Humble Start to a Lively Community Presence

Fifty years ago, a collection of thirty families began meeting weekly in the basement of the Fink Professional building in Falls Church.  Though it was a small group, they were determined to create a new Jewish congregation in northern Virginia.  They were without a rabbi, but they had among them a worshiper with a fairly good orthodox background and excellent Hebrew to guide them.

Jules Cohen was one of the founding members of what would eventually become Temple Rodef Shalom, located in Falls Church.  The small group of families took turns conducting Friday night services.  "It worked out quite well," said Cohen.  "We would give the sermon based upon studying we had done during the previous week.  Which meant that in trying to select a suitable topic for a sermon, it forced us to do a little more studying of our own Judaism."

That small congregation grew.  This year, on its fiftieth anniversary, it is more than 1,500 families strong, and is the largest Jewish congregation in the state of Virginia.  It meets in what many local residents know as one of the most beautiful facilities in the area.  It serves Jewish worshipers in McLean, Arlington, Falls Church, and Vienna.  Temple Rodef Shalom has come a long way in fifty years.  And those who know the history of the synagogue proudly point to its origins as the reason for its success.

"When we got up to about two hundred members," said Cohen, "people were attracted to our group.  We decided it was time for us to get a rabbi."  A rabbinical selection committee from the small congregation interviewed three candidates from the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, the oldest Rabbinical Seminary in the United States.  Laszlo Berkowits was one of the candidates.

Berkowits described himself as being a little older than the other graduates.  So he was ready to take on a leadership role.  He also had indescribable life experience that few have survived.  Berkowits is a Holocaust survivor.  Less than twenty years earlier, he was held prisoner at Auschwitz-Birkenau, a Nazi death camp in Poland, where at least two million Jews perished.

The congregation selected Berkowits as their rabbi, and he's been with Temple Rodef Shalom ever since.  He calls his first, and only, job as rabbi unusual in that "the congregation had no building, and no land.  But they were very intelligent, very devoted, very focused, and very enthusiastic."

Things became slightly more formal when Berkowits joined the congregation.  He arranged for them to meet at the First Christian Church in Falls Church.  Religious school was held in various public elementary schools.  They were a flexible congregation.  And their Torah, which was housed in an Ark that was handmade by one of the congregants, often traveled around in the back of a station wagon.

With the membership still growing, the congregation decided that it needed its own facility.  In 1964 a search for land led them to purchase a seven-and-a-half acre piece of wooded land on Westmoreland Street.  While the new facility was being designed and built, the congregation moved its meetings to the Chesterbrook Presbyterian Church so they could be closer to their permanent home.  Though additions would be made to the building over the years, the congregation finally moved into its own Temple in 1970.  "To move into our own place, I thought, it was beyond words," said Rabbi Berkowits.  "It was so exciting.  After all, we started with nothing.  A small group of committed people, very little money by the way, but just wonderful commitment and character."

Fourteen years ago Rabbi Berkowits retired, and Rabbi Amy Schwartzman, who had joined the Temple twenty-two years ago, took over as senior rabbi.  Berkowits is still very involved in the synagogue's activities.  And both he and Rabbi Schwartzman have been the only senior rabbis in the Temple's history.  "It's a combination of great continuity," said Temple Rodef Shalom's President, Barry Holt. 

Today the Temple has ten staff members, and four clergy.  And the leadership along with the large congregation is very involved in the community.  "It's a Jewish expectation that we do not stay insular," said Senior Rabbi Schwartzman.  "We are obligated both to nurture the tradition we've inherited and to also contribute to the greater community.  So to have a congregation that doesn't have a presence in the greater community would not be in keeping with Jewish tradition."

Over the years, the Temple's leadership and congregation have been involved in a host of community programs.  Some have been directors of the Falls Church-McLean Children's Center located in Lemon Road School.  Rabbi Berkowits was a founding member of the Arlington Hospice; and Rodef Shalom is one of three religious institutions that founded Chesterbrook Residences, an assisted living facility in Falls Church.  The other two founding institutions are Immanuel Presbyterian Church and Lewinsville Presbyterian Church.  This is just one of many examples of their interfaith initiatives.

Members also participate in an annual Christmas activity of cooking and delivering hot meals to local food shelters and the county police station on Christmas day.  And their "Sukkot in April" program sends congregants into the community to provide carpentry and painting assistance to those in need.  These represent just a portion of services they provide to the community.

Rabbi Berkowits started two programs with the Temple that he calls his "pride and joy."  There are about 200 children in the preschool, which includes both Jewish and non-Jewish children.  The preschool was started soon after the move to the new building.  In fact, Berkowits' daughter was in the first preschool class years ago.  He is also very proud of the summer camp, which remains popular each year.

A number of activities are planned to celebrate the Temple's 50th anniversary, including the congregation's goal of completing 50,000 acts of kindness throughout the year.  There are also numerous receptions, musical celebrations and special services planned to celebrate the milestone. 

Rabbi Berkowits, remembering the past fifty years, said "it's almost like a tree growing.  Every step was so special.  We have a very special spirit here.  Very welcoming.  In many ways, it's a joyous place.  it is a place to celebrate life." 

(Readers can learn about Rabbi Laszlo Berkowits' story of loss and survival in Auschwitz-Birkenau in his book, "The Boy Who Lost His Birthday," published in 2008 by Hamilton Books.)