By Emily Keeler Alhadeff, JTNews Correspondent
Rabbi Sholom Ber Levitin began our Sunday afternoon conversation like any good Chabad rabbi: Had my soul elevated this past Shabbat? As if setting the tone for the interview, he launched into an unofficial drash about Shabbat as the elevation to the world of machshavah (thought). And then he proceeded to ask me about my life until I reminded him that I was supposed to be interviewing him.
Another rabbinic giveaway — besides his role as the rabbi of Congregation Shaarei Tefilah-Lubavitch in Seattle’s Northend — is Rabbi Levitin’s humility and his pleasure with his congregation’s strength. Judging by the number of stories that went off the record and his side-stepping of certain pointed questions, Levitin comes across as being bound by Jewish dictates of verbal modesty and protective of both his community and Seattle’s Jewish contingent at large.
Levitin estimates that some 90 percent of the approximate 100 families and individuals who are members of Shaarei Tefilah came to the Chabad Lubavitch movement from another background. Most of them are considered baalei teshuvah, or “returners” to traditional Judaism. While membership has remained steady over time, many participants in Shaarei Tefilah’s community are visitors who are traveling, visiting nearby University Hospital or passing through on business. The community sees to hospitality for its guests.
“Everyone is welcome in our shul, whether or not you’re a paying member,” said Levitin. Anyone wanting to participate should “feel at home, accepted, whoever they are, whatever background they come from.”
Shaarei Tefilah does not charge for seats at High Holiday services, and in spite of the economic downturn it has not lost a member due to financial hardship.
“There are members who are hurting, yes. And we’re helping them out to the best that we can,” he said. “You work with a person.”
Levitin is frank about the purpose of the synagogue.
“Shul is a place where people gather together and pray,” he said. Thus the bulk of Shaarei Tefilah’s programming is religious, with prayer being the “prime focus.” Forget elaborate social events and galas: “To establish a strong core minyan for 7 a.m. — it’s not an easy chore,” Levitin says.
Organizing three daily minyanim, Shabbat services, hospitality and holiday events falls to Shaarei Tefilah’s all-volunteer community. The only paid staff member is the custodian.
Levitin sings the praises of the volunteers who keep the shul running. The president, Joseph Greenberg, “was a driving force behind the building of the synagogue…And he’s a tremendous lay leader.”
And Levitin’s wife, Chanie, “is the power of the shul,” he said, regarding her counseling skills that cut across the Jewish community. “She has a lot of people come to her. People from all over the general spectrum of communal life call her for her counsel.”
The events organized by Shaarei Tefilah are “in the context of what the Torah asks of us,” said Levitin. This is evident through the creation of the mikvah and the eruv in 2005 and 2009, respectively, two crucial elements in an observant Jewish community. Levitin reports that the shul contributed the majority of funds to create the eruv, which is administered in conjunction with Congregation Beth Shalom.
Programming centers around learning opportunities, speakers and acts of loving kindness.
“Women are very active in the synagogue,” Levitin said, from visiting the sick and delivering goods to families in need to organizing speakers and this year’s successful annual fundraiser dinner, which was orchestrated by member Shprintze Kavka.
“We have a very, very bright group of people, a warm group of people,” said Levitin, regarding the community of learners. The synagogue provides opportunities for individual and chevruta (partner) study, along with shiurim (lessons) and guest speakers. “It’s impressive to see the development of the men and the women in their learning,” he said. “I really, really, genuinely feel I’m learning in the yeshiva.”
Shaarei Tefilah-Lubavitch is looking forward to its 25th anniversary next year, which will be celebrated with a major dinner.
“Everybody is welcome,” said Levitin. “People of all levels of observance are welcome, and they’re greeted with warmth and love.”
But before that: Purim. On the Saturday night of Purim, the congregation will host a party with the Od Yishama Orchestra headlining.
“The rabbis and the rebbetzins are going to be dancing through the night!” Levitin announced.
Despite negative coverage about Jews in the news, when it comes to Jewish life, Levitin remarked that interest in Judaism from the non-Jewish world is increasing in ways he’s never noticed before. This past year also marked the highest level of Yom Kippur synagogue attendance for the shul.
The crowd “was absolutely down the steps into the street,” he said. “They go once a year to shul. But where do they go? To a Chassidic Orthodox shul. Go figure.”
In light of this positive potential for growth, Levitin muses, “Now, how do you take that 26-hour feeling and run with it for the rest of the year? That’s the challenge.”