Rabbi Henry K. Berkowitz, Portland’s only Reform spiritual leader, and Rabbi Edward T. Sandrow, only Conservative rabbi here, joined this week in censuring the failure of Portland’s two conservative congregations-Ahavai Sholom and Neveh Zedek synagogue-to merge. After lengthy negotiations, a vote of Neveh Zedek Congregation’s members decided against the merger by a large majority.
“In a Jewish community as small as Portland,” Dr. Berkowitz said, “there is absolutely no point in the maintenance of two congregations having the same religious opinions and interpreting Judaism in the same way. Ahavai Sholom had made very essential concession. A misguided and vociferous minority blocked this forward-looking plan.”
Rabbi Sandrow expressed “deep regret” over failure of merger plans. “I felt,” he said, “as many of our leaders felt, that Jewry must be united actually as well as spiritually. Far be it from me to censure Neveh Zedek. One cannot blame a congregation for the selfishness, short-sightedness and vanity of some of its members.”
Other Portland communal leaders voicing disappointment at the merger’s failure are Joseph Shemanski, Z. Swett, Otto J. Fraemer, David Robinson, Nathan Weinstein and A. S. Cohn.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
