A Rabbi's Unorthodox Revival

Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, center, enjoys music before a traditional Rosh Hashanah prayer service at his synagogue. (Jonathan Ernst For The Washington Post)

In 2002, the synagogue also became embroiled in a battle between two factions for control of the governing board. One faction worshiped in an Olney branch of the main synagogue. That dispute is the focus of two lawsuits.

For the moment, synagogue members said they are preoccupied less with the litigation than with the changes they see. "The excitement in this community is palpable," said Scott Reiter, 30, who joined the synagogue about a year ago with his wife, Rachael Weintraub.

Reiter, a lawyer with the federal government, said the couple used to worship at Kesher Israel in Georgetown but could not afford to buy a house there. They wanted to stay in the District and thought that Ohev Sholom could be revived. They were instrumental in bringing Herzfeld to the attention of the committee searching for a rabbi.

"There is so much potential" at the synagogue, said Weintraub, 29, who also is a lawyer. "It's just crying out for young kids to be running through the halls . . . for vibrancy and youth." When their 3-month old son recently was circumcised, it was the synagogue's first such ceremony "in a very long time," Weintraub said.

Herzfeld said that when he attended Sabbath services at the synagogue in December, 13 people showed up. But he had an audience of 90 this month for his first sermon. In addition, for the first time in many years a prayer service is being held every day because the required quorum of 10 men, known as a minyan, is showing up each morning, the rabbi said.

Members of the congregation hope they can spark a revitalization of Jewish life along the 16th Street corridor, where an added attraction is the recently opened Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation's Capital.

Herzfeld noted that in the past three months, eight Jewish families have moved into the synagogue's neighborhood of Shepherd Park -- a key factor for an Orthodox congregation, whose members are not supposed to drive on the Sabbath.

To attract Orthodox families, Herzfeld is casting a big net. The glossy brochure recently mailed to Jewish households announced a wide range of new programs, including religious education classes for children and free preparation courses for bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs.

It also said the synagogue would hold a "free alternative service" on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Normally, only dues-paying synagogue members get tickets to the crowded, hours-long High Holiday services. But Herzfeld's alternative services will last only an hour.

Wouldn't an Orthodox Jew frown upon a shortened Yom Kippur ceremony? member Goodman was asked. "I suppose that is true," he replied. "But he's not offering that to the Orthodox [congregants]. He's trying to capture as much interest as there is in the non-observant Jew and try to build on that. . . . He's reaching out to a much broader audience of Jews, which is something we've never done."

Neither the brochure nor the TV spot mentions that Ohev Sholom is an Orthodox synagogue, where men and women are separated during worship services.

Herzfeld agreed that the ad campaign, which was underwritten in part by friends and supporters from his old synagogue, is an effort to reach all Jews. "The idea is we're welcoming to everyone. We don't investigate too closely people's personal lives," he said, adding that he doesn't ask whether people drive or walk to services on the Sabbath.

Herzfeld said that when he told friends he was thinking of moving to Washington to revive a dying synagogue, "many people questioned my sanity." They also warned him, he said.

"They said, 'This isn't New York,' " he recalled. "And it's not New York."