Historical September 1986 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
When the St. Louis Jewish Light briefly announced the formation of a new Jewish congregation last November, very few readers realized that new ground was about to be broken in the Jewish community in St. Louis.
Not that St. Louis has a shortage of synagogues, on the contrary.
But even in a community with a full range of Jewish congregations, from tiny Orthodox shtiblach to very large Conservative synagogues and Reform temples, Etz Hayyim is different.
It is believed to be the only congregation begun as a Conservative group — other Conservative congregations evolved from an Orthodox orientation.
In a time when other congregations have left the Central West End and University City areas — historically centers of Jewish life in St. Louis, this group insists that these areas are still viable Jewish communities.
And in a tradition in which women have historically been excluded from many phases of communal and religious life, this congregation insists on equal participation, status, and responsibilities of men and women, with the men apparently as dedicated to the principle as the women. Etz Hayyim began as the brainchild of Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen and Solon Chervitz. Rabbi Cohen, formerly an associate rabbi at B’nai Amoona, was troubled by the flight of the large congregations of eastern University City to the suburbs — and by the plight of the Jews they left behind, many elderly and with limited financial resources. Mr. Chervitz was equally concerned with the disintegration of the community he had known as a teenager, and both men wondered if the situation were truly inevitable.
They resolved to see if a new synagogue were a possibility in the Loop area.
When B’nai Amoona withdrew the last of its activities to the congregation’s new facilities on Mason Road last fall, Mr. Chervitz and Rabbi Cohen felt that the time had come.
It was not necessary to line up financial backing to guarantee salaries, since both already held other jobs. (Rabbi Cohen is Director of Pastoral Services at Missouri State Hospital; Mr. Chervitz is at Lindenwood College.) The two incorporated the congregation as a not-forprofit Missouri corporation; arranged to use space in the University City Senior Center for a few weeks, and placed an ad in the St. Louis Jewish Light announcing the new synagogue.
They had expected to attract many longtime residents of the area, people who had raised families there, and who had remained in the area after those families grew up. Prevailing wisdom was that the young families were moving west, attracted by newer housing with larger yards.
The response was a surprise: young couples with babies as well as older couples. Continued on page 5
“We had expected to be the youngest people in the congregation,” says Rabbi Cohen. “We were astonished, and very pleased, to find ourselves in the middle of the age range.” Established congregations have been very supportive of the new group, lending prayer books, Bibles, and Torah scrolls.
The congregation has coalesced into a community very quickly, unified by a view of the synagogue as a place for prayer first of all.
There are no auxiliary groups, no purely social activities.
The congregation has returned to a traditional model of the rabbi’s role in the community as well.
The traditional rabbi supported himself and his family through the exercise of a trade or profession, while he served the community as a teacher of the tradition and interpreter of the law. Rabbi Cohen sees himself as a member of the community, and a resource for the community Others in the community are responsible for many of the functions that rabbis have in other congregations.
These include public relations and fund raising, locating and arranging for physical plant, educational activities, and the mechanics of the worship services. Etz Hayyim is run by a board of directors, but board meetings are open to all members, and the board tends to operate as a committee of the whole. “In a congregation this small,” points out one board member, “everybody has to do something, or the work doesn’t get done.
We all have to be machers.” Now, Etz Hayyim is looking forward to itsfirst celebration of the High Holy Days. Plans are incomplete, but all services will be held at University United Methodist Church, where the congregation has been quartered since April: The congregation has decided to accommodate others who want to join them for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, requesting a donation of $25 per adult from non-members to help defray expenses. (Call 863-0175 or 991-0832 for more information on High Holy Days services.) And after that? Rabbi Cohen foresees a congregation of 200 to 250 families, a size that he regards as large enough to be viable, and small enough that the congregation doesn’t lose its focus. Members seem to agree that a small congregation in the area can survive, pointing to the rejuvenation of the Loop and the Central West End to bolster their arguments.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, September 1986.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1986_09.pdf, printed page(s) 1, 5; PDF page(s) 1, 5.
