Down on Cherry Blossom Lane in Los Gatos, the members of Congregation Shir Hadash are cheering. After all, it isn’t every day their synagogue turns 25. So to celebrate the milestone, anniversary events will take place over many days throughout the year.
A quarter century after its founding, the 550-member Reform congregation is going strong. “We have energy,” explains Shir Hadash President Linda Rossen. “We’re very friendly. We do our best to connect people with one another, and we welcome congregants and those that are not congregants.”
Today, Shir Hadash (which means “new song” in Hebrew) is housed in a stylish brick-face facility remodeled in 1997. The temple boasts a booming religious school and preschool, an extensive adult education curriculum and broad community outreach/social action programming.
Not bad for a congregation that once held board meetings in a converted lunchroom, held b’nai mitzvah ceremonies in congregants’ homes and passed the hat at services to raise money to pay for overhead.
Founding member and former temple President Dave Franklin remembers the early days of Shir Hadash. “We were looking for a temple that would be kept small and where everyone knew each other,” says the retired real estate developer. “One of the problems was people in mixed marriages weren’t accepted readily. So we felt strongly that everyone should be accepted, loved and included. We wanted a warm, caring temple.”
In 1980, Franklin teamed up with other South Peninsula Jews to acquire rental property in Los Gatos then owned by the school district. “We immediately moved in,” he recalls. “Everyone came with trucks and vans. It was one of those wonderful days when everyone was excited. Then we had to find the money to buy this place.”
To raise the required funds took a determined group. Franklin cites Jim and Sylvia Katzman, Mel Jacobs, Tom Bear, Max Letween and Chuck Rubenstein as the main heroes. “Without them we wouldn’t be around,” he says.
The original head rabbi was Jerry Levy, but after he and two subsequent rabbis came and went, the congregation hired Cincinnati native Melanie Aron in 1990. She’s been there ever since, overseeing a near doubling in the size of the congregation.
“Once we settled on Rabbi Aron, the congregation got much stronger,” says Rossen. “She has a great mind, and brought stability for us. For me she is phenomenal one-on-one with people.”
Adds Franklin, “Everybody just loves Melanie. Some people didn’t want a woman rabbi at first. I said they were crazy. She has a warmth, organizational skills and a can-do spirit.”
Aron has a more modest take on her contributions. “A couple of things have been true since the beginning,” she says. “We always had a democratic leadership style. Things that might be done by pros are congregational decisions. Also, we’ve really reached out to interfaith couples, Jews from different backgrounds and the GLBT community.”
Cantor Devorah Felder-Levy, now in her 10th year at Shir Hadash, has also been a vital asset, says Rossen.
Over 25 years, a few foul-ups were bound to happen. Aron recalls the time High Holy Day services, originally scheduled to take place at a Masonic Temple, had to be relocated on short notice. “We went out to Great America,” says Aron, “in a very ugly hall that smelled of popcorn.”
And of course, over the years some beloved congregants have died as well.
But on a happier note, Rossen looks back at the construction of the new 11,000-sq. foot facility as a personal highlight. “We told everybody we would build, and we followed through,” she says. “It took us three years, and we had to get a bridge loan. But we did it.”
These days Aron no longer carries the entire rabbinic load. Rabbi Lisa Rosenberg serves as Shir Hadash educator, and Assistant Rabbi Joel Fleekop is on staff to help attract young adult Jews into the fold.
That’s already happening, as second generation Shir Hadash members are now grown and have begun assuming positions of authority in congregational life. “We have someone who went to the religious school with our oldest son who is now on the board,” notes Rossen.
The entire congregation, young and old, is celebrating the 25th anniversary together. Organizers are calling it “A Series of Fortunate Events,” with 28 individual shindigs for members to chose from, including a Passover “taste-and-tell,” a Texas Hold ‘Em poker night, an evening of Broadway standards sung by Cantor Felder-Levy and, for the
science-minded, a tour of Stanford University’s linear accelerator.
Monies raised will go to speed future plans for expansion, remodeling and programming. But for the old-timers at Shir Hadash, this is also a time to look back.
“It went very fast,” says Franklin, “and serving here was one of the high points of my life. I was so busy with temple life my [former business] partners who weren’t Jewish used to say to me “Are you still working for us?”
For more information on events celebrating the 25th anniversary of Congregation Shir Hadash, call (408) 358-1751.