
her boys, ages 10 and 13, go to weekend
programs that Aish Chaim runs.

“I’ve found my community,” the
mom said.

Both Blau and Engel grew up outside
of the Orthodox denomination; Blau
in a Northeast Philadelphia house-
hold he described as “secular” and
“Conservative,” and Engel in an envi-
ronment she characterized as “Reform
or more Conservative.”
Yet they both wanted a religious
community that was central to their
lives, they said. They found that at Aish
Chaim because it didn’t make the jump
to Orthodoxy seem daunting.

Even if you didn’t know how to
host a Shabbat dinner or observe the
Sabbath, you were welcome, you could
learn, and the Davises and fellow con-
gregants were there to help.

“It inspires young families to want to
learn,” Engel said.

Aish Chaim’s growth has motivated
Gevura Davis and Rabbi Binyomin Davis 
the Davises to expand the synagogue’s
programming. Jordy Ufberg, a Penn Valley res-
ident and the shul’s coordinator of
youth activities, is now serving in that
role as a part-time employee, not as a
volunteer. The synagogue offers clubs that train
students for their bar and bat mitz-
vahs, programs for various age groups
on Shabbat morning and a mommy
and me class. During the pandemic,
Ufberg started a middle school movie
night, with chairs pushed six feet apart,
and “something for every holiday,”
she said.

But the list of programs extends
beyond the childhood age groups, too.

Rabbi Davis is in the process of recruit-
ing adults for an Aish Chaim softball
team. Exponent archives
“What I’d like to see us as is a big
family,” the rabbi said. “You can come
in, feel part of something.”
That ethos, though, may put a limit
on Aish Chaim’s growth potential.

“We’re not a 1,000-member shul
where nobody really knows each
other,” Davis added. “We’re still small
enough where people come in and
feel welcome.”
But that doesn’t mean that the
Orthodox synagogue can’t remain
open to outsiders, according to the
rabbi. Its email list is 4,000 addresses
long. And while Shabbat service
attendees are mostly members, they
are sometimes outsiders, too.

“It’s just a warm, friendly place,”
Rabbi Davis said. “That’s the culture
we’re trying to create, and I think we
are.” JE
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