In coming months, Beth Abraham Synagogue to decide fate of building

In the years following World War II, the Dayton View neighborhood was the population center of the Miami Valley’s Jewish community.

All of Dayton’s synagogues were there, within a one-mile radius of each other.

Families could walk to shul on Shabbat; children could run to afternoon Hebrew school.

Those days, however, are long gone. In the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s, the Jewish community began to shift farther northwest to the North Main Street area and Harrison Township.

Later, in the ‘80s, the Jews began migrating to the south suburbs and to points farther north such as Englewood.

Today, with the community evenly scattered, predominantly among the suburbs north and south of the city, Beth Abraham Synagogue is the only congregation to remain in Dayton View.

Since last spring, however, Beth Abraham’s strategic planning committee has conducted research to help the congregation decide whether to move to a new location or to adjust the current facility to meet its changing needs.

The chair of the strategic planning committee is Ellen Leffak. In December, the committee  reported to the synagogue board of directors, presenting three options and their relative costs.

The first is to stay and renovate the current building: the least expensive alternative.

The second choice is to stay and undertake a major renovation that would include partial demolition with reconstruction to meet current and future needs.

The cost of this option, according to Leffak, would be “roughly equivalent to building a new synagogue in a different location.”

A subcommittee has already worked with an architect on a preliminary design for reconstruction.

“Our building is older,” Leffak said. “It needs cosmetic updating. It was designed for a much larger congregation. Our sanctuary is gorgeous but very large. Other areas don’t get much use. It’s not even an issue of square feet, but how it’s laid out. It doesn’t best meet the needs of the congregation.”

The third option is to relocate the synagogue, either to an existing structure or through construction of a new building.

“Part of the congregation feels we should be more centrally located,” Leffak said. “There is a perception of issues with the area.”

Beth Abraham currently has more than 400 membership units. Its current building at Salem and Cornell Aves. opened in 1949 as Beth Abraham United, the result of a merger of Beth Abraham and the Dayton View Synagogue Center.

According to Beth Abraham President Susie Katz, “60 percent of our active members who attend services on a weekly basis are from the north.”

Leffak emphasized that the December report to the board “was not a debating of merits of these possibilities. It was strictly presenting the information.”

“The board and strategic committee have not made any decision. The strategic committee has not made any recommendation to the board. The plan is to bring this information out to the congregation, to get responses and thoughts. Then the board will consider all the information and congregation reactions.”

If the board does decide to move, she said, its intent is to have a centrally located building.

According to a report Leffak made in the congregation’s December newsletter, at this point “not many (centrally located) existing structures or properties are available or appropriate.”

She added, though, that a subcommittee had identified a few possibilities and will continue to examine options while waiting for the congregation to come to a decision.

Beth Abraham will hold a large congregational meeting at the end of January. The board will also schedule an open board meeting for March to discuss the outcome of the congregational meeting.

“In late April, the board will hold a meeting to decide,” she said.