God and Man at Shul

by Larry Kaufman
The story is probably apocryphal, but I first encountered it in a memoir by Rabbi Daniel Syme, who credited Rabbi Malcolm Stern z”l as his source. (Reb Daniel amar b’shem Reb Malcolm – Rabbi Daniel said in the name of Rabbi Malcolm.) As Jewish congregations began being established across the United States, the first synagogue in town tended to be called Emanu-El or Beth El. Later, a second congregation would come along, possibly more influenced by the nascent Zionist spirit, and would use Israel in its name – Temple Israel, or B’nai Israel, or Beth Israel. Eventually a schism would develop in one or both of the established congregations, and amidst rancor and bitterness, a new congregation would arise, which inevitably would call itself Temple Shalom. 

Apocryphal or not, fully half the congregations in the Union for Reform Judaism bear names that reflect one of those three nomenclatural themes: God, Israel, or Peace, with each theme found in almost equal numbers. Probably as a result of mergers along the way, some may reflect two of them (Emanu-El B’nai Jeshurun in Milwaukee represents one variation on the theme; Emanuel Jacob Congregation in Mansfield OH another.)  In my quick review of the Union’s congregational roster, I didn’t spot any that reflected all three. 

Here’s the breakdown:

• 131 have the God theme – 57 either Emanu-El or Emanuel; 66 Beth El, and 8 Beth Elohim
• 154 have the Israel theme, augmented by 4 Jeshuruns and 6 Jacobs
• 160 have the Peace theme, 105 Shalom and 55 Sholom

In an earlier post in this series, I discussed the choice of the generic that entered a congregation’s name – was it a temple, a synagogue, a center, or a congregation.  A parallel analysis might be applied in this discussion – does the congregation’s name reflect a focus on the people, the building, or a value? 

For example, compare Emanu-El, God is with us, and Beth El, the House of God.  Or look at B’nai Israel, the children of Israel, and Beth Israel, the House of Israel.  If you want to drive yourself crazier, in the case of Beth Israel, you can reasonably translate Beth as Household, but it’s less reasonable to do so in the case of Beth El.  Are we focusing on who we are, or on why we have come together?

We Jews, especially those of us in the shul business, have been accused of having an edifice complex – and if we haven’t demonstrated that by the preponderance of our institutions that call themselves temples (i.e., buildings) rather than congregations (i.e., people), we can look at the three-to-one preponderance of congregations that use Beth (or Bet or Bayt) in their names, 279, compared to those that use B’nai (or in 2 cases, Bene), 88. 

As I write this, I think about the Torah discussion at Beth Emet yesterday, with a parasha that discussed the name of God:

God spoke to Moses, and He said to him, “I am the Lord.. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob with [the name] Almighty God, but [with] My name YHWH, I did not become known to them

As the kahal (community) pondered the significance of these verses, Hannah Kaplan, who will celebrate her bat mitzvah in two weeks, gave us her take on the conversation:  “I think,” she said, “that you are all over-thinking this.” 

Hannah’s caution against “over-thinking” may be pertinent to my ruminations on synagogue names…not that she’s likely to inhibit me from ruminating.   Whether or not I am over-thinking the subject, and having been a bystander at the founding of my congregation, I have hearsay knowledge of how and why its name was chosen, and first-hand knowledge of how the values represented by House of Truth play themselves out in the life of the synagogue – for example, Hannah’s freedom to chastise her elders for over-thinking . 

In reading congregational histories on their web sites, I find little explanation of how their names were selected, and no discussion at all of how the values represented by the name are reflective of the spirit of the congregation today.  I invite you to share your insights on how the name of your temple, or congregation, or synagogue, reflects who you were and who you are as a house of prayer, study, and gathering.