feature story
Judaism Hangs on at Synagogue
in Rural Pennsylania
Congregation Sons of Israel
18 SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
school), you’d be considered a truant. Rosh Hashanah
and Yom Kippur were considered truancy,” Newman
said. “A group of merchants and our rabbi went to the
school district and got that changed. Th ey’re still not
offi cial, but you’re no longer truant. Th ose three days
mean you can’t have perfect attendance.”
Jews have never had a major presence in
Chambersburg but, for the most part, the community
has welcomed, embraced and supported Franklin
County’s only synagogue.

“When the Pittsburgh attack happened, I orga-
nized a memorial service, and 400 or 500 people
came. People left fl owers at the doors of our syna-
gogue and wrote letters,” Newman said, referencing
the antisemitic terrorist attack at the Tree of Life
synagogue in 2018.

Th e largest religious population in Chambersburg
is Christianity, and the majority of the town is
politically conservative. According to Pennsylvania
Department of State voter registration statistics,
Franklin County has about 61,000 registered
Republicans compared to 24,000 Democrats.

“Th is is an exceptionally conservative area. When
my parents moved to Chambersburg, my father,
who had been a lifelong Democrat, registered as a
Republican because in Chambersburg if you wanted
to do business you had to be Republican — it was just
that conservative of an area,” Newman said.

New arrivals seldom change Chambersburg,
according to Newman. Chambersburg changes them.

“Chambersburg as a whole is not bad; there are
antisemites here, as there are everywhere. Since
Trump, they’ve become more overt,” she said.

Th e most striking antisemitism Newman encoun-
tered in Chambersburg happened when she was in
ninth grade at the since-closed Central Junior High
School. Newman was in health class, raising her hand
and answering questions when her teacher scolded
her about the way she answered, despite all students
responding in the same manner.

“He said, ‘Th is is not one of your Jewish prayer
meetings,’” Newman recalled.

When Newman asked for an apology, she was
sent to the principal’s offi ce, where she explained
what happened to a relatively unconcerned admin-
istration. For the next three days, instead of going to
health class, she went to the offi ce, where she stayed
until the teacher apologized.

“Other than that, I’ve had no trouble at all, not
with anybody or anything. It struck me even as I was
married and grew up. Most people respected me as
Exterior photos by Heather M. Ross
I T STARTED IN CHAMBERSBURG in 1840
when a group of Jewish men established a burial
society — a small cemetery with a building to
prepare bodies for burials — and a house for a visit-
ing rabbi where they held services.

By 1919, Congregation Sons of Israel applied for
and received nonprofi t status as a religious organiza-
tion. And for the 103 years since, the synagogue has
served as the center of Jewish life in the small (popu-
lation of about 21,000), rural town of Chambersburg,
about 25 miles northeast of Gettysburg in south-cen-
tral Pennsylvania.

Th e closest synagogue has a part-time rabbi and is
nearly 25 miles away and across the Maryland state
line; the next closest is 35 miles away.

“My parents moved to Chambersburg when I was
4 years old. I was the second girl ever bat mitzvahed
at the synagogue,” said Lynne Newman, the religious
director and ritual chair.

While the congregation was larger in the past, the
synagogue remains an important symbol to local
Jews, and the congregation has undeniably shaped
Chambersburg, which got its start as a milling town
in 1730 and was burned by Confederate forces in 1864.

“When I was younger, if you missed three days (of
BY HEATHER M. ROSS | STAFF WRITER



Interior photos courtesy of Congregation Sons of Israel
long as I went to services and practiced my religion,”
Newman said.

Th e synagogue is an important reminder for
Chambersburg of religious diversity and the impor-
tance of interfaith cooperation.

“When I graduated high school, there were four
Jews in my graduating class,” Newman said, so when
her children were growing up, she made an eff ort to
help educate the community about Jewish life.

“When my kids were growing up, I went into
schools for Christmas and Easter to talk about
Chanukah and Passover. I’d bring in food and games.

I’d talk to them. And the teachers were all willing to
do that,” she said.

According to Newman, the interfaith movement
has an undeniable presence, even in Chambersburg.

“We get calls from diff erent churches [with peo-
ple] asking to come to our synagogue and observe a
service. We have a ministerium that was started by
one of our rabbis and a minister from a Presbyterian
church. Th ey did a Holocaust service; for a long time,
it was held at diff erent churches and occasionally
at the synagogue. For the past 15 years or so, it has
almost always been at our synagogue. Th e participa-
tion is interfaith with diff erent churches in the area.

We light memorial candles and have diff erent read-
ers,” Newman said.

Th e interfaith movement also plays a role in how
the small synagogue raises money.

“We have [a few] diff erent fundraisers. One is our
Jewish Heritage Food Festival; we have the food
festivals twice a year. Christians from all over come
to these food festivals. Th e women of the synagogue
do the cooking and [we] take stuff home with us.

You come in, donate all the food and pay for a meal.

People come, they like the food, they try diff erent
things. We take people upstairs, and show them
our sanctuary. It’s a way to reach the community,”
Newman said.

“It shows people we aren’t scary. It’s hard to hate
something that you understand,” she said.

Th e synagogue has hosted Friday night services
and invited diff erent area churches to send repre-
sentatives. Th ose services typically end with a ques-
tion-and-answer period.

A young congregant in Chambersburg
Garry Kipe, a pastor in Chambersburg for more
than 20 years at the Bethel Assembly of God Church,
said that, overall, Chambersburg is not familiar with
Judaism. But he believes that other Christians and Americans
can learn from Judaism.

“Th eir value, how they esteem the Torah, they just
highly esteem the word of God, and it really spoke to
me and challenged me, that wow, we need to really
respect what we hold in our hands, the Bible. And
a lot of people in America don’t really realize what
they hold. Th ey (Jewish people) take it seriously,”
Kipe said.

Every year on Christmas, Jews and other vol-
unteers make Christmas dinner to help the local
Chambersburg Salvation Army. Th e collaboration
between faiths has been a tradition there since 1986
and provides Christmas dinners for hundreds of peo-
ple in the area every year.

“I’ve invited choirs, ministers, Santa and his elves.

It’s not my holiday, but I want them to have a good
one,” Newman said.

Despite the rich history and deep community ties,
the synagogue is struggling. It has shrunken to about
20-25 families, which is problematic.

“Most of our members were older, and they passed
on. All the other kids went to college and never came
back. A lot of the kids growing up in the synagogue
didn’t come back as adults, they didn’t come back
to Chambersburg. Most Jews in Chambersburg are
not affi liated. Th ey may have married a Christian,”
Newman said. “We are losing the next generation.”
“My grandson will be 8 in September. I want it (the
synagogue) to be there for him to be bar mitzvahed,
but I don’t know if we’ll make it,” Newman said.

Jessica Doubell, the board president at Congregation
Sons of Israel, said, “It’s very important for there to
still be a Jewish presence in Chambersburg. We are in
such an area that is predominantly Christian. When
I was growing up, not a lot of people knew what Jews
were. It’s very important for everybody to keep an
open mind about the world, and remember that it’s
not the same everywhere you go.”
Doubell cherishes the synagogue’s community,
noting that even members who no longer attend stay
connected via the mailing list. Th e history the syna-
gogue shares with the Chambersburg community is
only part of why it’s so special to Doubell, who grew
up in the synagogue attending services and playing
hide-and-seek with the rabbi’s son.

While the congregation has shrunken, it remains
deeply connected to Chambersburg and Judaism,
with members looking forward to every Friday.

“Without the Chambersburg synagogue, the next
closest is so far away, it would really cut off those
who want to go to services and be part of the Jewish
community. I don’t have time to go to Harrisburg,”
Doubell said.

Th e synagogue is looking to hire a new full-time
rabbi, as a part-time rabbi left for a new posi-
tion. Rabbi Dr. Samuel Richardson, who works for
the Jewish National Fund as the director of small
community outreach, is serving during the High
Holidays, then staying on through Sukkot. JE
hross@midatlanticmedia.com The bimah of Congregation Sons of Israel in Chambersburg
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 19