Former members of Congregation B’nai Emunah in San Francisco have said goodbye to their home of nearly 50 years.
The May 28 farewell ceremony came 2½ years after the Conservative congregation merged with Congregation Beth Israel Judea, a Reform synagogue about 3 miles away, to become Congregation Am Tikvah.
After a few years of alternating services between the old B’nai Emunah building in the Outer Sunset and Beth Israel Judea’s home on Brotherhood Way, it was time to pick a single, more permanent location (Brotherhood Way, where BIJ shares a campus with the Brandeis School, was chosen).
But it wasn’t all that simple.
“We didn’t feel we could just abandon the building,” said Sharon Bleviss, former B’nai Emunah president and current Am Tikvah co-president.
So instead of just shutting the doors and leaving, leadership laid out a final farewell to the building on Taraval Street at the corner of 46th Avenue.
Over the community’s last week there, in addition to services, there was an open house for congregants, new and old, to say goodbye and take a piece of B’nai Emunah with them. Souvenirs included books from the library and dishes from the kitchen with the congregation’s name.
Then Am Tikvah held a deconsecration ceremony — a process of removing a religious blessing from a building. Deconsecration as a practice is not outlined in Jewish law, but the tradition has been adopted by many synagogues moving on from their longtime homes. The May 28 ceremony was designed by a committee that included consultant Rabbi Alan Henkin and Linda Semi, Cantor Emerita at Am Tikvah. The service was officiated with care by Rabbi Batshir Torchio.
It proved to be an emotional afternoon, with proceedings that included remarks from former and current clergy and community leaders. In attendance were three of B’nai Emunah’s founding members. They were “Shanghailanders,” who fled Nazi Germany to Shanghai, one of the few cities around the world open to Jewish refugees. After conditions worsened in their adopted city, Jews were forced to immigrate again. This time, many came to San Francisco, where they founded the shul in the foggy Sunset.
It was a beautiful way of saying this building has served us well, and the community will continue on into the future.
San Francisco State University associate professor of Jewish studies Rachel B. Gross spoke about the meaning of the building to the community. Supervisors Rafael Mandelman and Joel Engardio took to the bimah to read a city resolution penned by Supervisor Myrna Melgar, who is an Am Tikvah congregant.
Then six former presidents of B’nai Emunah each removed a Torah from the ark. They marched around the synagogue before exiting out the open doors. On the way out, Rabbi Torchio, a longtime member and a former rabbinic intern at the synagogue, removed the mezuzah from the doorway. (The building is now on the market.)
There wasn’t a dry eye in the house, Bleviss said.
“It was a beautiful way of saying this building has served us well, and the community will continue on into the future,” she said.
Afterward, the community escorted the Torahs — by car — to Brotherhood Way. Am Tikvah, which describes its denomination as “dual affiliated with both the Conservative and Reform movements,” is composed of roughly 110 family-units from B’nai Emunah and 165 from Beth Israel Judea.
On Brotherhood Way, members of both pre-merger synagogues marched the Torahs into the building under a chuppah.
The Torahs were placed in their new ark, and congregants read the next week’s Torah portion. Shanghailander Guenter Gruschka dressed the Torah, and the day ended with a celebratory meal.
The move was just the next step in Am Tikvah’s journey. Later this month, the congregation will welcome its first full-time rabbi, San Francisco native Rabbi Chayva Lehrman.
“This was an important ceremony in and of itself,” Bleviss said. “It was also a part of moving forward.”
CORRECTED Aug. 11