Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on December 16, 2019

Rabbi Roy Feldman poses for a photo at Congregation Beth Abraham-Jacob on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019, in Albany, N.Y. (Paul Buckowski/Times Union)

Rabbi Roy Feldman poses for a photo at Congregation Beth Abraham-Jacob on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019, in Albany, N.Y. (Paul Buckowski/Times Union)

Rabbi Roy Feldman poses for a photo at Congregation Beth Abraham-Jacob on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019, in Albany, N.Y. (Paul Buckowski/Times Union)

Rabbi Roy Feldman poses for a photo at Congregation Beth Abraham-Jacob on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019, in Albany, N.Y. (Paul Buckowski/Times Union)

Albany beckons to Orthodox Jews

The video shows a man wearing a yarmulke coffee and newspaper in hand strolling a New York City sidewalk when a rude pedestrian slams into him, splashing coffee on his suit. Suddenly, a passing vehicle rolls through a giant puddle, dousing the luckless guy as pigeon poop plops onto his shoulder.

A message looms on-screen: "Want to save on dry-cleaning? Time to move."

To Albany, Congregation Beth Abraham-Jacob hopes.

It's one of many videos designed by the Orthodox Union to coax Orthodox Jews in America's biggest city to think about relocating to much smaller cities, such as Albany, where growing Orthodox communities are eager to welcome newcomers. The video was produced for the OU's Jewish Community Home and Job Relocation Fairs.

Last month, Rabbi Roy Feldman, who leads Congregation Beth Abraham-Jacob, and synagogue board member Seth Rosenblum pitched Albany's merits to fair attendees in Manhattan's Metropolitan Pavilion. Rabbis from 63 other cities including West Hartford, Conn., Harrisburg, Pa. and Louisville, Ky. manned booths festooned with balloons, kosher baked treats and beautiful photos.

A Las Vegas rabbi handed out poker chips and urged Orthodox congregants to consider moving West to enjoy clean desert air.

"We discussed cultural amenities but really, no one is going to move to leave Brooklyn for Albany because Broadway plays come to Proctors," Rosenblum said. "We were explaining Albany is a great place for Orthodox Jews to worship and have a community. We don't drive on the Sabbath. There are affordable homes around Whitehall Road so it's easy for our congregation to walk to synagogue."

Feldman noted additional Albany highlights. Two hospitals are an easy walk from the synagogue should someone want to visit a sick relative on the Sabbath. The nearby Price Chopper on Central Avenue has a section with kosher meats and baked goods. Albany's Orthodox community has a mikveh, a pool used for rituals of purification.

"We don't have kosher restaurants, but most of our socializing involves having dinner at each other's homes and at synagogue events," said Feldman.

He majored in history and linguistics at Columbia University and served as an assistant rabbi at a Manhattan synagogue before coming to Albany. He was impressed by the more modest Albany home prices. Now, his congregation made its own pitch video in which Beth Abraham-Jacob members compare their lives in the Big Apple to Albany. One man marvels that he can always find a parking space.

"That's my favorite line," Feldman said, laughing.

The video also showcases the synagogue's speakers, events, school and youth camp. At age 32, Feldman's the father of two pre-school daughters. He fondly describes how his little girl who's not yet 4 puts away all her battery-powered toys Friday before Shabbat begins and plays instead with dolls, crayons and stuffed toys until Shabbat ends.

"She knows that we don't use electronics on the Shabbat so she puts away toys that contain them until Shabbat is over," he said, smiling proudly.

Feldman is eager to see the synagogue's school grow and hopes Orthodox families with small children will move to Albany from pricier Long Island and northern New Jersey as well as the five boroughs. The synagogue interior comfortably seats the current 80 to 100 who attend morning worship. It's a beautiful space with room to grow. Stained glass windows with bright colors and Pop Art-style images of a lion peeking through a lush wilderness, flowers and forest arch over the altar. They were made by an Israeli artist in 1990 and shipped to the synagogue by a generous donor.

The back wall is a soundproof partition that can be folded back to increase seating. In the three and a half years Feldman has been rabbi there, he estimates "12 new member units" (his term encompasses individuals and families) joined each year.

One of the biggest selling points at the relocation fair is outside the synagogue: an eruv which is a ritual enclosure whose boundaries are laid out by the synagogue. Most non-Jews may never detect an eruv. Rules for creating one are complex.

When there are no physical boundries like rivers or walls to use as a boundary, the Orthodox community will ask the city if it can mark the boundary in some other way like running a line between two poles.

The eruv is a private domain where Orthodox believers can perform actions that normally cannot be done on Shabbat. Feldman offers an example: on Shabbat, an Orthodox Jews is not supposed to carry a child or put anything in his pockets. But within an eruv, he may do so.

The relocation fair may already be drawing new residents within those boundaries. Feldman and Rosenblum invited the families who chatted with them to stay with an Orthodox Albany family, share meals, attend the synagogue, explore the area. Rosenblum said several families want to accept the invitation.

"We suggested they come in spring; relocating to Albany will be an easier pitch to make then than in the winter," Rosenblum said wryly.

lyedwards@timesunion.com 518-454-5403 The Connecticut Post's Dan Haar contributed to this report.

Read more:

Albany beckons to Orthodox Jews - Times Union

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