NEW ENTRY—Congregation Neveh Shalom’s new entry and other additions will soon be finished thanks to the efforts of many, including from left, Neveh Shalom President Doug Lenhoff, Campaign Director Wendy Kahn, Rabbi Emeritus Joshua Stampfer and Campaign Co-chair Merritt Yoelin.
Neveh Shalom expands on past
By Paul Haist
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When members and friends of Congregation Neveh Shalom gather at the Southwest Portland synagogue the weekend of Oct. 25, it will be to do more than merely celebrate the completion of a months-long construction project and a years-long capital campaign that will have renovated the existing facility and added two new buildings.
“Much of what we are doing is about looking forward in the knowledge of where we came from,” said Neveh Shalom President Doug Lenhoff.
Few know better where Neveh Shalom “came from” than the congregation’s much admired emeritus rabbi, Joshua Stampfer.
In a conversation with Lenhoff, Capital Campaign Co-chair Merritt Yoelin, Campaign Director Wendy Kahn and Executive Director Fred Rothstein, Stampfer explained how Neveh Shalom led the migration of much of the Portland synagogue community from the central city to what were then the city’s southwest suburbs.
“When we moved out here in 1964, there was a lot of resistance in the congregation because this was considered out in the sticks,” said Stampfer.
He was referring to the fact that Portland’s Jewish community had for years been centered chiefly in the central city, the close-in Northwest and Southwest neighborhoods adjacent to downtown.
Neveh Shalom, formed in 1961 from the merger of congregations Neveh Zedek and Ahavai Sholom, was forced by freeway construction out of its almost new building on Southwest 13th Avenue across from what was then the Jewish community center.
“We held on to the hope we could make it out here,” said Stampfer.
Their apprehension evaporated and their hope was confirmed when the Jewish community center and the Robison Home also decided to relocate to the same general neighborhood.
“We felt so much better about being in the forefront of the community,” said Stampfer, who noted that some had thought the move might lead to the creation of a second Conservative congregation, a fracture of the congregation.
That did not happen and, while the congregation can be credited for geographic prescience, that is only part of its history that pointed to a future that is underscored today by their campus expansion.
About 12 years ago, just a couple years before Stampfer retired, some Neveh Shalom members expressed the desire for a second minyan. Others resisted the idea, fearing, again, a fracture of the congregation. But, once again, that did not happen.
“On an average Shabbat now we have a variety of services meeting a variety of needs,” said Stampfer.
It is that variety of needs that the renovated and expanded campus is intended to meet now and in the future.
While congregational leaders acknowledge differences of opinion over what path the congregation might have followed at various times in its history, on the eve of the dedication of their expanded campus they are pleased to report broad-based support across the congregation for the project.
“Not only have we seen unprecedented levels of financial support, but unprecedented volunteer participation to develop the resources for this project,” said Kahn. “We literally had hundreds of people involved in this project.”
About one half of the congregation’s approximately 1,000 member families donated to the $9 million capital campaign, according to Rothstein.
Lenhoff said the financial participation figure is actually slightly more than 70 percent when measured against what they estimated were the number of congregants financially able to participate.
“This congregation has never brought those kinds of numbers to the game,” said Yoelin, who co-chaired the capital campaign with Alan Blank. Blank recently relocated to Colorado.
Kahn said many congregants on fixed or limited incomes gave just to know they were “part of the project.” She pointed to one member of modest means who pledged her annual reparations check from the German government.
The success of the capital campaign is tied closely to leadership participation and their example, according to Rothstein.
“We decided not to ask the membership and lead donors until the entire board had committed to the project,” he said. “The financial commitment of the board at the outset was critical.” Lenhoff agreed.
“The key was to go to the board. Their commitment was unprecedented,” he said, adding that their early participation “opened the door for lead donors,” among whom he named Renee and Irwin Holzman.
“You can’t have a conversation about donors without talking about the Holzmans,” said Rothstein.
Yoelin described the Holzman’s as “the public persona” of the project.
For the Holzman’s part, Renee Holzman has expressed pride in how Neveh Shalom “members stepped up to meet the growing needs of a vibrant congregation.”
Rothstein also gave special credit for leadership to Lenhoff and Sandy Axel who preceded Lenhoff as president.
Among the many who have played pivotal roles in the success of the project, Rothstein singled out Yoelin and Blank for fund-raising; Jeffrey Weitz and Howard Freedman, who served as owner representatives for the construction phase; and noted Portland calligrapher Gary Pearlman who chaired the Art and Interiors Committee.
Rothstein also credited the entire Neveh Shalom clergy team lead by Rabbi Daniel Isaak for their leadership throughout the project.
Lenhoff said, “None of this would have happened without Wendy Kahn and (Campaign Coordinator) Wendi Menashe.”
Yoelin reflected his colleagues’ thinking when he said, “Before any of this, there was Rabbi Stampfer.”
Stampfer took the long view again. “I think we can look back with pride on the decisions we made a long time ago,” he said.
