Congregation Beth-El will hold its last services in its own synagogue on Yom Kippur. The 65-year-old Conservative congregation in the Town of Mount Royal (TMR), Que., is entering into a two-year trial “association” with Shaare Zion Congregation.
Beth-El president Morton Mendelson said the dwindling congregation could simply no longer afford to maintain its building.
The congregation had about 225 membership units (families or individuals) as of last year, he said. “At its peak, our membership was certainly three times that.”
Like many other mainstream Ashkenazic congregations in the Montreal area, Beth-El’s membership has been declining for many years, due to people leaving Quebec, the aging of those who remain and a drop in synagogue membership among young people.
“Our three children, for example, don’t live in Quebec,” said Mendelson. “It’s a painful decision. Many members are very sad about this.”
Beth-El’s last rabbi, Steven Schwarzman, left in June for a post in Edmonton, after a three-year stint. It was a period of relative stability, at least in terms of spiritual leadership (the congregation has had difficulty finding permanent clergy since Rabbi Ronnie Cahana suffered a devastating stroke in 2011).
The Beth-El synagogue, which opened on Lucerne Road in 1956, is close to being sold. “An offer to purchase has been signed and we assume the sale will close by the end of the year,” Mendelson said.
The boards of trustees of Beth-El and Shaare Zion, which is on Côte-St-Luc Road in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, approved a plan in August that sets out the terms of a “collaboration agreement.”
This is one of co-habitation and co-operation; it is not a merger. That would have required, for Beth-El’s part, a two-thirds vote by the membership at large, Mendelson said. The membership did vote in favour of selling the synagogue, he added.
As per the agreement, the two congregations will be independent and continue to be governed by their own autonomous boards of trustees, which will remain in control of budgetary matters. Beth-El members will have the same access as Shaare Zion members to Shaare Zion clergy, life cycle and pastoral services, as well as to programming.
The two congregations will enter into a separate agreement regarding “innovative programming,” the details of which will be determined by a committee comprised of members from each congregation.
Rabbi Aubrey Glazer, who became Shaare Zion’s senior rabbi just over a year ago, will be the mara d’atra, which in Conservative Judaism means the halakhic decisor, of the joint community.
Rabbi emeritus Cahana will continue to minister to individual Beth-El members, and his wife Karen, a social worker, is available to support them.
Mendelson said some Beth-El members opted not to remain with the congregation. “There’s a lot of soul-searching going on, but we hope to keep a critical mass,” he said.
At the end of the two years, Beth-El members in good standing will have to decide whether to merge with Shaare Zion, or pursue something else, Mendelson said. A merger, of course, would also have to be approved by Shaare Zion.
Shaare Zion, which was founded in 1924 and has been in its current building since 1947, has about 900 members. The only other viable Conservative congregation is Shaare Zedek Congregation, which is also in NDG, but is not egalitarian.
“Our prayers and services are virtually the same (as at Shaare Zion). Women have a full role in both congregations,” said Mendelson. (Women are equal at both congregations, including being counted in a minyan.)
The agreement speaks of both congregations’ desire to “reinvent” themselves in order to attract new members.
One idea being discussed is “satellite” programming, perhaps in areas further away or designed to reach people who might otherwise not come to the synagogue.
To keep cemetery rights, current Beth-El members will have to maintain at least an associate membership. Yahrzeit plaques are being displayed temporarily at Shaare Zion for the two-year period.
The bimah and other objects will be temporarily displayed at Shaare Zion, or stored during the transitional period.
From 1959 to 1989, Beth-El was led by Rabbi Allan Langner, who served as rabbi emeritus until his death last year.
