Andrew Guckes | Staff Writer
Andrew Altman is the president of Keneseth Israel on Old York Road in Elkins Park, a role he has occupied for three years. Altman and his husband joined the congregation in 2007 and he has continuously upped his involvement since then. Altman loves the KI community and looks forward to dedicating his time to its betterment each day. With that being said, he is perfectly happy to be honest when asked how it is that he ended up as president.
“I’m not sure,” he laughed. “That’s a whole investigation of its own!”
While he doesn’t remember exactly how he ended up in KI’s Oval Office, Altman said that the reasons his family joined the synagogue as members are still clear to him. He said that for him and his husband, who isn’t Jewish, they prioritized a welcoming community that wouldn’t question their identities or backgrounds.
“What we felt was just a real natural embrace when we walked through those doors. We were coming in the door as an interfaith, same-sex couple with an adopted baby, so we weren’t sure how we would be seen. We were ready to fight for our family and our friends, and we never had to,” he said. “We came in to open arms. What I have taken from our cantor, Amy Levy, is something she used to say about KI having so many different doors for people to walk through, so they could find what makes sense to them.”
The idea of different options appealing to different people, with none being more valid than any other, is essential to the environment that has been cultivated at KI over the decades. Around 650 families take part in a litany of activities that include things ranging from a presentation and discussion on a formative figure in the American abolitionist movement to regular teen club meetings with dinner and educational components.
“We have events that address spirituality, simcha, culture, music, arts, and social justice and social action, and it all just brings us together,” Altman said.
Keneseth Israel brings in classical music concerts four times a year and has several choirs and music programs run by the cantor and men’s and women’s groups. In the KI lobby is the Temple Judea museum, with thousands of items and rotating exhibits on Jewish history and culture.
For Keneseth Israel, another key emphasis is on making sure interfaith couples are welcomed, with no exceptions. This tradition started before Altman and his family joined and will continue after they are gone, but the current president said he is thrilled to get to be a part of that tradition as a member of that very community.
“When [my family] first [joined], it was a question for us: How are we going to be seen as a couple? How’s [my husband] going to be seen individually? But frankly, I think there were, until very recently, a lot of people who didn’t know he wasn’t Jewish, because he was involved and engaged and we don’t ask,” Altman said. “We have people who were brought up Orthodox and reform and conservative, that doesn’t matter either.”
In fact, Altman said, oftentimes he sees a situation in which the Jewish parent initiates the spouse’s shift to the religion, but soon enough the onus has completely shifted to the convert.
“The person who wasn’t brought up Jewish is oftentimes the one who is driving the kids to religious school or being more active on the committee or going to an event or something like that,” he said. “All of us are here to live a Jewish life and promote Jewish values.”
The temple’s promotion of Jewish values is in part exemplified by Keneseth Israel’s Hamotzi program, which is in its 10th year of addressing food insecurity in the community. It started as a single event, with five or ten people going out in Philadelphia and inviting people to attend a free dinner. A handful attended, which was enough for the congregation to go all in.
A decade later, KI serves about 300 dinners a month and has a crew of dedicated volunteers who donate, prepare and serve meals to those who need them.
“We’re in discussion with a local food bank to partner with, which is very exciting. That attracted over 100 volunteers a month, and it works like clockwork at this point,” Altman said.
Looking ahead, the KI community is getting ready for the annual Spring Celebration, which is the shul’s largest fundraiser of the year. This year, the event will honor the Hamotzi program and leadership team. There are raffles, dancing, games, and food at this event, which Altman said is regularly a highlight of the programming schedule.
Keneseth Israel has been a staple of the city’s Jewish community since the James K. Polk administration, and Altman knows that as president he is largely responsible for continuing to advance the shul’s reputation as a beloved center for Jews of all backgrounds.
“The area that we’re in is a very strong Jewish corridor, and our philosophy is that we want to be working closely with everyone else while we’re all strong, because obviously, nationwide, there’s a lot of synagogues shrinking or closing,” Altman said. “We’re in conversation with as many people as possible about more collaboration, more space sharing, more opportunities for union and merger. And so that’s one of our very biggest priorities: to work together.”