Bais Medrash of Bergenfield (BMOB) celebrated the inauguration of its new main building on Shabbat Parshat Vayigash. Expressing the excitement of the kehilla was Morah D’asra Rabbi Moshe Stavsky who shared: “Our new shul provides us greatly needed space to accommodate and enable the further growth of the community, providing generous space for dignified tefilot, communal learning, youth programming and celebrating smachot, all in a beautiful and inspiring setting. B”H over the past 10 years, our membership has grown tremendously, reflective of the overall growth of the community in Bergenfield and particularly north of New Bridge Road. With immeasurable divine assistance, an invested community with visionary leadership came together to build our Mikdash Me’at.”
The festivities began on Friday night with over 300 people—men, women and children—attending Kabbalat Shabbat in the new sanctuary. At 7 p.m., a celebratory family dessert was held in the new social hall, attracting close to 400 attendees. A special presentation was delivered by Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb, who flew in from Israel where he serves as a rav of Kehilat Haela in Ramat Beit Shemesh and ram at Yeshivat Har Etzion, entitled “Structured and Spontaneous: Finding the Right Balance in Our Tefilot.”
Shabbat morning hosted three minyanim in the new facility. A hashkama minyan at 7:30 a.m. attracted 70 daveners. The main minyan at 9 a.m. hosted 400. The newly organized nusach sefard minyan, which had been graciously hosted at the home of Sheri and Lieber Schachter during COVID, took place at 9:20 a.m. in the new beit midrash with a kahal of 50 participants. Rabbi Stavsky addressed the hashkama and main minyanim as Rabbi Gottlieb addressed the nusach sefard minyan. At Seuda Shlishit, Rabbi Gotlieb spoke on the topic of “Appreciating Hashem-and Ourselves: The Two-Sided Coin of Religious Growth.”
Current BMOB President Jonathan Price expressed his excitement at the inauguration. “How incredible it was to see hundreds of old and new friends together again in one place! The experience of our first Shabbat in the new building was utterly magical as it brought the warmth and support of our broad membership together to daven in our new main sanctuary, celebrate together in our new social hall, engage and inspire our youth with brand new classrooms and repurpose our old building into a youth center. The sheer number of people who joined in the celebration reaffirmed the critically important role that a shul plays in a community.”
Price shared the unbelievable statistic that during COVID, over 40 new families moved into the community. He credits the welcoming and inclusive environment of Bergenfield and BMOB in particular for this amazing growth. The shul hopes to offer ongoing programs for the youth in addition to the ongoing weekly shiurim. The next few months will be devoted to expanding programming for all ages.
In describing the decor of the shul, Price shared: “The decorative parochet and bima cover that were commissioned from Israel to adorn the shul depict the 12 Tribes, representing the diversity of our kehilla. The artistic, wavy pattern directs one’s eyes to the ceiling in the direction where we focus our tefilot.”
Vice President Daniel Barzideh provided a brief history behind the festive milestone. “It was surreal to finally experience Shabbat in the new building after years of hard work, planning and effort. The beautiful new building is the culmination of countless hours volunteered by the many talented members of our community and the generosity of our members and friends. It was under Yale Baron’s leadership as president of our shul that the seeds for this expansion project were planted. They were nurtured to fruition by his successors Jason Koenig and now Jonathan Price. Needless to say, our rav, Rabbi Moshe Stavsky, has been a constant driving force behind the warm and inspiring environment that continues to attract so many new families to our community.”
By Pearl Markovitz
