synagogue spotlight
What’s happening at ... Old York Road Temple-Beth Am
Old York Road Temple-Beth Am
Celebrates 75th Anniversary
B orn right aft er World War II in
1947, just as Reform Judaism in
the United States was growing
into its modern, suburban form, Old
York Road Temple-Beth Am came of
age with the times.

It started as “a small but dedicated
group of families” who held High
Holiday services at the Abington
YMCA, according to the synagogue’s
history section on its website. But the
congregation bought its property on
Old York Road in 1950 and grew to
include 1,000 households by the 2000s.

Rabbis came and rabbis stayed. First,
Harold Waintrup from 1951 to 1992,
and then Robert Leib from 1989 to the
present day.

Members came, and they stayed,
too. Mark Lopatin, 65, joined in 1994
and said simply, “Th e synagogue is so
homey.” Larry Kane, the locally famous news
anchor, arrived at the temple in 1977 and
called it “a very diff erent kind of place.”
“I can tell you there’s just a sense
of belonging and friendship,” Kane
added. Th e newsman, now 79, was speak-
ing in the present tense when he said
that. By all accounts, Old York Road
Temple-Beth Am is still a place where
members want to stay.

And on Nov. 12, they may just stay
all night. Th at Saturday, the commu-
nity will celebrate its 75th anniversary
with a cocktail hour, dinner, dance and
silent auction. But mainly, congregants
are going to dance.

“Am I going to dance? I intend to,”
said Lopatin, who is chairing the gala
with his wife Suzan.

Leib will also let go and cut a rug, he
claims. But not until he lives up to his
role and puts the entire evening into
perspective fi rst.

“Th ere’s a sense of continuity and
stability,” he said. “Th at feeling of Beth
Am really being their second home.”
Today, that feeling persists, but it is
also fading as the congregation shrinks.

32 Old York Road Temple-Beth Am is not
immune from the illness infecting all
Philadelphia area synagogues in 2022
— the illness of declining faith.

Rabbi Leib acknowledged that the
community still needs to update the
congregant number, more than 650,
listed in the history section on its web-
site. Th e real fi gure is down to more
like 550 households.

As the rabbi said, more than 500
households is “nothing to scoff at.” But
it’s also nearly a 50% decline in less
than two decades.

Leib, though, refused to call the
trend a decline. Instead, he labeled it
a “generational demographic slump.”
He does not necessarily believe that
Old York Road Temple-Beth Am will
become a 1,000-household congrega-
tion again.

But he does believe it will “survive.”
“I’m not prepared to accept that
the proverbial writing is on the wall,”
Leib said.

Th e temple off ered 250 tickets to
the 75th-anniversary celebration to
the community, and the event sold
out quickly. Lopatin said the gala has
already raised between $135,000 and
$140,000, with a silent auction still to
go. All proceeds will go toward the
future of the synagogue.

Th e congregation, according to Leib,
includes “a substantial number” of
three-generation families and even a
few four-generation families. Lopatin
and Kane stayed involved with their
wives long aft er their children fi nished
their preschool and Jewish educations.

As a newsman, Kane is used to put-
ting things into perspective. He said the
congregation’s staying power is rooted
in a partnership between devoted
members and charismatic leaders.

Congregants are friendly to each
other; you feel at home as soon as
you walk in; and you do not just walk
in on the High Holidays. And Rabbi
Waintrup, Kane explained, “was a
giant.” He could make connections
with kids and adults. He used to tell
the news anchor that he watched him
“religiously.” Th e old rabbi’s sermons
SEPTEMBER 15, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
Old York Road Temple-Beth
Am challah ladies
Young congregants
celebrate the Jewish new
year at Old York Road
Temple-Beth Am.

were also “high-level” and “motivated
by the times of the day.”
Kane met Leib for the fi rst time at a
Sunday morning breakfast in 1989. He
called the moment exciting because he
noticed a lot of the same qualities in the
younger man, just with a South African
accent. Leib immigrated to the United
States aft er conscientiously objecting
to military service in his home coun-
try. He did not want to support South
Africa’s apartheid regime.

“You reach a point in life where you
realize the value of people of hon-
esty, integrity, quality, people who care
about others,” Kane said. “Th e two of
these men were into their work and
sensitive and caring.”
Leib is committed to keeping the
temple open and thriving. He says his
congregants are, too.

“By virtue of being an open, welcom-
ing and inclusive Jewish community to
all,” he said. “Th rough sheer grit and
determination to make sure that at all
costs our doors remain open.” JE
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com
Courtesy of Old York Road Temple-Beth Am
JARRAD SAFFREN | STAFF WRITER



d’var torah
Feel the Gifts That Are Ours
BY RABBI GARY CHARLESTEIN
Parshat Ki Tavo
“N ations should walk by
your light, kings by our
shining radiance” —
Isaiah informs us (60:3) that we — the
Jewish people, through our actions, by
our very elevated being, will serve as a
model for the world.

Th is fi tting challenge is attached in the
Haft orah to the Torah portion of Ki Tavo
(Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8), and it is well
placed. For we are told, in the parsha, of
the many blessings which will follow our
obedience to God’s law and our tradition,
as well as the terrible consequences of our
straying from our raison d’etre.

We indeed have been blessed by the
wisdom and insights of our tradition,
found in our literature, and in our
prayers, and found in our learning from
one another. We are fortunate to live in
a community of various shades of Jewish
belief and practice, but one where we all
support each other.

Th e instruction starts right at the
beginning of our portion when the ritual
of bringing the fi rst fruits to the sanctu-
ary is described. Of course, the farmer’s
own eff orts, his back-breaking labor were
a strong part of the success of the growing
season as, too, we can look at our own
comforts and say, “Yes, I worked hard,
and I made it.”
But that farmer and we also recognize
that there are so many factors beyond our
control — that there are so many forces
that provide the opportunity and the
basis for success. Th e rains, sun, the soil,
our education, our parents, our friends
and family from and for all of these we
must take note and must give thanks.

Th e fact of gratitude saw the Judean
farmer bringing from his grain and from
his fruits, an off ering of faith, an off ering
of thankfulness for being rewarded with a
bountiful harvest. Such gratitude and rec-
ognition of the good is a hallmark of Jewish
thought. Th is is why we are told to make
a blessing whenever we enjoy an element
of this world; be it food, be it the sight of a
beautiful fl ower or a soaring mountain.

We are reminded in the liturgy of
this “bikkurim” ritual, that we had been
slaves, that we have been downtrodden,
that we were delivered from oppression
and given the opportunity to build free-
dom and Holiness.

Th at opportunity, thank God, is still
very much with us. We have been blessed
by living in the light of a renewed state of
Israel, which beckons all of us to visit; to
contribute to its growth and strength; to
take pride in all of her achievements; and
to glory in her magnifi cence.

While half of the Jewish world lives in
the state of Israel, we are all free and hope-
fully able to spend time, serious time there.

At any moment, there are more than 400
foreign young people, Americans and other
non-citizens serving in the Israeli Army out
of a sense of gratitude, of appreciation, of a
desire to support the state.

Th us, for our time now in recognition of
all that has been accomplished, despite the
horrors and destruction of the Shoah, per-
haps we can understand why we are called
a “treasured people” as we are also called a
“nation of priests”; for we must recognize
the many blessings which are ours and
enhance our community and the world by
building a just and righteous society.

While this parsha contains a powerful
outcry in preparation for entering the
land, “Here Israel, today you have become
the People of the Lord your God,” we
can and should every day proclaim how
grateful are we to be part of this eternal
people, whose mission is to bring light
and blessing to the world.

From the most basic warnings against
murder and incest, we also see the
nuanced reminder that we must not mis-
direct a blind person on his way, we must
not subvert the rights of the stranger
the fatherless and widow, we must not
remove our neighbor’s landmark. Th ese
ever-present warnings remind us of our
daily obligations as our remarkable his-
tory can tell us that from the darkest days
can come the greatest of achievements.

A new year is weeks away. Take the
time to read these Torah messages, sent
out every week, for each of us to observe
and to make part of our daily living.

Prepare for the holidays by reviewing this
past year as Moses now does with the
people he is about to leave. Have a beau-
tiful Shabbos and a signifi cant period of
readiness leading to Rosh Hashanah. Feel
the gift s that are ours. ... JE
Rabbi Gary Charlestein is a graduate
of the Jewish Th eological Seminary and
served six years in the pulpit rabbinate. He
is a member of Har Zion Temple in Penn
Valley and teaches two weekly Talmud
classes and a Zoom Lunch and Learn on
the parsha. Th e Board of Rabbis of Greater
Philadelphia is proud to provide diverse
perspectives on Torah commentary for the
Jewish Exponent. Th e opinions 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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