Aaron Passman
Reprinted with permission from the Jewish Exponent

It was a rainy Monday morning as members of Allentown's Conservative Temple Beth El filed into the dark synagogue and greeted one another with a friendly series of boker tovs, or "good mornings."

The synagogue usually attracts up to 75 people on Shabbat, but on this particular day, only about a dozen congregants sauntered in to the small sanctuary, most of them men. The group, about half of them regulars, chatted in a quiet, easy manner as they waited for stragglers to show up. But before long, it was time to get down to business.

During the mostly Hebrew service, the dim morning light filtering through the stained-glass window of the four-year-old building brightened up the room just enough to make you forget about the dreariness outside.

The small, close-knit setting appeared to be a microcosm of what Jewish life in Allentown is all about.

CLICK HERE to continue