On Paxon Hollow Road: A Conservative Synagogue in Suburban Philadelphia
Congregation Beth El-Ner Tamid, known throughout the community as CBENT, stands on Paxon Hollow Road in Broomall, Delaware County, in suburban Philadelphia. The name itself is a Hebrew blessing: Beth El means House of God, and Ner Tamid means Eternal Light, a fitting image for a congregation that calls itself the steady glow of Jewish life in the township. The building faces a tree-lined residential neighborhood, and within its walls a Conservative Jewish community has built a busy calendar of prayer, study, social action, and shared celebration. CBENT's first-year-free membership, multi-generational learning programs, and explicit welcome to interfaith, LGBTQ, and special-needs families set the tone for a congregation that prizes tradition and openness in equal measure.
Mission, Vision, and Five Core Principles
The congregation's mission is to foster a welcoming, vibrant, and inclusive Jewish community blending the traditions of the Conservative movement with progressive teachings. Together members enjoy spiritual, cultural, and social activities while encouraging social action and lifelong Jewish learning.
The vision widens that circle: CBENT aspires to be the heart of the local Jewish community, supporting the religious, social, and emotional needs of a diverse population, with an open invitation to explore and celebrate Judaism.
Five core principles shape everything the synagogue does:
- Community and Inclusivity - a warm and caring environment where Jews of all ages, backgrounds, races, abilities, gender identities, and sexual orientations, and their loved ones, feel welcome and respected.
- Religious Connection and Spirituality - opportunities to form meaningful and spiritual connections.
- Lifelong Learning and Inspiration - encouraging people of all generations to explore Jewish identity, heritage, and community through a variety of religious, educational, and social activities.
- Traditional and Modern Values - cherishing the rituals and practices of Judaism while adapting to current times, embracing both traditional and contemporary values.
- Social Action (Tikkun Olam) - wholeheartedly supporting the wider community in collaboration with other religious institutions and secular organizations.
Clergy Who Welcome Every Voice
The spiritual leadership of CBENT centers on Rabbi Michal Morris Kamil, Cantor Steven Friedrich, and Rabbi Barry Blum, who served the community for thirty-one years and remains involved.
Rabbi Michal envisages a community that welcomes all and sees people in their full identities and light, celebrating each person's unique contribution to what she calls the Kehillah kdosha, the holy community. Raised across India, Sweden, New Zealand, and the United States, Rabbi Michal has worked with interfaith couples and families from many backgrounds, and she carries that breadth of experience into her rabbinate. Her welcome is direct: she sees individuals of multiple backgrounds, ethnicities, varying genders and sexual identities, interfaith couples, and people across the gamut of abilities, age, languages, economic backgrounds, traditions, and politics, as long as they believe in democracy and pluralism. As she puts it, the multiple names for that oneness made up of many unique members are exactly what the opening morning prayer celebrates, the goodness of the tents of Jacob and the sanctums of Israel.
Cantor Steven Friedrich brings nearly four decades of cantorial and synagogue administration experience to the bimah, plus a half-century of tutoring B'nai Mitzvot and teaching in religious schools. A Muhlenberg College graduate, Cantor Steve studied the cantorial arts as a student of Cantors Seymour Schwartzman and Moshe Burger, and he completed the Masters in Jewish Music program at Gratz College under the tutelage of Professor Sholom Altman and Dr. Irving Cohen. A strong baritone, Cantor Steve leads prayer in musical ranges that are comfortable for most people and in a style that encourages all congregants to join in with great spirit. He teaches Nusach, cantillation, Jewish music, Tanach, Jewish history, and Jewish literature, training children as they work toward becoming B'nai Mitzvah and encouraging all congregants to grow in their knowledge of Judaism. Cantor Steve resided for over twenty years in Broomall, raising three sons with his wife, and he and Ann now live nearby in Hershey's Mill.
Rabbi Barry Blum, a native Philadelphian raised in Overbrook Park, served the CBENT community for thirty-one years. His community work includes past presidency of the Marple Newtown Clergy Association and chaplaincy for several local nursing homes through Jewish Children and Family Services, and he served as Camp Rabbi each summer at B'nai B'rith in Starlight, Pennsylvania, where he also served as a Judaism Specialist. A passionate visitor to Israel with eleven trips for missions and family milestones, Rabbi Blum and his wife Amy were honored by JNF and the congregation, with a woodland established in their honor in the Lahav Forest in Israel. His work continues to involve food insecurity and social action, and The Rabbi Barry and Amy Blum Social Action Fund has been established in their honor to fund this cause.
Weekly Services and the Rhythm of Jewish Time
The congregation gathers every weekday of the week, with services offered both in person and on Zoom. The daily minyan is held on Monday morning at 7:15 AM, Tuesday evening at 7:00 PM, Wednesday evening at 7:00 PM, Thursday morning at 7:15 AM, and Friday evening at 7:00 PM, with all weekday minyanim convened online through Zoom (the office supplies the link on request). Shabbat morning services are held in person at 9:45 AM, and a Sunday minyan meets at 9:30 AM in person as well.
This near-continuous rhythm means that someone saying Kaddish can find a minyan almost any morning or evening of the week, and that members traveling for work or living at a distance can join the community from wherever they are. Services are in English with Hebrew liturgy, drawing on the Conservative movement's traditional prayer book while incorporating the rabbi's progressive teachings.
The sanctuary accommodates both live and streamed services, and special holiday services, events, and programs are added throughout the year. Worship is traditional in style, with the cantor and rabbi leading the community in song and prayer and inviting full participation from the congregation. Babysitting is available for High Holiday services, and holiday festivities, Learners' Services, Blessings of the Animals, Shabbat in the Park, and Shabbat for the Soul fill out the rhythm of the Jewish year.
K'tonton Early Learning Center
In 2002, CBENT partnered with Federation Early Learning Services (FELS) to establish K'tonton Early Learning Center, an intimate and welcoming preschool and infant-care program serving children from six weeks to five years old. FELS has been administering high-quality early childhood education programs, serving the Jewish and secular communities, for over a century, and K'tonton ranks in the top three percent of Delaware County centers. The center holds NAEYC accreditation and has been a Keystone Stars 4 program since 2004, reflecting the highest level of standards required by those credentialing organizations.
The center offers full- and part-time options for toddlers and preschoolers and full-time options for infants, and is open from 7:00 AM to 5:30 PM. K'tonton blends independent and structured activities, encouraging children to explore, experiment, and reach their own conclusions by thinking for themselves. Teachers create an inclusive, nurturing environment where intellectual curiosity is applauded, and the program offers experiences requiring investigation, exploration, and discovery. The curriculum provides an age-appropriate introduction to Jewish culture, traditions, and rituals, celebrates diversity by recognizing and embracing a variety of ethnic backgrounds and traditions, and includes weekly visits from the rabbi to the classrooms.
An enclosed playground develops healthy bodies and minds, and enrichment programs round out the day. K'tonton families can join the synagogue for only one hundred dollars in membership dues.
The Mensch Making Academy
From kindergarten through seventh grade, the Mensch Making Academy offers a multisensory approach to learning that enables students to question, explore, and experience Judaism firsthand. Hebrew language, prayer, Bible, ethics, Jewish holidays, customs, traditions, and history are key components of the program, and learning through the arts, drama, music, crafts, and dance gives every student the chance to embrace their own learning style and strengthen their connection to Judaism. Jewish holidays, Bible heroes, the Hebrew alphabet, blessings, and prayers are taught through a lens of being proud of one's Jewish identity and being a part of the Jewish community.
The academy is led by Education Director Ellen Glassman, who grew up attending Pennypack Park Jewish Community Center in Northeast Philadelphia and going to a high school where less than three percent of the student population was Jewish. Her goal is to help build a strong Jewish intergenerational community where students can interact with congregants and feel part of a synagogue family, and she is eager to find opportunities for students to question and connect with G-d. She wants to challenge students to learn the Hebrew language and connect the words and melodies to their hearts when they pray, and she is excited for them to participate in social action activities, perform Mitzvot, and assist in repairing the world. Through educational and social-emotional programming, Ellen helps students and their parents foster their Jewish identity and make lasting friendships.
Mini Mensch Academy and Tot Shabbat
Mini Mensch Academy meets twice a month on Sunday mornings and on special Shabbat mornings, giving families with infants through pre-K children the opportunity to connect, inquire about, and celebrate Judaism while singing, dancing, telling stories, celebrating holidays, learning about rituals, creating crafts, and more. The program is rooted in the understanding that CBENT families are busy juggling careers, kids, financial stressors, scheduling logistics, and the emotional well-being of their families, and that finding meaningful time to connect with other families who have young children can be challenging. As parents and caregivers, families want their children to have opportunities to question, wonder, explore, and connect, and the program responds by encouraging all of that in a warm, age-appropriate setting.
Mini Mensch Academy is also deeply involved in Tikkun Olam, repairing the world, empowering young children to recognize that they can make a difference through acts of kindness and family-centered social action projects.
Tot Shabbat extends that spirit into the sanctuary itself, with young children through second grade invited to engage in their own Shabbat-offered morning and holiday services. Through music, tactile play, songs, games, storytelling, crafts, movement, and more, Tot Shabbat makes Shabbat come alive for the youngest learners and gives the whole congregational community a chance to embrace and welcome its youngest members. Feeling proud of being Jewish can begin at a young age, and the entire congregation embraces and welcomes the very youngest learners.
B'nai Mitzvah, Hebrew High, and Confirmation
Every B'nai Mitzvah at CBENT is a journey that begins during the Mensch Making Academy years and culminates when the student, together with parents and extended family, accepts Jewish responsibility by learning Haftorah, Torah, and prayer. The congregation takes pride in knowing that these students have explored their Jewish identities and have learned the foundations necessary to lead them into Jewish young adulthood. Each child is unique, and B'nai Mitzvah reflects and supports the individuality of every student.
After B'nai Mitzvah, eighth-, ninth-, and tenth-grade students engage in innovative Hebrew High programming that continues to explore relevant topics and foster friendships. They discuss social action and social justice causes, often volunteering for the cause, and they hear from speakers, take trips, and work on projects that bring their interests to life. Students who participate in Hebrew High can celebrate being Confirmed with their classmates, a process filled with self-exploration and examination of Jewish concepts and beliefs, working together with their peers.
Confirmation encourages students to take on Jewish leadership positions as Madrichim (teen mentors and role models) in grades eleven and twelve, serving in the Mini Mensch and Mensch Making Academy programs. Junior Congregation services, held on select Shabbat mornings and holidays for grades three through seven during the school year, provide instructional prayer experiences and let each grade take a turn leading the congregation in song, prayer, and creative writings from the heart. CBENT also offers an Adult B'nai Mitzvah program, helping adults who did not have a B'nai Mitzvah as children to prepare for the milestone.
The Dick Packel Learning Support Program
Throughout his life, congregant Dick Packel was determined that every Jewish child have an education supporting their emotional, social, and academic needs. Through the generosity of his family, Dick Packel's vision lives on in a program that nurtures, supports, and encourages students to engage in activities that enhance their individual learning. Working within the framework of their learning challenges, a certified special education teacher supports children with special needs, those experiencing difficulty in congregational classroom settings, and students who might benefit from enrichment. Students receive one-on-one or small group instruction from the Learning Support teacher and help from specially trained Madrichim teen teaching assistants.
The goal is for every Mensch Making Academy student to have individualized learning opportunities and learn through experiences and methodologies that are best for them. Dick Packel had a dream that all children would have the opportunity to learn, explore, and question in a supportive environment, and that dream continues to shape the program today.
Better Together: Bridging the Generations
In conjunction with the Jewish Education Project, Better Together is a national movement involving three thousand teens and twenty-five hundred seniors across the country. CBENT's Better Together program is designed to inspire teens to express their Jewish identity while creating connections with older adults, the Beth Elders. Together, teens and seniors engage in discussions, cooking activities, Seders, holiday celebrations, and art to bridge the generations, foster friendships, alleviate loneliness, and learn from each other.
Teens Cook for Friends
Once a month, CBENT's teens gather in the kitchen to cook thirty meals for people in need throughout Delaware County. This Mitzvah project invites students, their friends, and the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts to prepare wholesome meals while enjoying each other's company. The kitchen fills with laughter and learning, and the food leaves the building headed for neighbors who need a hot dinner.
Love Thy Neighbor: Tikkun Olam in Action
The Love Thy Neighbor (LTN) Committee seeks to help others in need, both within and outside the local community, by performing good deeds, providing monetary and non-monetary contributions, and advocating for policy changes. LTN's activities are based on the concepts of Tikkun Olam (repairing the world), the Torah's command to love your neighbor as yourself, and Abraham's exemplification of chesed (loving kindness) toward strangers.
In the past, the committee has gathered and distributed food, clothing, and other supplies to those living in and exiled from Ukraine and to people who are homeless in Philadelphia, and it has partnered with a local Ukrainian church, other synagogues, and various local agencies. LTN maintains a planning committee and a Volunteer Brigade ready to be called for direct help with specific projects, and welcomes students fulfilling B'nai Mitzvah project requirements as well as high school students seeking credit for volunteer work.
Sisterhood, Men's Club, and the Trustees
Sisterhood is a gathering of women, mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, grandmothers, and individuals, balancing the many diverse demands of daily life, with concerns about the environment, the community, the country, and the Jewish people, all seeking to make the world better than they found it. Sisterhood is a home for strengthening faith, learning its precepts, and establishing a meaningful Jewish lifestyle, a place for the special bonding of women who share friendships, who understand and appreciate each other and the work of their hands, minds, and spirits. Membership is free, and Sisterhood anchors the synagogue's social action programs, community service, and Mitzvah projects.
The Men's Club builds friendships, camaraderie, and community among the synagogue's men. Membership is free for all synagogue members, and the club is a proud member of the International Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs. Throughout the year, the Men's Club offers social, cultural, educational, and sporting events, including the annual Gala honoring a deserving congregant. Members build the Sukkah, host a latke party for the religious school, perform Mitzvah projects, and help with the Purim Carnival, attend Men's Club Shabbat, Poker Night, Eagles Watch Party, and help make a minyan.
The Trustees, chaired by Arthur Pollin, support and plan special events and programs at the synagogue. Each year, the Trustees award scholarships to Religious School students and underwrite programs and events, and they welcome all synagogue members to join and take an active role. The Board of Trustees works behind the scenes on everything from volunteer coordination to event planning.
Creative Crafters
The Creative Crafters (formerly the Knitting Club) meets twice a month on Thursdays at 1:00 PM and welcomes knitters, crocheters, needle pointers, sewers, jewelry and bead makers, and any other crafters to share their work. The group's scarves, hats, and blankets support Israeli soldiers, the Domestic Abuse Program, the homeless, and Murphy's Giving Market in Upper Darby. All members of the community, regardless of religious beliefs, are invited, and instruction is offered to anyone who wants to learn. Lots of good discussions and friendships fill the meetings, along with shared cooking recipes, gardening tips, and family news, and the room is kept politics-free.
The L'dor V'dor Legacy Society
The L'dor V'dor Legacy Society was established at CBENT to promote the principle of l'dor v'dor, from one generation to another. The society encourages congregation members and other friends of the synagogue to support the long-term financial health of the congregation by designating CBENT to receive future gifts, whether through a will or trust, as a beneficiary of an IRA, 401k, other retirement account, annuity, or other financial account, in specific dollar amounts or percentages, or as part of a charitable trust. Gifts may be for specific purposes or projects or completely unrestricted, whatever the donor prefers.
The committee notes the wisdom of the Talmud: Just as my ancestors planted for me, I too shall plant for my descendants (Ta'anit 23a). Persons who implement their gifts by naming CBENT in their wills, trusts, or beneficiary designations and so inform the synagogue become members of the L'dor V'dor Legacy Society unless they ask to remain anonymous.
The Gift Shop and the Weitzman Museum Store
The Synagogue's Gift Shop features a full line of traditional and contemporary Judaica, including Yarmulkes, Tallitot, Mezuzot, and jewelry, as well as a complete line of Kosher wines. The shop also carries baby and grandbaby gifts and gift baskets for every occasion, and a knowledgeable staff can assist with all Simcha and life-cycle purchases. Hours are Thursday 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM, with additional on-site hours during evening and Sunday programs (bingo, Better Together, and the like), and by appointment.
Members can also support CBENT by shopping at the Weitzman Museum Store, where the synagogue receives a portion of any purchases made through the linked portal.
Life Cycle Celebrations at CBENT
CBENT's beautiful, safe, and spacious facilities accommodate the full Jewish life cycle. The sanctuary hosts Shabbat and holiday services, both live and streamed; the social hall is set up for baby namings, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, weddings, anniversaries, and family celebrations; and an enclosed playground welcomes children during gatherings. A gender-neutral bathroom serves all who attend, and the building includes space for memorial gatherings of loved ones.
Rabbi Michal and Cantor Steve welcome families for baby namings, B'nai Mitzvah preparation, weddings, and the gatherings that hold a community together across generations.
Membership and Visiting
First-year membership at CBENT is free, and prospective members can reach out by phone at 610-356-8700 or in person at 715 Paxon Hollow Road in Broomall. Office hours are 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM Monday through Thursday and 9:30 AM to 2:30 PM on Friday, with the building closed on Jewish holidays.
From infant care at K'tonton through Confirmation in the Tenth Grade, from the daily minyan to the Love Thy Neighbor Committee, Congregation Beth El-Ner Tamid is a House of God with a Ner Tamid, an Eternal Light that continues to burn in the heart of the Jewish community of Broomall.