Similar talks ended with no resolution in 2009
Congregation Beth Shalom and Congregation Ohev Sholom are in preliminary discussions that could lead to a merger of the two Conservative synagogues, according to a joint statement issued July 16 to congregants and The Chronicle.
The statement came from Beth Shalom President Jason Krakow and Ohev Sholom President Larry Gordon.
“These discussions are taking place due to the fact that the leadership of both congregations believe that the Greater Kansas City Jewish Community will benefit from a combined Conservative Congregation that is able to provide a wide range of services and programs to its members and to the community,” the statement said.
“Members of both congregations will continue to be advised of developments as they occur, and can be assured that no final agreement will be reached without the approval of the membership of each congregation,” the statement concluded.
Krakow and Gordon declined a request from The Chronicle to provide additional information.
Beth Shalom, located at 14200 Lamar Ave. in Overland Park, has roots dating back to the late 19th century. It was first established in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1915.
Located in Prairie Village at 5311 W. 75th St., Ohev Sholom is the oldest operating Jewish congregation in the state of Kansas. It was founded in Kansas City, Kansas, and traces its origins back to 1877.
This is not the first time the two congregations have discussed a merger, as recalled by Rabbi Scott White, who retired from Ohev two years ago, and by Fred Bodker, a former board president of Beth Shalom.
White and Bodker were in their leadership positions when merger talks ended without a resolution in early 2009.
“It was a very friendly discussion back then,” Bodker said. “It certainly did not end on bad terms.”
Overcoming independent and separate cultures proved too difficult at the time, White and Bodker said.
It was Beth Shalom that made the initial overture then, largely as an attempt to bring on White as an additional clergy member to lighten the load on Beth Shalom’s then-Senior Rabbi Robert Tobin.
Beth Shalom was also interested in potential cost savings from a merger, Bodker said, as the congregation was laboring under two campuses — including the aging building at 95th Street and Wornall Road. The recession was also straining the congregation’s finances.
In the end, Bodker said, Beth Shalom had to move on from merger discussions to go a different route in finding an assistant rabbi. In a cost saving move, the congregation eliminated the assistant rabbi position effective July 2011.
It was the time crunch brought on by the rabbinical search that did not let merger discussions run their course, Bodker said. “I don’t think we had enough time to really bring that to conclusion.”
White supported the merger back then.
“I thought it made sense for the local Jewish community,” he said. It seemed logical for the two congregations to explore a merger given that fewer people were joining synagogues, he said, a trend that continues today.
The Pew Research Center’s “Jewish Americans in 2020” report, issued in May, reported that only about one-in-ten Jewish Americans (12%) say they attend religious services at least weekly in a synagogue, temple or less formal setting — such as a havurah or independent minyan.
Approximately two-thirds of the respondents who reported not attending synagogue at least once a month chose “I’m not religious” as their reason.
It remains to be seen, as well, if synagogue attendance among regulars will bounce back as COVID-19 recedes.
Another reason for Ohev and Beth Shalom to consider joining forces, White said, is that there is “virtually no distinction in terms of religious philosophy” between the two congregations.
For several years now, in fact, the two congregations have joined together for morning minyan. Through that effort, Bodker said, “both congregations have learned how well we can work together.”
Bodker was excited to learn the two congregations are talking again about merging.
Had Beth Shalom not been up against the deadline for a clergy search, he said, perhaps the two sides could have come to an agreement a dozen years ago. “These things just take a long time,” he said.
