August 9, 2013

http://www.thejewishadvocate.com/news/2013-08-09/Top_News/Randolph_synagogue_moving_on.html

Randolph synagogue moving on

Relocation to Canton caused division among leadership

By Susie Davidson

Special to The Advocate

Photo: Brenda Davidson

Young Israel-Kehillath Jacob’s longtime location in Randolph has been sold to the Spring of Water Christian Assembly.

Jews have wandered throughout their history, even inspiring the name of three species of the “Wandering Jew” spiderwort plant. And lately, given changing times and changing demographics, many of their synagogues have also been earning the moniker.

Such is the case of Young Israel Kehillath Jacob, an Orthodox synagogue that began as a small Randolph group and came to include two separate congregations, Young Israel in Dorchester and Kehillath Jacob in Mattapan, during the 50-year span of that Jewish community. Since 1968, the synagogue has been housed on North Main Street in Randolph, beginning as a modest chapel that was expanded into a building in 1980. Membership, once robust, has been declining over the past few years, and it has become more and more difficult to form a minyan, the 10-man unit that Jewish law deems necessary to hold prayer services.

Negotiations for the sale of the building began in 2012, and on June 25 members opted to sell it to the Spring of Water Christian Assembly, a congregation founded in 2001 that has itself relocated in its past, from its first site at the Holiday Inn (currently a Comfort Inn) near the Randolph/Milton line to 90 Pleasant St., where it has been since 2003.

The synagogue will henceforth be renting space at the Chai Center at 580 Washington St. in nearby Canton. Rabbi Mendy Horowitz, who operates the center with his wife Rivka and their family, has served as the Rabbi at Young Israel for the past four years, ever since longtime Rabbi Bennett Shaffer retired and departed.

Spring of Water Christian Assembly is representative of the Pentecostal Christian congregations that serve the growing black, Asian and other minority communities in Randolph, located 15 miles south of Boston. The sale is also indicative of the welcoming relationship Jews have often extended toward other minority communities.

But that history does not make it any easier for the longtime members of Young Israel-Kehillath Jacob to vacate their longtime home site. “In 1979, prior to building the main building, there were 210 worshippers present in our sanctuary,” recalled Simeon Korisky of Randolph, one of the synagogue’s three Co- Presidents. “In truth, it held about 50 people comfortably.” However, he said the new building never had that many people at any service: “I guess that was the beginning of the exodus of our congregation, either through moving or people just dying off.”

Korisky, who served as the shul’s first President and who has held the office several times over the past 45 years, said 60 families still receive synagogue mailings, although the total number of paid-up members is much smaller. “Even our oncethriving Hebrew School, which started out as a five-day-a weekschool, ended up as a three-day school,” he said. The synagogue’s Sisterhood is still growing, although the Brotherhood has stayed the same size for years.

Despite the realities, Korisky opposed the move to Canton. “The money could be better spent,” he said. He would rather see it go to charities, and he has a plan to immortalize the Young Israel name: “Israel always needs ambulances, and I proposed the donation of an ambulance painted with the Young Israel name and address,” he said. The purchase would cost $125,000, which, following the sale, is within the synagogue’s budget. “It would be an everlasting memorial to our shul,” he said. Sharing Koritsky’s reticence is President Stephen Minkofsky, a longtime town resident and congregant. “It came down to the congregation aging out, and donations not coming in,” said Minkofsky, who also would have preferred that the money go elsewhere. “For example, it could have gone to any number of Jewish causes.” Minkofsky shares presidential duties with Korisky and Steven Pearlstein, a tradition that began with Korisky wintering in Florida while desiring to maintain strong leadership at the synagogue.

“We tried everything, even rezoning to lease part of the site for retail,” said Minkofsky.

But they also looked at voting lists for the town for recruits, according to Pearlstein. “Many Jewish people in Randolph were unaffiliated with either synagogue in Randolph,” he said. (The conservative Temple Beth Am, about a mile north, has had its own membership issues; a proposed move and merger with Ahavat Torah Congregation of Stoughton and Temple Beth Emunah in Brockton recently fell through when Ahavat Torah pulled out.) “But the key is, we never got young membership coming in. We were not getting new blood. What opens the door in Canton is that you have an existing group of people, and we are hoping that they will also join our shul and grow. That is our goal.”

Treasurer Mark Nankin also supports the move. “We needed to raise revenue to keep going, and this gives us the opportunity to do that,” he said. “We are able to keep the same Rabbi that we have had for the past few years. He is a wonderful man, he has a wonderful family, and he wants to do good. We came to what I thought was a reasonable accommodation for both parties.”

And it’s one befitting the history of the synagogue, according to Pearlstein, who also expressed fondness for the Rabbi. “I know how hard it was for the original founding fathers to start the synagogue in the first place,” he said. “There was a lot of blood, sweat and tears involved in order to get the shul the way the original members wanted it to be. Why would we end it on a sour note, with it ending? I wanted it to continue in any way, shape or form.”

Korisky, however, noted the synagogue members’ ages. “It will be difficult for them to continue in Canton,” he said, adding that there are only a handful who may.

That’s not a consideration for Nankin, who said many congregants don’t live in Randolph anyway. “A few of us do, but others are kind of all over the place,” he said. “And that means that we do not necessarily need to remain in Randolph.” He said the decision was not his unilaterally. “We put it before the board and the members, and they voted overwhelmingly to go ahead and sell the building and move to the Chai Center.” In addition to the Presidents and officers, Nankin said, about 30 members were present for the vote.

“To a great extent, we are victims of our own success,” said Nankin. “Our children have done well; we were able to raise them well and they moved from the area.”

According to Korisky, the birth of Young Israel-Kehillath Jacob in Randolph was due to an ad that appeared in the Randolph Moneysaver handout, soliciting interest in forming an Orthodox synagogue. “Eight people answered the ad, and the congregation was started,” he said. With the man who placed the ad and his son, they had a minyan. “We started to meet every Sunday at each other’s homes for morning services and informal meetings to discuss the manner in which we were to proceed,” he said. Congregation Beth El of Dorchester supplied prayer books, and one of the 10 happened to be a Rabbi.

Fundraising began for purchasing a home base. “On July 12, 1968, we incorporated as Congregation Young Israel of Randolph,” said Korisky. The building at 374 North Main St. had become available, and they had raised enough for a down payment. Services for the High Holy Days were held at the Boston School for the Deaf, which donated a room. The group borrowed a “Shulchan” (reading table) from one of the synagogues in Dorchester, and a late benefactor, Charles Epstein, donated holiday prayer books in honor of his children. On Nov. 1 of that year, they took possession of the newly purchased property and began to turn it into a synagogue.

In the meantime, a search committee was visiting synagogues in Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan. “We wanted to see if they would be willing to move their synagogues to the Randolph area to perpetuate their names,” said Korisky. None responded, but attendance by local South Shore residents was brisk in Randolph. “We tore down walls so that we could accommodate as many people as possible for our services,” he said.

Following Passover of 1971, they held services morning, afternoon and evening (Shacharis, Mincha and Maariv). When Young Israel in Dorchester sold its building, which had been located across the street from the famed G&G Delicatessen, it became Young Israel of Mattapan and Randolph.

In 1979, Congregation Kehillath Jacob left Fessenden Street in Mattapan and joined the Randolph synagogue, and in 1980, Young Israel-Kehillath Jacob of Mattapan and Randolph constructed a building to further accommodate the new influx of people coming in from the Greater Boston area.

For at least one congregant, the recent decision to move to Canton did not take much thought. “I will go because I’m Orthodox, I was born Orthodox, and it’s the closest Orthodox synagogue around now,” said Aron Raboy of Braintree, a Holocaust survivor. “There’s nothing to be angry about,” he said. “Other synagogues did it. We had 45 years there, and this is not an exceptional situation. Nothing could be done.” He added, “Rabbi Horowitz is a nice Rabbi.”

The Chai Center offers a full range of Judaic programming that includes bar and bat mitzvah preparation, Torah study, women’s programs, adult education, youth activities, a teen club, and the grandscale holiday events for which affiliated Chabad centers are known. The closest Jewish Orthodox synagogues are in Sharon, Brighton, Brookline and Newton.

“The synagogue is continuing,” said Horowitz, who is in the process of renovating his building so that the former congregants can use the first floor. “In fact, it will grow stronger.”

He added, “The members voted overwhelmingly to come to Canton. They felt that they would continue, one town over, with the same Rabbi.”

Horowitz came to the area 10 years ago to serve as camp director at Gan Israel in Sharon, and taught for several years at the Chabad Center in Sharon (other area Chabad centers are located in Stoughton and Mansfield). “People said that there was a need for a center in Canton,” he recalled, noting that while Chabad does not have “membership,” as it welcomes everyone to participate, there are 200 families involved in the Canton site. Horowitz said the area Chabad centers schedule events separately to avoid conflicts, and they collaborate as well. “My own son is in the preschool in Stoughton,” he said.

The Rabbi tried to keep the Randolph location going. “When I arrived, they were nearly closing,” he recalled. “We were able to combine the people from Canton and Randolph for several years to keep it going.” Horowitz regularly brought in family members as well as students from Orthodox yeshiva schools, and when there was a three-day holiday, his entire family would remain in Randolph. “And we had the best kiddush (post-Sabbath services meal) in town,” he said. Indeed, his wife famously cooks and prepares large spreads of food for every Shabbat and holiday. “Everyone is welcome to come and sample the best kiddush and cholent in town, every Shabbat, at the new location.”

Horowitz helped bring the synagogue’s holy items over to Canton. “The Yahrzeit plates are in Canton right now and will be displayed on our walls,” he said. “The Torahs were wrapped in tallitot (prayer shawls) and transported. And we even managed to dismantle the Ark, which we hope to reconstruct here. We did not miss one Shachrit; there was no pause.”

The renovations, he said, would be energy-efficient and as green as possible. “We are here to save the planet, which is G-d’s creation,” he said. The center has installed all LED lighting that is on timers, converted the old oil system to natural gas that is 96 percent efficient, and added insulation. “Members are continuing to pray here, continuing to come,” he said. “That is the beauty of it, and others should see for themselves.”

“We’re paying them a certain amount per month, but it’s not entirely rent,” said Nankin. “It also covers the Rabbi’s salary, utilities, insurance for the building, and other necessities,” he said. “When you include all of that, we are not paying them a lot of money. We are actually getting a lot for the money.”

Most importantly, they’re getting a roof over their head, a sanctuary, and a chance to continue.

“It’s what happened in Mattapan,” said Raboy, who belonged to the original synagogue there, which was led by the famed Rabbi Samuel I. Korff. “We had no choice. I went along with it.”

Despite the delicate and divisive nature of the negotiations, this is clearly a group with longstanding and close ties. When first asked where he might spend the High Holidays, Minkofsky said he may go to Beth Am, as he has many friends there. But later, he said, “You know, after talking with you about it, I think I may check out the Chai Center.”