Jewish groups facing change

“It’s home,’’ said Cherkas, who has attended the Reform temple in Malden for 45 years. Here, her parents married in 1959; in the sanctuary she held her bat mitzvah. And now, as the temple president, she’s charged with making the most important decision since the congregation formed in 1930: selling the building and finding a new home for members.

“We don’t really want to move but the building is too big for our size,’’ said Cherkas, who added that changing demographics, an aging membership, and a need to remain fiscally solvent are forcing the congregation’s hand. Cherkas said the temple could stay in Malden at a smaller building, merge with another nearby congregation, or move to Medford, Wakefield, Stoneham, or Revere.

As Jews north of Boston prepare to celebrate the second day of their new year, Rosh Hashana, many are thinking about how the local Jewish community will survive in light of a recently released independent report that calls for sweeping changes in area synagogues, community centers, camps, and the largest Jewish charity north of Boston.

In perhaps the hottest button in the report, prepared by the Jewish Communi ty Task Force, comprising Harvard Business School professor Carl Sloane and four Harvard researchers, it recommends that five Conservative synagogues - in Swampscott, Marblehead, Salem, Peabody, and Beverly - consider merging into two temples.

Rabbi Baruch HaLevi, who leads Congregation Shirat Hayam in Swampscott, said he would be open to merger talks with Temple Sinai of Marblehead and Temple Shalom in Salem. Shirat Hayam was created in 2004 after Temple Israel and Temple Beth El merged.

“Unless we start swinging for the fence, little tweaks here and there are not going to turn this community around,’’ said HaLevi.

But others are more circumspect. Dr. Michael Silverman, president of Temple Sinai in Marblehead, said in an e-mail that he welcomed the report, but he declined to respond when asked about a possible merger between the synagogues.

Jack Beermann, who has attended Temple Sinai in the past, said the three temples have different approaches to prayer.

“Some of these differences are based on deeply held beliefs about the appropriate religious practice, and if you want to get an argument going, start talking about people’s different religious practices,’’ said Beermann, a Boston University law professor.

Other major recommendations in the report call for the financially ailing Jewish Community Center of the North Shore to sell its 86-acre Middleton summer camp; allow people to target their donations to the charity of their choice under the Jewish Federation of the North Shore’s umbrella; and shifting one of the most successful programs, Youth to Israel, from the Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation to the Jewish Federation of the North Shore.

The report, which focuses on 23 Jewish communities from Lynn to Gloucester, lays much of the blame for the community’s fiscal and social problems on paid professionals who have steered the area’s larger Jewish institutions. In addition, the report also describes a community where Judaism and Israel are now playing a lesser role, along with religion and charity to Jewish causes.

According to the report, just 25 percent of the area’s Jews belong to a synagogue, as opposed to 40 percent of Jews throughout the United States who affiliate with temples. In addition, just 10 percent of Jews gave to the Jewish Federation of the North Shore, the area’s largest Jewish fund-raising group, in fiscal 2008 and 2009. It points to a gloomy financial state for local Jewish organizations: This year, 15 of the 17 organizations that submitted their finances for the report - eight synagogues and nine institutions - are expected to lose money.

“The financial condition of our institutions is a reflection of years of weak management and inadequate leadership, as well as communal apathy and disinterest - perhaps more serious problems than finances and certainly more elusive when it comes to a search for solutions,’’ the report states.

In order to stave off financial collapse, the report suggests more stringent accounting, consolidation, cost-cutting, creating strategic plans, and the creation of a task force to monitor the progress during the next year.

The report is the latest study of the area’s Jewish community, which has had a presence in the region north of Boston since the Revolutionary War. While Jews set down their roots in northern cities stretching from Chelsea to Gloucester and Lawrence in the 19th century, the local Jewish community increased dramatically in the 1950s. More than 50 years ago, Jews began leaving longtime enclaves such as Dorchester, Chelsea, and Malden and settled in Swampscott, Marblehead, and Peabody, leaving the area with one of the largest Jewish communities in the state.

Of the communities included in the report, Marblehead still has the highest Jewish population with 3,611, followed by Swampscott with 3,464 and Peabody with 3,163.

But during the last decade, Jewish communal life has waned as younger Jews have moved away, hastening the closing of synagogues in Lynn, Marblehead, and Swampscott.

Malden’s Jewish population has decreased dramatically in the last three decades. Until the 1980s, about 20 percent of the city was Jewish, with the community supporting six synagogues, kosher bakeries, and butcheries, and a Jewish community center. In the late 1970s, membership at Tifereth Israel peaked, with more than 500 families. Now its membership is down to about 110 families; its religious school has 25 students, and Sabbath services draw as few as 15 people.

Still, Cherkas and others say the temple has a future. As many as 500 people will buy high holiday tickets and attend a Rosh Hashana service today. And while most of those attending will travel from other communities such as Peabody, Burlington, Wilmington, and Lynnfield, most have roots in Malden. Proceeds from high holiday services and a special Yom Kippur appeal for the religious school help to keep the temple open.

“Our numbers are small but our heart is big,’’ said Ross Shraiar, who grew up in Malden and is a former temple vice president.

She said she believes no matter where the temple moves, the spirit will follow.

“We’re here to stay,’’ Shraiar said. “We like our tradition, and we don’t turn anyone away. It’s like one big family and we look out for one another.’’

While area organizational administrators acknowledged that the report represented a dim fiscal and social portrait of the community, some praised the study as a step toward revitalization.

“It’s about how we all can continue doing what we want to do but in a more pragmatic way,’’ said Liz Donnenfeld, executive director of the Jewish Federation of the North Shore. “Many agencies and synagogues are struggling with deficits.’’

The federation could be facing its most difficult times since it formed in 1938. During the last two decades, its fund-raising has dropped by more than 50 percent. In 1989, it raised $2.9 million; this year it expects to raise just $1.4 million. At the JCC of the North Shore in Marblehead, officials had to borrow $500,000 to keep the building open in the spring after losing more than 20 percent of its members. Since then, the JCC has cut eight employees, a move that will save about $175,000 in the next year.

“The actions we take are going to cement the future for everyone,’’ said Tony Daniels, acting executive director of the JCC of the North Shore, who also endorsed the report.

Yet others question if any of the findings will be implemented. Three years ago, the federation spent $100,000 to commission Project Solel, a study that called for reorganizing the federation and reinvigorating the community by creating volunteer committees and overhauling everything from local boards to Jewish curriculum in Hebrew schools. That report was scrapped soon after it was issued.

Ellen Golub, a professor of communications at Salem State, said she believes the report needs to focus on emphasizing the Jewish aspects of a community. One step, she said, would be to make it a requirement for any Jewish organizational head or volunteer board member to take a 100-hour course on Jewish history, culture, and religion. She said Jewish health clubs and social justice programming - popular among Jewish professionals and labeled Tikkun Olam, or repairing the world - would not be enough to keep the Jewish community alive.

“Judaism is not about the greatest number or a majority rules,’’ said Golub. “It’s about making a community where the most observant and the least observant can be comfortable.’’

Steven Rosenberg can be reached at srosenberg@globe.com.