synagogue spotlight
What’s happening at ... Shir Ami
Shir Ami a Hub for Reform Jewish Life
JARRAD SAFFREN | STAFF WRITER
24 MAY 19, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
Briskin photo by Mindy Berger, event photo by Eric Goldberg
W hen it opened in 1999,
Shir Ami’s community
mikveh became just the
second of its kind at a Reform syna-
gogue in the United States.

Today there are a few more, but the
Newtown temple continues to offer the
only mikveh at a Reform shul in the
Philadelphia area. As Rabbi Charles
“Chuck” Briskin explained, the ritual
purification bath draws Jews from all
over Bucks County, from Philadelphia
out into the suburbs and from across
the New Jersey state line, extending as
far north as New Brunswick and as far
south as Cherry Hill.

The mikveh makes Shir Ami a
Reform hub of sorts, Briskin said. And
that also is how the community sees
itself in general.

With a membership that used to
hover around 2,000 families in the late
1990s and early 2000s, the Newtown
synagogue once united Jews from
across the area. It still does, to an
extent, though, like many temples, it
has experienced a membership decline.

About 525 families are in the congre-
gation today.

“It’s definitely holding steady over
the last few years,” Shir Ami President
Ellie Short said.

Even though Shir Ami’s congrega-
tion has gotten smaller, its worship
may have gone a little deeper during
the pandemic. According to Briskin,
the introduction of a virtual option for
Shabbat services increased the average
crowd from about 50 people to between
70 and 80.

This same deepening may be hap-
pening in the temple’s other programs,
too. During Sukkot last fall, four dif-
ferent member families built sukkahs
on their properties and hosted fellow
congregants for meals.

Everyone was invited to go to any
location, and many did. More than
200 members visited at least one of the
sukkahs during the week-long holiday,
Briskin said.

The depth of membership is still
Shir Ami Rabbi Chuck Briskin
Shir Ami congregants attend a charity event at Citizens Bank Park.

Even though Shir Ami’s congregation has gotten smaller,
its worship may have gone a little deeper
during the pandemic.

reflected in Shir Ami’s long-established
programs like its early learning center
and religious school, which count 160
and 225 students, respectively.

Briskin, like many post-pandemic
rabbis, points to virtual access as a
key driver of increased engagement.

The isolating and sometimes-tragic
pandemic experience brought people
closer together in spirit, he said.

After COVID emerged, Shir Ami
lay leaders began calling congregants
to make sure they were OK, with a
particular focus on older members.

Congregants also started to run
errands to pick up groceries and pre-
scription drugs for each other.

Synagogue leaders are trying to cre-
ate a committee to both formalize that
outreach and keep it going long-term,
according to Short.

“That’s something we hold on to,”
Briskin said.

Between the desire to connect and
the access to do it more frequently, Shir
Ami may have figured out its future
during the pandemic.

Short said the synagogue recently
started a record club for music lovers.

Members get together to play an album
by Billy Joel or Tom Petty or another
artist; when the album ends, they dis-
cuss it.

The rabbi envisions other such clubs,
too, around interests as wide-ranging
as civic engagement and meditation,
among others. Imagine 15 groups with
10 or so members each, Briskin said.

But the groups don’t even have to be
built around interests. Much like the
Sukkot effort last fall, they can be based
on demographics or geography.

Maybe young families want to get
together for a specific activity, like
the nature walks that the rabbi is now
starting on the weekends. Or maybe
congregants who live in Yardley want
to pray or study Torah together one
night or weekend morning.

“Establish a number of small groups
that will have opportunities to come
together,” Briskin said. “They are still
connected to Shir Ami, but they won’t
actually be at Shir Ami.”
The synagogue itself, though, will
bring everybody back together. Briskin
recognizes that a bunch of small and
separate groups do not need a bigger
organization to unite them.

But these small groups will be con-
nected by their faith, their identity and
their desire to practice Judaism. They
also may still be united by the quality
services that Shir Ami has to offer, like
preschool and religious school.

“The Jewish focus is the first point of
commonality,” Briskin said. “You have
someone who is committed to support-
ing Jewish life in Bucks County and, in
particular, Shir Ami.”
And if members are getting together
on a more regular basis in small groups,
they are unlikely to feel alone at bigger
events, Briskin said.

“No one’s coming alone,” he said.

“Everyone’s feeling comfortable.” JE
jsaffren@midatlanticmedia.com