The Congregations of Shaare Shamayim in the Bustleton section of Northeast Philadelphia are leaving the neighborhood for a rental space in Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park later this year.
All 15 congregations that make up Shaare Shamayim will go. None are Orthodox.
That leaves only one non-Orthodox shul in a neighborhood that was once 60% Jewish: Temple Beth Ami on Old Bustleton Avenue.
As a 2023 Jewish Exponent story explained, Beth Ami still has 150 members and a loyal Shabbat crowd. It also has a paid-off building and rental agreements with the Politz Hebrew Academy and Camp Achdus, which use the property for after-school and camp programs, respectively.
But the neighborhood has changed. It’s now maybe 10-15% Jewish, according to Beth Ami President Barry Stucker, who has been here since the 1960s.
Younger Jewish families want to live in the suburbs, according to Stucker. Even 15% of Beth Ami’s members come from outside the city.
But the 77-year-old still couldn’t help but reminisce about the old neighborhood.
Beth Ami is the last non-Orthodox shul left. What is the significance of that?
There’s a choice for people who want to join that’s not too far from them. We have mixed seating. Men and women do sit together.
What did this section of Jewish Philadelphia used to be like? How do you remember it?
There was a mixture of shuls: Orthodox, Conservative; there was at least one Reform shul. There were a lot of people moving to the Northeast. Temple Beth Ami, I remember a lot of the founders. Veterans from the Second World War.
They wanted a synagogue not really for them, but for the new families they were raising. They wanted a Hebrew school.
My street was highly Jewish. On Chanukah, that was the one time you’d see all the menorahs lit up in the windows.
Everybody felt safe. The children would be out, especially in the summer when it was lighter later. Different people would keep an eye open not only for their own children but for other children.
We were very close to…there were five ballfields there. The shopping areas along Bustleton Avenue. The schools: Bustleton Elementary School, which later became the Anne Frank School. The Greenberg Elementary School. The schools were good quality. People wanted to send their children there.
Many of the businesses were Jewish owned. Lipkin’s Bakery was kosher. There were several Judaica stores further south. Only one is remaining now.
Part of the problem now is we live in such a disjointed world. Many people now are out for themselves. They don’t say ‘Good morning, how are you? You go first.’ You don’t see that as much anymore.
When did it start to change?
In the mid-’80s or so, the younger generation wanted something bigger and better, and they moved out of the city. The Bustleton section, which was highly Jewish at one time, became less so.
I used to see how people would have children, the children would get married and they would move into the suburbs. And now in my section, there are some Jews left.
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Stucker said Beth Ami used to attract 400 people for the High Holidays. There was also a day care/Hebrew school downstairs.
Today, there are no schools.
But there is a five-year plan to save the synagogue, according to Stucker. It consists of outreach to Jews who still live in Bustleton and the surrounding area.
The synagogue also has what Stucker describes as “a fail-safe committee” that will decide the synagogue’s fate if the five-year plan fails. In all likelihood, the committee would sell the property.
Beth Ami has had members who went through mergers with other congregations. Stucker said they “didn’t feel they were first-class citizens” in their new communities.
If Beth Ami sells its property, the money would go to “Jewish causes,” Stucker said.
