H eadlines
Unstructured Synagogue Havurah Marks 50 Years
of Friendship, Creative Approach to Judaism
L OCA L
SOPHIE PANZER | JE STAFF
WHAT KEEPS A group of
friends together for 50 years?
For P h i l a d e l p h i a’s
Unst r uc t u red Sy nagog ue
Havurah, the answer is simple.

“The one word that it can
be boiled to is acceptance. We
accept one another. For all the
mishegas that individuals have,
we accept each other,” said Rabbi
Steve Stroiman, the group’s
facilitator. On Nov. 4, 10 members
convened on Zoom to
commemorate the group’s 50th
anniversary and reflect on the
role it has played in their lives.

The group, which has no
dues, no building, no officers
Name: Elana Collection
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and no rabbi, consists of
members from across the
Philadelphia area. Its overall
religious affiliation is somewhere
in the middle of the spectrum,
between Reform and Orthodox,
with a Reconstructionist influ-
ence. Meetings take place two or
three times a month and consist
of services and discussions.

The venture started with 24
individuals in six core families.

They met in each other’s houses
to pray, study and socialize,
going on camping trips and
holding holiday services
together. They took walking
tours of Jewish Philadelphia
and visited Jewish sites in New
York and Washington, D.C.

“We are not a davening group,
per se. Yes, we do have services,
but they are part of the whole
Members of the Unstructured Synagogue Havurah meet for their 50th anniversary.
picture, and the whole picture
consists of study, worship and
celebration,” said Stroiman, who
joined when he was a young
rabbinical student two months
after the initial founding.

The unstructured nature
of the gatherings appealed to
those who wanted an alterna-
tive to congregational Judaism
and those who wanted to
supplement their traditional
synagogue experiences.

“I don’t flourish in congre-
gational Judaism for a couple of
different reasons,” said member
Marvin Kreithen, who joined
the group with his wife Leslie
Kreithen 10 years ago. “First of
all, synagogue is a monologue.

The rabbi gets up there and
talks. What I like about the
Havurah is it’s a dialogue:
everybody you’re looking at has
their own opinion on things,
and it’s good to share all that.”
Leslie Kreithen was drawn
to the opportunities for study
and intimate discussions.

“Even though we belong to a
synagogue, the holidays that we
celebrated together were on a
more personal level, talking about
our own life experiences, thinking
about what the years have been,
remembering people on Yom
Kippur who have died,” she said.

Member Marian Cohen
joined the chavurah five years
after it was founded. She appre-
ciated the group’s creative
approach to Judaism.

“We had the freedom to
express ourselves in individual
ways,” she said. “Sometimes we
agreed with each other, sometimes
we didn’t, but overall it was a
positive learning experience and
we became sort of a family.”
Cohen and her children
especially loved the chavurah’s
holiday celebrations, which
often involved art projects, skits,
poems and games.

“One of the things I will
always remember, and so will
my children, is we all pitched in
and made flying menorahs out of
straws, candles and plastic bags
from the dry cleaners. We did
it outside, we were very careful,
and if we did it right they went
up in the air, and it was absolutely
incredible,” she said.

Photo by Sophie Panzer
This year, activities have
ranged from personal reflec-
tions during the High Holidays
to a talk from the Jewish
Genealogical and Archival
Society of Greater Philadelphia
to a presentation about the
Mussar movement.

Stroiman said the group
kept its size deliberately small
in order to comfortably fit in
people’s living rooms. Over the
years, moves and deaths have
chipped away at the original
number, and the group now
has about 14 members.

During the coronavirus
pandemic, Zoom has allowed
members’ homes to continue to
be the main site of the chavu-
rah’s activities, albeit virtually.

It was challenging for the
members, whose average age
hovers around 80, to learn
the new technology. At 75,
Stroiman is among the younger
members, but he still had to
get out of his comfort zone to
moderate the Zoom sessions
and find materials for group
discussions online. However,
they ultimately adapted.

See Havurah, Page 24
4 NOVEMBER 12, 2020
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