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Congregation Rodef Sholom marks 150 years, reflects on future
By Bruce Walton
YOUNGSTOWN
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Congregation Rodef Sholom began its 150th anniversary service Friday night with a special guest soloist, Neshama Carlebach.
Rabbi Franklin Muller said it reminded him of a saying: “Without Shabbat there would be no Jewish people, but without music, there could be no Shabbat.”
Guest speaker Rabbi Rick Jacobs offered a sermon, “The Future of Reform Judaism: A Vision of Hope,” focusing on how Reform Judaism’s future lies in the past and present, using the congregation’s anniversary as a point of reflection on Jewish faith and identity. Jacobs is president of the Union for Reform Judaism.
The sesquicentennial was the culmination of months of planning and effort. Hilari Lipkin and Elliot Legow, co-chairs of the anniversary committee, started planning in February 2016. Then last July, they began presenting monthly speakers who touched on the concepts of the congregation’s past, present and future.
The committee had 40 to 50 volunteers assisting with the celebration; 150 were involved at some point with the year-long programing and preparation.
Lipkin said her and Legow’s time on the committee has been nothing but rewarding.
“[The congregation’s history] becomes the soul of the temple in terms of feeling all the souls from the past, all the souls that are with me now,” Lipkin said. “Being a part of all of it is just an amazing experience. It’s been very fulfilling.”
According to the synagogue’s website, the congregation was founded May 12, 1867, when a group of 15 men met and created a set of guidelines and bylaws, dividing themselves into three groups. A week later, they regrouped and adopted a name for the new congregation: Rodef Sholom, meaning “Pursuers of Peace.”
The congregation’s first members, most of whom were German immigrants, merchants and shopkeepers, met and worshipped above a factory on Federal Street in downtown Youngstown.
The anniversary celebration continues at 10 a.m. today with a family Shabbat concert featuring musician Rossio in the Tamarkin Chapel, and a dinner at 5:45 p.m. in Strouss Hall. The event ends with a concert featuring Carlebach and Josh Nelson at 7:30 p.m. in the sanctuary.