Beth Sholom in Elkins Park is the only synagogue designed by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and its congregation still thrives, writes Benyamin Cohen for the Forward.
The building, shaped like a mountain to evoke Sinai as Wright intended, rises 110 feet and wrapped in 1,500 glass panels.
Over six decades after its construction in 1959, the building still stands, and so does its congregation. Despite the trend of suburban synagogues shrinking or even closing nationwide, the Beth Sholom congregation continues to grow. In the last five years, it has added 125 new member families, and its preschool tripling since the pandemic, to over 90 children.
Rabbi David Glanzberg-Krainin is in his 22nd year and has led the transformation from its low point of 400 families in 2020 to 525 today. The shift began with the preschool, when the synagogue offered parents 40 percent off tuition if they attended at least eight events outside school hours during the academic year. The initiative worked – 24 of the 25 families who enrolled their children four years ago stayed on as members.
“It wasn’t about membership,” said the rabbi. “It was about relationships.”
Read more about Elkins Park’s Beth Sholom in the Forward.
