When Rabbi Daniel Fridman became the new rabbi of the Jewish Center of Teaneck three months ago, he found a group of people primed and ready to go. “There was a really devoted group of people devoted to their shul determined to see their shul survive” said Rabbi Fridman. “As soon as I came, there was this committed team in place only too happy to add programs across a whole variety of areas. It might look like it was all the new rabbi but that would be misleading. It’s up to me to implement new programs, but I couldn’t achieve anything if it wasn’t for this group.”
There’s a mishnah in Pirkei Avot (1:2) that says: “Shimon the Tzadik used to say, the world stands on three things. On the Torah, the Avodah and Gemilut Chasidim (chesed).” Rabbi Fridman has tried to conceptualize the shul on those pillars.
A different mishnah in Pirkei Avot was the catalyst for Rabbi Fridman’s desire that there be Torah learning in the shul on a daily basis. Shammai said, “Aseh Toratecha Keva,” to make your Torah study the anchor of your life, both individually and communally. Rabbi Fridman quickly introduced five minutes of Torah each night before Maariv, which he calls Midrash Hayomi. Next he started a Rambam shiur. This shiur takes place half an hour before Shacharis on Shabbos morning. Half an hour before Mincha on Shabbos afternoon he gives a parsha shiur for the youth of the congregation as well as the community. The shiur is followed by Seudah Shlishit and then free play.
In the area of Avodah, both the morning and evening minyanim have grown in both strength and numbers. Rabbi Fridman credits Sigi Laster and Dr. Jonathan Resnick for this. They approached him and said that the members wanted to start a Mincha/Maariv minyan on Sundays and legal holidays. They felt the shul was ready and, indeed, since they instituted it they haven’t missed a minyan yet.
Rabbi Fridman is proud to report that the shul is quite busy on Shabbos. More people are attending Friday night Kabalat Shabbat services, more are coming to Shabbos morning minyan and Shabbos afternoon people attend the rabbi’s 15-minute Parsha shiur prior to Seudah Shlishit, which is also well attended. According to Isaac Student, president of the Jewish Center, “Prior to Rabbi Fridman’s arrival the shul had about 40-50 people combined on a Shabbos morning. That number has now more than doubled.” Reb Yitz Cohen, the shul’s ritual director and gabbai, has played a major role in the success of the minyanim.
In the area of chesed, Rabbi Fridman told The Jewish Link he is proud to have such a generous group of members. In a short amount of time he’s been able to raise a significant amount of money for the Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund, which has allowed him to perform acts of chesed for the shul. He knows that shul members take part in their own acts of chesed for which they seek no recognition or reward. “When I came to the shul I thought we needed new talitot and suggested we start a fundraising campaign,” he said. “I came up with a number which I thought could allow us to purchase 10 talitot. Within a week I had that number plus a third of that number and was able to buy the shul 13!”
Recognizing that any shul that wants to grow needs a strong youth department, Rabbi Fridman immediately appointed a youth committee chair. Meredith Levine helped the rabbi hire youth group leaders and was the architect of this year’s Chanukah party. Student pointed to the highly successful Chanukah party as an example of younger people getting involved in the shul. They thought they might have 30 kids at the party and instead had over 100. Michael Laves, a local photographer, donated his time to take photos of that event, as he has done for other shul functions.
In the area of community outreach, the shul will soon be hosting community luncheons that will be open to the entire community. Each will have a theme on topics of relevance to the broader community. In February, in conjunction with Black History Month, Rabbi Fridman has invited a deacon of an African-American church to bring his voice into the community. Rabbi Fridman hopes this will help “strengthen the bonds between our communities.”
Another exciting development is the start of the Jewish Center of Teaneck Book Club. Beginning on January 15, the club will meet every month on Sunday night at 8 p.m. at the shul and will be led by Professor Sarah Rindner. The title of the book club is “Leaves of Faith,” a nod to the collected essays of Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, z”l, by the same title, which was a take on “Leaves of Grass.” The idea behind this book club is to read books that have great spiritual value. They may or may not be of direct Jewish content. Professor Rindner will lead the discussion and Rabbi Fridman will present a parallel text from the Torah or Talmudic literature that highlights similar themes. The January book is “Lila” by Marilynne Robinson. The February book will be by an African-American author to mark Black History Month.
Further, the rabbi and his wife are committed to helping the singles in the community find their matches. They will host their first Friday night oneg, January 27, and they hope to have singles events once a month.
Student reflected, “We had great expectations from Rabbi Fridman and he has surpassed our expectations. He has managed to energize the congregation.”
Student has been davening at the Jewish Center since 1977. He has seen the shul with a peak membership of about 1400 families in the 1970s to “almost extinction at the beginning of this century.” Student reflects, “We went through a lot of changes in order to try to revive the Center. First we needed to stabilize our finances and we did this by the sale of the building to Heichal HaTorah and our partnership with them. The next order of business was to hire the proper rabbi to reenergize and revitalize the congregation. Rabbi Fridman has reenergized the congregation.
“The Rabbi has a following and we look forward to more people joining the shul. We still have a long road ahead. We are just at the beginning but it’s exciting. Our Shabbos services and activities have assumed a new flavor.”
“I would like to express gratitude to Rabbi Rothwachs, Rabbi Feldman, Rabbi Ciment, Rabbi Krohn and Rabbi Helfgot for being so supportive of the revitalization of the Jewish Center of Teaneck,” said Rabbi Fridman. “One of the unique features of our special Teaneck community is the cohesion of our various synagogues, which cannot be taken for granted. These rabbis and their shuls deserve great credit for being supportive of our efforts. God willing, with the continued growth of the Southern Teaneck community, all of our synagogues can continue to be strengthened.”
By Sara Kosowsky Gross
