Congregation Shaarei Tefillah
History

In the Beginning...

Congregation Shaarei Tefillah began on Wednesday night, October 21, 1983 when several Newton families hastily organized an Orthodox minyan for Sukkot in one family's Newton Centre home. They intended this minyan to meet only through Shabbat Bereshit, nine days later.

Word of this minyan spread rapidly through the Newton Jewish community. On the first night of the holiday, the family's sun room was filled to capacity. The gathering swelled on subsequent days to over one hundred men and women, who overflowed into the back yard. Many came because they sensed an opportunity for greater spiritual intensity and more personal participation than they had previously found possible.

The mood was electric. Addressed from a makeshift pulpit by such illustrious men as Professor Alexander Altmann, z"l, participants responded with a fervor few had either expressed or experienced before. Although conceived as a temporary measure, the minyan took on a life of its own. After several hastily convened meetings, some two dozen families decided to continue to daven together, and began taking steps to make this possible.

Shaarei Tefillah...A Shul on the Move

Each week for several months, the minyan moved from place to place. Members set up temporary sanctuaries in any home they could find with a living room large enough to accommodate rented folding chairs and a makeshift mechitza.

Establishing a precedent of participation which continues to the present, volunteers undertook all congregational functions, whether religious or organizational. Members led services, read the Torah, and delivered divrei Torah on Shabbat morning. Several renowned Rabbis from within the group agreed to act collectively as our founding board of halakhic advisors, providing the fledgling congregation with halakhic direction. A five-person steering committee oversaw executive functions. In addition, members attended evening meetings in one another's homes, organized lectures, typed letters, stuffed envelopes, paid bills, and of course, cleaned living rooms and moved chairs, books, and Sifrei Torah.

In December, the group which by then numbered some 30 families, moved back into the home in which it first met, where they set up a more formalized, albeit small sanctuary in which they davened each Shabbat for the rest of that winter and the following spring. During that period, they established a daily minyan which met for more than two years in the basement of another family's nearby home. As spring approached, growing membership and the family's renovation plans compelled the group to seek larger accommodations. After receiving the go-ahead from its halakhic committee, the minyan, which had collectively chosen the name Shaarei Tefillah, rented space in a gymnasium belonging to a local church on Furber Lane. There they met each Shabbat for more than five years. Although they knew it was temporary, "Furber Lane" felt like their first home.

A Home to Call Our Own

In the meantime, a site-search committee was formed, and located a home for sale on Commonwealth Avenue, in the heart of Newton Centre. The congregation went on to purchase this property, but attempts to obtain a zoning variance to enlarge the house for use as a synagogue encountered much hostility and misunderstanding on the part of neighbors and Newton public officials. This costly and painful effort, which lasted more than a year, ended in failure. The congregation sold the property in 1985.

About that time, however, Rabbi Mordecai Savitsky approached Shaarei Tefillah and offered to sell them his home at 35 Morseland Avenue, which had a synagogue in its basement. Once the sale was completed, in July 1985, the congregation transferred to its new home all educational and religious activities other than its Shabbat and Yom Tov minyanim, which continued to be held in the larger quarters of the gym on Furber Lane. It took more than four years and much expense for the congregation to design and get permission to build an addition onto the house on Morseland Avenue to serve as the main sanctuary and function room. The new construction was completed in early 1990. The dedication ceremony in March of 1990 began with a joyous procession of carrying the Sifrei Torah from the gymnasium to the new building.

Hiring a Rabbi...Maybe

During this period, members began discussing whether they wished to consider hiring a rabbi. This was brought on partly by the fact that the Halakhic committee which had served in lieu of a rabbi since the minyan's inception, were understandably no longer willing to do so. While many members wished to take this next step, many others were reluctant, for a number of reasons. One of the primary reasons expressed was the potential danger of losing the active and participatory nature of the congregation, which so many members cherished. The nearly 100 family congregation could also not afford a full-time rabbi. After numerous meetings and open-forum discussions, it was decided to hire a part-time rabbi who would perform the functions of the Halakhic committee, and provide spiritual guidance. In 1991, Shaarei Tefillah hired Rabbi Moshe Simkovich to fill this role. As a member of the limudei kodesh faculty at Maimonides school, Rabbi Simkovich was familiar to many of the families and their high school-aged children. Rabbi Simkovich delivered divrei Torah, gave shiurim, and enriched in many other ways the religious lives of the Shaarei Tefillah community. Although he no longer serves as Rabbi of the congregation, Rabbi Simkovich and his family have stayed in the community and remain active members of the shul.

Our First Milestone: 1993

In November of 1993, Shaarei Tefillah celebrated its tenth anniversary. At that time, Shaarei Tefillah reflected on its first decade, and looked forward to continued service to both the Orthodox community and to K'lal Yisrael. In conjunction with its tenth anniversary celebration, the shul undertook its first major fundraising effort.

As the end of Rabbi Simkovich's term grew near, members again began discussing the possibility of hiring a full-time rabbi. The shul was experiencing continued growth, and in addition to the increasing numbers of B'nei and B'not Mitzvah and other life-cycle events of its members, there were scores of other communal events which a part-time rabbi could never hope to cover. As a centrist Orthodox congregation, which encourages active participation on the part of all its members, including such activities as leading services, giving shiurim, offering divrei Torah on Shabbat morning, Shaarei Tefillah stood out on the Boston Jewish landscape. It had reached a point where it became important not only to have someone who could provide Halakhic guidance and leadership, but who could also represent the shul to the larger Jewish community. Rabbi Simkovich urged the shul to pursue a full-time rabbi. Since he felt it would not be possible for him to assume such a full-time rabbinic role with his teaching commitments at Maimonides, he urged the congregation to begin an external search.

A rabbinic search committee was formed, and almost immediately centered its attention on a young rabbi who was then serving as assistant rabbi in New York City's Jewish Center. Rabbi Benjamin Samuels came to Newton for an interview and met with overwhelming support. He was hired as Shaarei Tefillah's first full-time rabbinic leader, and together with his wife Stephanie and their son Amitai, moved to Newton in September, 1995.

Our Second Milestone: 1996

In May of 1996, midway between its twelfth and thirteenth year, Shaarei Tefillah coined and celebrated its second major milestone: a Bat/Bar Mitzvah. Together with Rabbi Samuels, the shul celebrated 12.5 years of growth, friendship, and service.

Currently, Shaarei Tefillah has a membership of over 130 families. The shul is currently undergoing a strategic planning process, aimed at reflecting on the past and planning for the future. On the horizon are serious issues which must be faced: expansion of the building, diversification of educational programs, and further development of the shul's role in the large community. With guidance from Rabbi Samuels, and with the continued dedication of its members, Shaarei Tefillah will undoubtedly be able to face these and any other challenges the future may hold.

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Last Update: 7.4.97
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