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Synagogue president hopes for money -- and a miracle
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE, Times Staff Writer
GULFPORT -- Hoping to celebrate its 50th birthday, Congregation Beth Sholom is instead facing a midlife crisis. Members are few and elderly, money is scarce and without an infusion of both, the congregation is facing certain death. One woman is counting on a miracle. In December, Elaine Walsh was elected president of the 100-member congregation after pledging to keep open the synagogue where her uncles once worshiped, stained glass windows bear their names and plaques honor the memory of her grandparents and other relatives. "When I came into that synagogue the first day and saw the state of the synagogue and heard the callings of my family, the question was not, how can I do this, the question became, how can I not help this place?" said Ms. Walsh, who at 60 is one of the younger members of Beth Sholom. Although she has family connections to Beth Sholom, she had worshiped elsewhere until recently. "I'm glad that she feels that obligation. We kind of all of us do," said first vice president Dr. Paul Cohen. "None of us want to see that synagogue fail on our watch. We are not defeatists. As long as there is a basic desire to continue, we will continue," said Cohen, an osteopathic physician who has been a member with his wife, Harriet, since 1988. The small congregation, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, is familiar with struggle. Its first rabbi was not hired until 1970, and for many of its 50 years, Beth Sholom has operated without a full-time rabbi. Most recently, Jonathan Mielke, the beloved rabbi on whom members had pinned their hopes for revival, died suddenly of a heart attack. The rabbi who followed was let go because the synagogue couldn't afford to keep him. Added to that, the congregation was hit with expensive roof repairs. At that point, then president Sam Einstein felt the need to make some hard decisions. In Beth Sholom's December newsletter, he wrote: "This past year has been very tough on us." He went on to name the 11 members who had died during the year. In addition, said Einstein during an interview late last week, 18 members left Beth Sholom after Rabbi Mielke's death. "Some of them were big donors," he said. "You can't exist on our dues. The synagogue can't afford to pay a full-time rabbi. Without a rabbi, it's very hard to get members." Einstein has belonged to Beth Sholom for more than a quarter of a century. He said when the finance secretary and treasurer told him that the synagogue was running out of money, he thought the best option would be to sell the Gulfport property and merge with Congregation B'nai Israel, a large Conservative synagogue in St. Petersburg. Such a move, he reckoned, would give Beth Sholom's members the security of living out their lives in a stable religious community. "The building is old and falling apart. The air conditioning has to be fixed. I thought the membership is more important to me than the building. Over 75 percent of our members are over 70. We could sell the building and give the money to B'nai Israel," Einstein said. But Ms. Walsh, who has been a member of Beth Sholom for only a year, had other ideas. "I'd like to see her succeed. I have my doubts. The economy is bad, and people don't donate the way they used to." The synagogue at 1844 54th St. S began as the Jewish Center of Gulfport in March 1953. The only independent Conservative congregation in the area, it touts its affordable annual membership and family atmosphere. Rabbi Simeon Kobrinetz, who is volunteering at Beth Sholom for 10 weeks this winter, has fond memories of the synagogue his father once led. The late Rabbi Morris H. Kobrinetz was the congregation's first rabbi. Out of retirement for four years, he brought an energy to the synagogue that increased its membership and led the community to build a new sanctuary. By the time the rabbi retired again several years later, the congregation had grown from about 40 to 150 members and a new sanctuary had been built. Money for the building came from members, many in their early retirement, and others in the Jewish community, Kobrinetz said. Today the synagogue is at another crossroad. "Part of the challenge that they face is that the membership has aged and the drive to get new people hasn't been as great as it was 15, 20 years ago," Kobrinetz said. Kobrinetz added that current members need to realize that costs have gone up for operating a synagogue and that they need to increase their financial contributions. Besides its spiritual function, he said, Beth Sholom provides an important social outlet for its elderly members, who look forward to its weekly after-service gathering. "Here people will linger for an hour, and I think that expresses a need and it's a legitimate social and spiritual need," he said. "I suppose that we are not unlike many religious institutions, small ones, who have difficulty paying salaries for religious leaders and all the personnel that go with it," Cohen said. Ms. Walsh recently showed a visitor around the modest synagogue, pointing to the stained glass windows that bear the names of her uncles, Julius and Morris Green, and the plaques on the memorial wall for her grandparents, Benjamin and Ida Green. "A part of my family history is in this building," she said later. Kobrinetz believes they can succeed. "Sometimes you have leadership that has been at the helm so long that they get tired. Sometimes, they run out of steam," he said. "I think with Elaine Walsh, if she surrounds herself with Dr. Cohen and others, she can pull it off."
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