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‘Outpouring of Support’ Helps Temple
Judea Stay on Central Bucks Property
Jarrad Saffren | Staff Writer
Photos by Jarrad Saffren
D riving up to and then walking
into Temple Judea on a
weekday in May, you will
notice a synagogue that feels very
much alive. Parking spots are filled.

The sound of laughter echoes up from
the bottom floor of children in the
Small Wonders preschool.

The only Reform shul in central Bucks
County feels alive because it is … at
least for now … at least for another year.

At the end of February, a Jewish
Exponent Synagogue Spotlight article
discussed how in 2023 and ’24 the
community would “fight for its life.” A
decline in membership from almost
200 households to 150 had made
Temple Judea’s Furlong property too
expensive to maintain. Synagogue
leaders were considering a sale by the
end of 2024.

But in the months since, “an outpour-
ing of support from past and present
congregants,” as an email from the
synagogue describes it, has allowed
the temple to extend its lease on life
through June 2025. Small Wonders,
which has 158 preschool students, many
of whom are not temple members, will
also begin paying rent on July 1, accord-
ing to Sheryl Milstein, the school’s direc-
tor. A benefactor bought the school, but
the synagogue will still absorb certain
costs like office management.

“It’s really been overwhelming,”
synagogue President Len Saffren said
of the support.

One family in the congregation
offered to pay the balance of outgo-
ing Rabbi Sigal Brier’s salary. Another
congregant, Noel Weiss, whom Saffren
had only met once before, asked the
president if he could use his construc-
tion company to take over maintenance
free of charge. Saffren estimated that
Weiss’ largesse will save the temple
between $50,000 and $60,000.

One donor accounted for about
Temple Judea of Bucks County
half the money that Temple Judea
received. But Saffren said almost
25 former members and 20 current
members gave in the range of $1,000
to $10,000 each.

Benefactors expressed a similar
feeling: They wanted a Jewish commu-
nity to exist in central Bucks County.

Saffren heard from many people about
antisemitism in the Central Bucks School
District. In 2021, a group of district board
members were slow to condemn antise-
mitic comments expressed at a board
meeting. Board members also made
exaggerated comparisons between
COVID masking and Nazi Germany
policies. In 2023, district leaders made
a librarian at Central Bucks High School
South take down a poster showing
a quote from Holocaust survivor Elie
Weisel about combating hate. They later
apologized and allowed the librarian to
put it back up.

“There was talk in the community
that Temple Judea was not going to
survive. It was out there,” Saffren said.

“There’s part of our culture and
our history that needs to be passed
From left: Temple Judea’s President Len Saffren and
incoming President Noel Weiss
along to our families,” Weiss added.

Weiss joined the synagogue before
COVID because his daughter told her
parents one day that she “identified
as being Jewish,” the dad recalled.

Weiss’ mother is Episcopalian, and he
was raised that way, but his father is
Jewish. The incoming president’s wife
is Catholic, and they had been raising
their daughter in that tradition before
she expressed her desire to connect
with Judaism.

After that, Weiss talked to some
friends in the community, learned of
Temple Judea and attended a Shabbat
service. “It felt comfortable,” he said.

But he became motivated to get more
involved after hearing about antisemi-
tism in the school district, both from his
daughter and on the news.

“It struck me inside,” he said. “I feel
that I’m able to do something, then I
really want to do it.”
Weiss’ goal is to keep the synagogue
going beyond June 2025. His vision
starts with the life cycle events that
Jews still depend on synagogues to
organize. But he knows that those
events alone are not enough to
convince residents to walk through the
doors each week.

That’s why he’s starting “Club
Judea,” a social club offering gather-
ings and community service oppor-
tunities. Group leaders are already
planning a family barbecue night, a
parents’ night out and Jewish cooking
lessons, according to the email from
the temple. A recent wine and cheese
night drew 25 people, Saffren said. He
hopes to hold these types of events
once a month.

“To make the synagogue a place
where people come besides services.

It’s a way for people to develop
connections and friendships. That’s
the way you maintain membership,”
Saffren said. “Too many people join
synagogues in a transactional way.

They join when the kid’s 8 or 9,
they pay their fees, the kid gets bar
mitzvah’d and the transaction’s done.

We need them to think of it as an
ongoing relationship.” ■
jsaffren@midatlanticmedia.com JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
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