HALIFAX — A new synagogue building is bringing a new feeling of confidence that the small Saint John, N.B., Jewish community will grow again and prosper.
The Havdalah service began in the evening. As well as representing the change from Shabbat to the weekday, it marked the transfer from the old shul of 90 years to the new location.
These were the passionate feelings of Shaarei Zedek Congregation president, Norman Hamburg, as he described the positive impact that a move to a re-vamped funeral home on Leinster Street will have on a community with 30 families, only half of whom are fully Jewish, but whose enthusiasm contributes to regular Friday night and Saturday morning services.
A year ago, with costs rising and member numbers dwindling, the congregation’s old building on Carleton Street, bought from a church community almost a century ago, was sold to the city for development. After finding the new location, following an extensive search for something of a proper size, Hamburg said the “new” building’s renovation is now complete.
“Services were held here for a few months, even as the building was being refurbished into a sanctuary and very-popular and well-developed Saint John Historical Museum site,” Hamburg, a retired retailer, said. “The museum was active all summer for visitors from the general community and Jewish travellers on the many cruise ships that called on the Port of Saint John.”
The official congregational dedication occurred during the post-High Holiday period. But on the evening of Saturday, Oct. 24, lay leaders from the wider community – government representatives who assisted with funding; clergy from various Saint John denominations in the Muslim, Catholic and Protestant communities, and others from the non-Jewish sector joined congregants to celebrate a mini-Havdalah service. It was a time for Shaarei Zedek to show off its new facilities to the wider community. A video of Saint John’s rich Jewish history was shown from a new ceiling-mounted projector.
“By last Saturday night, we were ready to show off what we’ve developed in a smaller space than our old building, which was becoming much too large for our dwindling numbers, much harder to justify with the increasing costs of operation.”
The old building was sold to the city more than a year ago for downtown development. The sale and move to a former funeral home on Leinster Street became necessary as the congregation, which numbered about 1,400 in post-peak immigration times from 1920 and through the 1950s, dwindled to to 28 families today after out-migration to larger centres.
“We’ve had increased attendance in the last couple of months,” Hamburg said, lauding his congregation’s efforts to attract younger families and members.
“Our focus has been to sell ourselves to those we don’t see often or at all,” he said. “It’s a chance to develop new programs, aside from the religious part we traditionally provide. If we can appeal to the Jewishness of people, even if they’re non-religious, that’s OK. If we’re offering educational programs and Jewish-themed movies and social events that will bring them a feeling of community within the new building, we’ll continue to thrive.”
The new two-floor building has a sanctuary on the main floor, with the museum in an adjacent section. The upstairs has three rooms, plus a kitchen, that will be used for social events. It’s virtually finished now, Hamburg said.
“There’s a new optimism in our community. Our congregants love the new shul. We’ve combined the old and the new, put it into a sanctuary that holds 100 people and is warmer and cozier. It just feels right to us.”
He concluded, “We really have about 15 active families, but even during the winter when many people go south, we can have services for 15 to 30 people on Friday nights and 10 to 20 on Saturday.”