Woonsocket congregation to meet Sunday to decide its future

Congregation B’nai Israel, in Woonsocket, like many synagogues in Rhode Island, is facing some difficult challenges.

The oldest Conservative synagogue in Rhode Island, B’nai Israel once served 200 member families in northern Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts with an array of cultural, educational and religious programming, including a thriving Hebrew School. The current synagogue building was designed by Samuel Glazer, an internationally known synagogue designer, and dedicated in 1962. The building is an architectural treasure, with many religious and symbolic art objects, 30 stained glass windows and an ark cover and curtain created by Anni Albers, a world-renowned textile artist and German Jew who trained at Bauhaus.

Now, the dwindling membership must care for an aging building that needs constant upkeep and increasingly expensive capital repairs. The Hebrew school recently closed. And while some programming and weekly worship continues, led by part-time Cantor Jeff Cornblatt, the membership stands at about 65 families, some of whom live outside the area, according to Jeremy Brenner, president of the congregation.

Capital repairs are estimated to require $750,000 and ongoing operations for the synagogue require $80,000 to $90,000 annually to cover heat, maintenance, insurance, etc., not including the costs of part-time office staff and clergy.

In his Yom Kippur message, Brenner told the congregants that action needs to be taken as the building can no longer be sustained by the present membership.

As president for more than a decade, Brenner told The Voice that his message is nothing new, but the need for action is becoming more urgent. The building is expensive to maintain on a day-to-day basis; it needs a new roof; and the parking lot, driveway, and heating and air conditioning system need urgent attention.

A meeting on the future of the congregation has been scheduled for Oct. 15 at 11 a.m. at B’nai Israel, 224 Prospect St., Woonsocket. All who have an interest in the congregation are encouraged to attend.

 “I’m trying to get people engaged,” Brenner said.

He and Judy Schoenfeld, vice president, both emphasized that the congregation is not closing. No decisions have been made yet on the future.

“People have this perception of what we are going to do,” Brenner said. “I really don’t know.”

He said the decision will depend on the response from the B’nai Israel community.

The status of the community and the building are separate. “The building is just a building,” he said. “The meeting is to discuss what the community wants to do, where they want to go. This is to allow people to come and have a conversation.”

Also, on Yom Kippur, Brenner announced that the ark cover and curtains have been sold to the Anni and Josef Albers Foundation, in Bethany, Connecticut, whose mission is to preserve both artists’ work and legacy. He told The Voice that the foundation has been in touch over the years to check on the textiles. The sale, for $350,000, ensures that the artworks will be restored and preserved, as well as being exhibited worldwide.

“They will be preserved beyond the way we can keep them,” he said. “B’nai Israel’s name will be associated with them.”

The money is not enough to finance capital repairs, so it will be used as seed money for the congregation’s future.

Should the congregation decide to stay in the Prospect Street building, another means will be found to respectfully cover the ark, Brenner said.

Brenner, who was born the same year the synagogue opened, grew up around the corner from the building. He was married there, and his sons became Bar Mitzvahs there. He said this is very personal for him and he wants to do what is best.

Schoenfeld has been a member for more than two dozen years. She reminisced about break-fast meals with 350 people attending. This year, break-fast attendance was 50.

But congregants still gathered in advance, as they always have, to cook the meal in one of two commercial kitchens in B’nai Israel that were built for a much larger congregation. Schoenfeld said a special sense of community continues for the members that remains.

And the two are hoping that everyone will come together at Sunday’s meeting to share ideas for B’nai Israel’s future.

FRAN OSTENDORF (fostendorf@jewishallianceri.org) is the editor of The Jewish Voice.