synagogue spotlight
At the End of a Northeast Philadelphia
Street, a Basement Synagogue
Pulsates with Life
Jarrad Saff ren | Staff Writer
A Congregation Beth Midrash HaRav B’Nai Jacob in
Northeast Philadelphia
Rabbi Isaac Leizerowski is the spiritual leader of
Congregation Beth Midrash HaRav B’Nai Jacob.

“It isn’t just a place where we live. It’s a place
where we grow,” said Dennis Sacks, a 78-year-old
resident of the neighborhood.

Leizerowski estimated that 90% of the people who
live on the street are part of this Orthodox commu-
nity. They are businessmen and social workers,
among other professions. Many of them drive far
away from their enclave each day to work in diff er-
ent sections of the region. As Shaiki Newman, a
57-year-old resident, put it, “I get up in the morning;
I go to shul; I go to work.”
Some families have young children who attend
the nearby Politz Hebrew Academy. A 10-year-old
boy even comes to the 6:30 a.m. minyan each day,
according to the rabbi, who calls that “a beautiful
thing.” Other families have children who are older
and who, like many of their contemporaries from
non-Orthodox synagogues, moved away from the
area. Sacks’ kids, for instance, live in New York City
and Israel.

And while everyone in the community is religious,
there are still levels. Sacks said that he was not able
to attend minyans when he was still working at the
Philadelphia VA Medical Center. He had to work long
hours. But when he retired, he started going every
day. Newman can only attend evening minyans in
the summer when the sun sets later. During the rest
of the year, his business prevents him from getting
there in time. The father of four also said that, when
his kids were growing up and going through Politz,
some families were “very religious” and others were
“not very religious.”
But no one judged each other. What mattered,
according to Newman, was that they were together.

It’s a spirit that continues today. During the fi rst
week of March, one family’s heater went out. The
neighbors got together in a WhatsApp group to off er
backup options and space in their houses. When
Sacks’ wife was in the hospital, he was not allowed
to eat a Shabbat dinner alone.

“How is your wife? How are you doing? Do you
want me to pick up something for you?” he recalled
of those dinner conversations.

Leizerowski does not have a dues structure for
the synagogue. He does not need one. If the duplex
on Algon Avenue needs a new roof for $12,000, the
rabbi just informs the community.

“They understand,” he said. ■
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 23
Photo by Jarrad Saff ren
bout 90% of Jews in America and the
Philadelphia area are Conservative, Reform,
Reconstructionist or unaffi liated. So when
the Jewish Exponent calls this section Synagogue
Spotlight, it usually refers to a synagogue commu-
nity: a group of people who fi nd each other at the
building. But an Orthodox community is diff erent. Traditional
Jews live in the same neighborhoods and walk to
their synagogues because they cannot drive on
Shabbat. Theirs is a community, not a synagogue
community. The worshipping space is almost inciden-
tal to the ecosystem.

The Exponent’s Synagogue Spotlight series has
focused on this dynamic before. There are Orthodox
communities on the Main Line, in Northeast
Philadelphia and in other parts of the region. But
perhaps no traditional community in the area embod-
ies the structure and rhythm of Orthodox Judaism
quite like the one along Algon Avenue in Northeast
Philadelphia. These traditional Jews refer to their synagogue
as Congregation Beth Midrash HaRav B’Nai Jacob.

But it is not a big building on its own property. It is in
the basement of a duplex on Algon Avenue. A small
black sign sitting on a backyard fence directs you
where to go. Beyond that black sign is a sidewalk
that loops around the duplex’s street. It takes just a
few minutes to walk the entire loop. During that time,
you will see neighbors talking to each other on their
steps — even on a cool, late winter afternoon.

Later, around 5:40 p.m., you will see people getting
home from work, parking their cars and walking to
the synagogue for evening minyan. A similar routine,
just with the cars going out instead of coming back
in, played out in the morning after the early minyans.

Rabbi Isaac Leizerowski said both gatherings are a
part of the daily rhythm in this Northeast Philadelphia
neighborhood. Then, come Friday night, all of those
people, along with many others, usually 75-80 in all,
will cram into the basement for a Shabbat service.

Afterward, they may go back to each other’s houses
to eat together. Later, some community members
might even return to the synagogue to study and
learn a little more.