Adath Israel in Merion Station has something for everyone.
It is a deeply ingrained Conservative shul familiar to generations of Philadelphia Jews, but that doesn’t mean that Adath is just about prayer and tradition, Education Director Hannah Isaacs-Arkin explained.
“You know how there are teens [at a synagogue] who just kind of roam around the synagogue instead of going to service?” she asked. “Well, we have adults who do that too. They’re here to have fun. They’re here to socialize with their friends. So I like to say to all our families that there is an entry point for everyone.”
Rabbi Andrew Markowitz has been a member of the clergy for nearly seven years, and he said that the balance that they try to strike is one in which the importance of the content is valued but the methods of delivery may deviate from the norm.
“We take what we do seriously: helping people find meaning in an otherwise chaotic universe and find their place and know their story,” Markowitz said. “But we don’t always take ourselves so seriously, and that’s really, really important. We take the people that we’re with seriously and the content of what we’re doing seriously, but we know that we can have fun with it while we’re doing it.”
For the synagogue, which was founded in 1946 and has around 750 member families, that approach is typified in the way that congregants respond to programming and each other. Isaacs-Arkin said that the fact that Adath Israel is bustling on a Saturday morning isn’t unique for a shul, but that the synagogue’s particular energy is very unique.
“It’s like a community center because there is such a wide range of people here on Saturdays. We have a robust religious school program. We have a mini minyan for families with kids under five years old, we have Torah study in the building, we have a parenting group that meets with one of our clergy where they talk about what in the Torah this week can influence how we parent in the year 2025,” she said.
Markowitz seconded this. He said that the numbers speak for themselves. During the pandemic, Adath Israel actually managed to maintain its enrollment. Since 2021, the Hebrew school has grown from 75 students to 120. One change is that the congregation is younger now than ever before.
“A lot of older people got used to watching us on live stream, which we’ve been doing since before the pandemic,” Markowitz said. “I just had a woman come up to me and say, ‘I watch every week on live stream. I forgot how good it feels to be in person.’ So we have lots of people who are online, but we also have a lot of parents who come to synagogue on a Saturday.”
In accordance with the community center feel, Adath Israel offers options for children while their parents are praying. Isaacs-Arkin said that, regardless of age, Adath Israel wants members to feel like they matter.
“One of our core values is community and coming together and, you know, kind of seeing that you’re part of a larger Jewish community. That became one of our foundational pieces of Makom, our Hebrew school program,” she said.
Isaacs-Arkin said that children in the Makom program were given the chance to attend the aufruf ceremonies of classmates’ families, and were always so excited to support each other.
“They would come up to me and ask if there is an aufruf this weekend, and I would have to tell them that, no, it doesn’t happen often,” she said.
At Adath Israel, community is prioritized over all else. For example, Markowitz has only been at the synagogue for less than half of the time that Rabbi Eric Yanoff has been there, but each man is equal in status.
“I’m blessed to have a colleague, a friend and a mentor … in Rabbi Yanoff,” Markowitz said.
The community at Adath Israel also benefits from being led by one of its own. Markowitz grew up in Castor Gardens and attended Akiba Hebrew Academy, now the Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy, before studying as an undergraduate at Temple University.
“I’m a Philly boy through and through,” he said.
Like many, though, he did have to spend time away from the City of Brotherly Love to be sure that it was all he thought it was.
“Philly is a city that’s like a town. Everybody knows each other. Philadelphians go out in the world, we see it and we decide that it’s not as good as Philly, and so we come back,” he said.
While he is from the area, Markowitz didn’t know much about Adath Israel before joining the clergy. However, it didn’t take long for him to see that he had chosen correctly.
“It is rare to leave an executive or board or committee meeting where difficult things are discussed and emotions flare, and [yet] every single person stays after that meeting to smile and to be in community with each other,” he said. “We really care about each other and enjoy spending time with each other, and that’s what makes Adath Israel special.”