They call themselves the “oldest continuously operating synagogue in Jersey City” and today, despite a long patch of hard times, Congregation Mount Sinai is undergoing a spiritual re-awakening.Hopeful signs of growth include a baby naming event last year, a bat mitzvah this year, a recurring  Sabbath minyan and a growing email list of confirmed and prospective members.Founded in 1906, the congregation established a shul at 128 Sherman Ave. in the city’s Heights section and has worshipped there ever since the building opened in 1910.Through its peak years into the late 1900s, Jewish retailers on Central Avenue – mostly first- and second-generation Americans – were the primary supporters of the synagogue.Among the congregation’s significant spiritual leaders during its heyday were Rabbi Chaim Hirschensohn, a world-class Torah scholar credited with founding the first Hebrew kindergarten in the U.S., and Rabbi Theodore Adams.Hirschensohn, who authored some 40 books, was deemed the principal advocate of what is known today as “Modern Orthodoxy” – emphasizing how rationalism and science are critical to the survival of Judaism as a religion.A service preceding a wedding“His philosophy underlies much of the present-day approach to Orthodox Judaism of Mount Sinai,” said Mount Sinai president Arthur Goldberg. Adams, described by Wikipedia as “the epitome of the emerging modern Orthodox rabbis in the U.S. during much of the 20th century,” was elected president of the Orthodox-affiliated Rabbinical Council of America.As increasing numbers of shopkeepers retired and moved to the suburbs, Mount Sinai struggled to fill their pews.The onset of the covid epidemic further complicated survival but in late 2021, Goldberg said the congregation rented its building to an Orthodox school (yeshiva), enabling Mount Sinai to host regular weekday services.And, in February 2023, Mount Sinai enticed Rabbi Netanel Reed to join the congregation which, Goldberg said, proved a big turning point.Reed, who ran a Berlin-based translation firm before becoming ordained and emigrating to the U.S., spent 15 years as a rabbi in Monsey, N.Y., before accepting the invitation to join Mount Sinai.Goldberg credits Reed with helping repopulate Mount Sinai though an aggressive outreach to the community where he’s discovered a number of Jews whose memberships in other synagogues have lapsed, and non-Jews who’ve felt themselves drawn to Judaism.Reed is building on a track record dating back to the late 1990s when he came to the aid of a Berlin-based rabbi having trouble finding the minimum 10 men required for daily services.  Within a few years, thanks to Reed’s efforts, that number had multiplied by ten-fold.  At Mount Sinai, Reed teaches a full set of weekday classes in various facets of Judaism and presides over services Friday and Saturday services and congregants are invited to the rabbi’s home to partake in Sabbath dinners prepared by the rabbi and his wife Hadassah.A celebration following a bris milah (circumcision) Among Mount Sinai’s newcomers is William Clayton, a native of Bucks County, Pa., where he was a baptized Protestant who became a confirmed Lutheran at age 18.Clayton connected with Reed about a year and a half ago through a mutual friend and accepted an invitation to attend a worship service at Mount Sinai.He’s never looked back. “I felt a calling to it,” he said.“Just listening to the music, watching people in the congregation and seeing how happy they are when they’re singing, I just get chills listening …. The acoustics are great …. The stained glass (windows) are beautiful.  I just get lost in it all sometimes.”  Clayton has signed up for the rabbi’s classes on Torah and mitzvah (good deeds), with more to come.  A key aspect of those teachings – spreading God’s kindness through the world – “resonates with me,” he said.He’s also picking up the rudiments of Hebrew and learning how to keep a kosher (food prepared in accordance with Jewish dietary law) home enroute to what he hopes will be full conversion to his new faith.Reed is also helping extend the availability of kosher products to the Jewish community at large through the Babka Bailout bakery on Central Avenue operated by Israeli-born Michal Prevor.Israeli-born Michal Prevor, founder of Babka Bailout on Central AvenuePrevor had learned about the art of baking from her home builder husband Grant Prevor, and she started making babkas at home. She gave the profits to a financially strapped Jersey City mom with five children.When the bakery enterprise attracted a growing customer base, Prevor rented a commercial kitchen in nearby Union City and, about two years ago, opened the Central Avenue shop where she and her staff make babka and other traditional Jewish foods like challah and rugelach. They ship products nationwide.After he learned about the neighborhood bakery, Reed pitched the idea of going kosher to Prevor, who agreed and now the bakery is kosher-certified. Goldberg said the rabbi is exploring the possibility of expanding that certification to local Indian and vegetarian eateries.Another relatively new congregant is Lynn Hazan, a member of the faith. An original New Yorker who moved to Jersey City Heights about 15 years ago, Hazan initially connected with the rabbi and his wife through a What’s Up group.“From there, I went to services and Shabbat dinner at the rabbi’s house,” she recalled.And this month, her daughter Mia became a bat mitzvah at Mount Sinai.Cliff Waldman, a psychologist, joined the synagogue about eight years ago after moving from Downtown to the Heights where he became an advocate for Leonard Gordon Park, supporting resident Ann Blaustein’s efforts to fix a damaged bronze eagle memorial to a Jewish Jersey City WW II veteran, Raymond Sipnick.Waldman’s dad, also a WW II veteran, was a practicing Orthodox Jew but, “totally rebelled when he went into the Army and became alienated from religion,” his son recalled.“I felt frustrated because I loved listening to the (Hebrew) tunes when we went to synagogue, and I wanted to reconnect to Jewish tradition,” Waldman said.Mount Sinai, he added, enabled him to rediscover that feeling. And, he said, “the idea of integrating the wisdom of the Bible to the science of psychology” made a lot of sense.Mount Sinai, with its copper cupola windows, has been designated as an historic landmark but, due to its age, is in need of repairs and, according to Goldberg, has been awarded a state grant in excess of $100,000 “but we have to lay out the money first to get reimbursed by the state so we are seeking out benefactors.”For more information, visit the synagogue’s website at [email protected] post Jersey City’s Oldest Synagogue and Bakery Rejuvenate Jewish Life in Heights appeared first on Jersey City Times.