Old-timers and new members of the Moriah Masorti Congregation in Haifa, the first Masorti (Conservative) synagogue to be established in Israel, have just celebrated their 70th anniversary with a gala evening of entertainment and reunion in the Hecht Auditorium of the University of Haifa.
Gathering in the foyer and greeting one another with much warmth and joy, the members had an opportunity to meet the new rabbi, Mati Shultz. He had arrived during the 12-day war with Iran, so he had a shaky start to his new job.
It all started in 1955 when a few Orthodox olim started to seek an egalitarian style of prayer service. Used to the community experience of Diaspora synagogues, they were dissatisfied with the average synagogues in Israel, where services were conducted without any social networking.
Among those new immigrants were Mahal volunteers who remained in Israel and set up a synagogue for immigrants who had no extended family in Israel. The newly established Moriah Congregation was very much influenced by American, British, South African, and European synagogue practices. In recent years, as members from more varied cultures have joined the congregation, Sephardi verses and music have been introduced.
Those founders have passed away, but taking the stage at the gala to talk about their history were the next generation, their children. The youngest among them were Ori Friedland and Danny Steiner, who were born into the community. They spoke of their generation of youngsters, mostly new immigrants who formed the first Noam youth movement. “We always felt such warmth and security at Moriah,” said Steiner.
The setting up of the synagogue and the search for premises continued, with the occasional visiting rabbi for the High Holy Days, until 1968 with the appointment of the legendary Rabbi Charles Segal.
It took more than another two decades after Moriah opened its doors for the national Israeli Masorti movement to be established. With Moriah as the flagship congregation, many of its volunteers became active in the national movement and the struggle for recognition.
Moriah synagogue today
Although the municipality owns the synagogue building in Haifa, the maintenance is paid for by the congregation, and a major renovation of the run-down property some years ago was paid fully by donations from the congregants. Today it is a comfortable, well-illuminated building, with its glass walls looking out onto a verdant garden.
While even the more Orthodox members accepted the practice of family seating, there was much discussion among the women about their needs and their place in the synagogue. In 1989, Einat Ramon returned from the Jewish Theological Seminary in the US as the first ordained female rabbi. Inevitably, the women of Moriah began to demand a more active role in the reading of the Torah and other tasks that were traditionally given to the men. At the gala, past president Naomi Feigin told the audience about the very controversial meeting where the majority voted for these changes.
Although the English-speaking immigrants were still very prominent in the running of the congregation, mainstream Israelis also began to seek a more tolerant but traditional prayer environment. Families celebrating a child’s bar or bat mitzvah were impressed by the thorough preparation and family involvement in these celebrations. The Russian wave of immigration brought in Jews who were thirsty for knowledge, and they took the opportunity to attend the many lectures and courses that took place in the synagogue’s beit midrash.
As part of their outreach to the community, the Moriah Congregation was the first in 1991 to set up a bar mitzvah program for special-needs children, a project that continues through the Masorti communities in Israel. Transportation, food, and gifts are provided for children who come from special-needs schools in the area for a weekday morning service, where the bar mitzvah can be celebrated with dignity and warmth.
On Passover and Rosh Hashanah, donations are collected to provide boxes of essential provisions for families in need, with congregation members packing the boxes and delivering them.
The synagogue is bustling at all hours of the day and evening with meetings, an ulpan for new immigrants, and evenings of Jewish verse and song.
The final presentation at the gala evening was hosted by past president Yossi Cafiri, who invited another past president, Gershon Nave, to talk about his efforts to introduce more Israelis to balance the Anglo-Saxon membership.
He was joined by Josh Wiesen, aged 92. He has been active in the synagogue since his aliyah from New York in 1974, continuously taking on the tasks that keep the congregation running smoothly, such as fund-raising to keep afloat, leading the prayer services, and lecturing in the beit midrash. As gabbai on Shabbat, he remembers the names of everyone and pays extra attention to those who are celebrating a simcha or are mourning a loved one.
When this writer asked current chairman Ethan Kushnir why he was not prominent on the stage but worked very hard behind the scenes, he replied: “Moriah is not just one person. Its strength is in its team of volunteers, all contributing according to their talents.” Kushnir had produced an archival movie, which was shown to the audience at the start of the evening.
After October 7, Moriah Congregation opened a special fund to supply essential items to soldiers and evacuees. The rabbi at the time, David Arias, was on reserve duty and sent lists of the many shortages. Avoiding the middleman, Kushnir and a network of volunteers purchased the items and delivered them personally to those in need.
A glossy souvenir booklet was handed out to the participants, which contained information about the congregation and its history, as well as pictures of its founders and previous leaders.
Between the presentations, cantor Boaz Davidoff sang and played the guitar, with an emotional finale as all stood for “Hatikvah.”■
Kehilat Moriah, 7 Horev St., Haifa. www.kehilatmoriah.org