synagogue spotlight
What’s happening at ... Congregation B’nai Jacob
B’nai Jacob Brings
Different Jews Together
JARRAD SAFFREN | STAFF WRITER
C ongregation B’nai Jacob is
a Conservative synagogue.

But it is not just open to
Conservative Jews.

As the only synagogue in
Phoenixville, it welcomes Jews from all
denominations, according to Rabbi Jeff
Sultar. The 120-household congrega-
tion is multigenerational, with congre-
gants ranging from young families to
seniors in their 90s.

With a smaller community, too,
most members can know each other.

And they place a premium on at least
making the attempt, per Sultar.

“Everybody likes each other and
spends time together,” the rabbi said.

“Services, social gatherings, different
celebrations.” Sultar believes it helps that there are
not many ideological considerations to
get between people. Congregants come
together simply because they want to
practice Judaism.

“It’s a good place to call home,”
Sultar said.

To make B’nai Jacob feel like a home,
Sultar does his best to accommodate
all types of Jews. Nowhere is that bet-
ter exhibited than at the synagogue’s
weekly Shabbat services.

Most Jewish communities have ser-
vices on Friday nights and Saturday
mornings. But usually, one of the two
is bigger than the other.

For more Reform-style Jews, the
Friday night service, with more sing-
ing and English reading, is the bigger
service. But for more traditional Jews,
the Saturday morning gathering, with
more Hebrew readings, is the import-
ant one.

At B’nai Jacob, an equal number of
congregants, about 15 each, attend both.

“That’s very unusual in my experi-
ence,” said Sultar, who served at two
other congregations before B’nai Jacob.

“Most synagogues have a dominant
service.” Outside of Shabbat services, the rabbi
doesn’t even need to do much accom-
28 MAY 12, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
modating. Members learn and work
together pretty seamlessly regardless of
their approach to prayer.

Congregation B’nai Jacob University,
the temple’s education arm, offers
classes on gun violence, the environ-
ment and “anything people might be
interested in,” Sultar said.

Recently, some congregants realized
that the Jewish Relief Agency, a non-
profit that helps fight hunger, does
not service people that far outside of
Philadelphia. So the members coor-
dinated with JRA to get boxes and
food items for a monthly distribution
to people in the Phoenixville area. At
each distribution, B’nai Jacob’s social
hall is full of members, religious school
students and other volunteers packing
boxes, according to Sultar.

In addition, the synagogue serves
20 students in its religious school and
offers a full schedule of fun events.

A comedian from Israel Zoomed in
recently, and a mentalist is coming
later in May.

“It’s really profound to think of how
important the community is to so
many people and what they do to keep
it vibrant,” the rabbi said. “When peo-
ple voluntarily choose to be a part of
something, it makes a statement.”
History suggests that B’nai Jacob has
always had this quality. Over more
than a century, its congregant number
has always hovered in the 100-plus
range, Sultar said.

Synagogue President Mark Snow
explained that the congregant base
stayed the same, even through the
pandemic era shift to virtual services
and programs. Moving forward, Snow
hopes to use a hybrid approach to
maintain the congregation and possi-
bly expand it.

Snow is forming a post-pandemic
strategic plan, and it includes four pil-
lars: attracting the next generation of
members, inspiring volunteers, plan-
ning for financial health and growing
the member base.

Snow believes that growth is pos-
sible in Chester County even beyond
Phoenixville. Like many synagogue
Congregation B’nai Jacob in Phoenixville 
B’nai Jacob’s sanctuary 
leaders, he learned during the pan-
demic that the digital reality could
transcend geographical limitations.

The president credited Sultar with cre-
ating “a virtual social hall” at the end of
Shabbat services.

“It’s been a great experience,” Snow
said. “Why wouldn’t you continue
to do that to maximize engagement
opportunities for your community?”
B’nai Jacob’s community educa-
tion and fundraising events remain
on Zoom, according to Snow. But the
synagogue’s Manavon Street home is
reopening for certain group meetings
“as the chairs of those meetings want,”
he said. A few weeks ago, the congre-
Courtesy of Mark Snow
Courtesy of Mark Snow
gation held its first bar mitzvah in the
building since before the pandemic
broke out.

Come June, Snow wants to host the
temple’s annual meeting in person and
online. He also already has teams in
place to work toward three of the four
pillars in his strategic plan. They should
be ready to set forth their objectives for
the coming year in July.

“We’re going to continue with digital
engagement but look to have hybrid
models that support activities we do in
the building,” the president said. “It’s
all about maximizing engagement.” JE
jsaffren@midatlanticmedia.com



d’var torah
Diff erent Sides,
Same Circle
BY RABBI GILA RUSKIN
Parshat Emor
W hen you are 5½-years-old,
your half-birthday is a big
event. We were decorating pillowcases for
the seder, and my grandkid (age 5½)
painted a sukkah. Why a sukkah? I
asked. Passover sort of reminds me of
Sukkot, he answered.

Very excited at this opportunity to
teach him about the Jewish calendar,
I drew a circle and showed him how
Passover and Sukkot are directly across
the circle from each other. When you
look up through the branches when we
are eating dinner on the fi rst night of
Sukkot, what do you see? A full moon.

Tonight at the fi rst seder, when we all go
outside to act out leaving Egypt and you
look up at the sky, what will you see? A
full moon!
Th at’s because Sukkot is the half
birthday of Passover, and Passover is
the half birthday of Sukkot! Both have
full moons. Maybe, he said, we should
sing “Happy Half-birthday” to Sukkot
tonight! Not a bad idea ...

Back in the day, it was much easier
to see the connections. Everyone was
out in the fi eld harvesting at the full
moon. Or everyone was in Jerusalem for
an eight-day celebration, reconnecting
with family and friends and tribe. In
our era, maybe we need a half-birthday
party to remind us that none of our holy
days are like separate slices of a pie; they
are all connected through the cycles of
nature, as were all ancient festivals.

Th at teachable moment with my
grandkid was a fulfi llment of the ritual
mitzvot of holy day observance cited
in Parshat Emor, but also my legacy
from our ancestor Abraham who was
specifi cally chosen to fulfi ll the mission
of “instructing his children and his pos-
terity to keep God’s ways by doing what
is just and right, in order that God may
bring about for Abraham what has been
promised.” Genesis 18:19
Th at is, according to Th omas Cahill,
one of “Th e Gift s of the Jews.”
“In a world that marked the cycles of
the seasons, the Jews revealed a new way
to mark time.”
Not only equinox or solstice, but also
the linear time of l’dor vador: of living
our lives ever aware that we are precious
links in the generational chain. We bind
ourselves in Divine covenant to our
family, our community and the com-
munity of humankind, to the past and
to the future.

Our cyclical holidays also belong to
covenantal/linear/historical time. Th ey
commemorate historic events. Pesach
celebrates the exodus from Egypt,
Shavuot the giving of the Torah and
Sukkot the 40 years of wandering in the
wilderness. Parshat Emor explains: “In order that
future generations may know that I
made the Israelite people live in booths
when I brought them out of the land of
Egypt,” Passover is connected to Sukkot
not only with a full moon but also with
a shared historical experience of liber-
ation and the promise of a civilization
based on transformative justice.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, z”l, wrote:
“Th e Hebrew Bible is the fi rst docu-
ment to see time as an arena of change.

Tomorrow need not be the same as yes-
terday. Time is not a series of moments
traced on the face of a watch, always
moving yet always the same.” Instead,
it is a journey with historical narratives
and ethical teachings passed down and
ever developing from generation to gen-
eration. What I would like to inform my
grandchild is that Judaism has survived
and fl ourished to our day because we
embrace all three cords woven together:
the awesome attentiveness and ritual
response to the cycles of nature, the
annual acknowledgments of the his-
torical journey of our people and the
commitment to the ethical imperative
of justice, tempered with compassion.

Opportunities abound to express
with our hands and hearts that glorious
experience. Not only at the seder, but
as we adorn our sukkah next fall. We
will shake the symbols of the autumnal
harvest, invite our ancestors (ushpizin)
as our honored guests and share our
abundance with those who confront
scarcity, braiding those three cords of
our legacy together. In gratitude, in rev-
erence, in joy. JE
Rabbi Gila Ruskin is rabbi emerita
of Temple Adas Shalom in Havre de
Grace, Maryland, and creates Midrash
Mosaics. Th e Board of Rabbis of Greater
Philadelphia is proud to provide diverse
perspectives on Torah commentary
for the Jewish Exponent. Th e opin-
ions expressed in this column are the
author’s own and do not refl ect the view
of the Board of Rabbis.

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