Society Hill Synagogue on Spruce Street
Society Hill Synagogue sits on Spruce Street in the heart of Philadelphia's historic Society Hill neighborhood. The congregation describes itself with three phrases: communal warmth, spiritual depth, and Jewish life. Members and visitors arrive to find a community that calls itself independent, rooted in tradition and flourishing with life, drawing on Conservative liturgy while weaving in influences from the Reconstructionist, Renewal, and Reform movements and beyond.
The congregation is intergenerational and explicitly welcoming. Its membership includes interfaith couples and families, LGBTQIA+ people, people of color, and people of all abilities. The building is fully accessible, with an elevator serving the Sanctuary, social hall, and rear courtyard. Rabbi Nathan Kamesar, who has led the community since 2014, first as a rabbinic intern, then as Associate Rabbi beginning in 2018, and as Senior Rabbi since 2020, frames the synagogue as a place where Torah, prayer, music, and community meet.
Shabbat at Society Hill Synagogue
Shabbat is the highlight of the week. Three different services shape the rhythm.
On Saturday mornings, year-round, services begin at 9:30 am. The morning opens with P'sukei D'zimrah, the traditional verses of song and praise, and Shaharit, the traditional morning service, running from 9:30 to 10:15 am. From 10:15 to 11:00 am, Rabbi Kamesar leads a community-wide discussion of the week's Torah portion, tying ancient text to contemporary life. A traditional Torah service runs from about 11:00 to 11:40 am, followed by Musaf and the blessings over wine and bread. The service concludes at noon, and everyone is welcome to stay for a weekly dairy-vegetarian communal Kiddush lunch, sponsored by member generosity.
During the school year, Hebrew School students participate in the Torah discussion and join the bimah for Kiddush and Motzi. The synagogue's immersive Shabbat Hebrew School experience, introduced under Rabbi Kamesar's leadership, places Hebrew School on Shabbat mornings so that students learn Hebrew in the very service they will eventually lead.
From the first Friday after Labor Day weekend through the last Friday before Memorial Day weekend, the congregation gathers on Friday evenings for TGIShabbat. Doors open at 5:30 pm for a Shabbat Schmooze in the lobby with wine and cheese. The service runs from 6:00 to 7:15 pm and includes a dynamic Kabbalat Shabbat, a traditional Ma'ariv, and a weekly D'var Torah. A communal dairy-vegetarian Oneg dinner follows.
Once a month on Fridays at 5:45 pm and once a month on Saturdays at 11:15 am, from September through June, the synagogue hosts Young Families Shabbat for families with children from newborns through age 6. Led by members Joanna and Micah Hart, the gatherings blend guitar, singing, instruments for all ages, blessings, dancing, and a dairy-vegetarian meal. Young Families Shabbat was voted Best Family-Friendly Shabbat Service in the Jewish Exponent's Best of Jewish Philadelphia 2024.
On Mondays at 7:00 pm, lay leaders convene a brief traditional Ma'ariv service on Zoom so that congregants and community members in mourning or observing a yahrzeit can recite Kaddish in a minyan. The service runs about 25 minutes.
Soulful Music: The TGIShabbat Ensemble
Music fills the Sanctuary at TGIShabbat, where a core of professional musicians, trained in Western classical, jazz, klezmer, Indian classical, and other traditions, supports the prayer with skill and soul. The ensemble has played together since 2021.
Cantor Jessi Roemer, the congregation's Hazzan since 2017, is a vocalist, guitarist, percussionist, and composer. Raised near Washington, D.C., her music draws on Yiddish, Hebrew, Ladino, and American folk traditions, as well as the decade she spent living in Jerusalem. She is also the director of Ezuz, a Philadelphia-based Jewish world-music ensemble that performs in Hebrew, English, Yiddish, Arabic, and Ladino. Her original compositions have been featured by Shalshelet: The Foundation for New Jewish Liturgical Music and Adding Our Voices: The Jewish Feminist Songbook.
Cellist and vocalist Jessie Reagen, a Chicago native, has performed around the world with artists ranging from Adele and Beyoncé to Galeet Dardashti. Flutist Dr. Eve Friedman, whose credits include the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Philly Pops, and Opera Philadelphia, joined the ensemble as a regular presence in 2017. Multi-instrumentalist Loren Goldfinger plays keyboards, guitar, bass, and percussion across jazz, classical, rock, funk, folk, Latin, and Jewish music, and is a board-certified music therapist working at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital. Clarinetist Dr. Larry Goldfinger, a biologist by day, is an avant-garde Balkan klezmer player and a longtime member of the West Philadelphia Orchestra. Princeton-based tabla player Daniel Johnson rounds out the group, having performed with the Grammy-winning Paul Winter Consort, kirtan artists Krishna Das and Nina Rao, and many others.
The synagogue makes most of these melodies accessible beyond Friday night. The online music library collects dozens of recordings of prayers, blessings, and songs organized by holiday and ceremony, with pieces for Shabbat, Havdalah, the High Holidays, Hanukkah, and Passover sung by Hazzan Jessi Roemer and others.
Playschool: A First Jewish School Experience
Playschool, set in the Paula Kline Learning Center within the synagogue's historic building, is a warm and inclusive early-childhood program for children ages 18 months through 5 years. The philosophy is child-centered and play-based, with a curriculum that integrates age-appropriate academics in literacy, early math, and scientific exploration with free play, art, music, and a celebration of Jewish values, holidays, and customs.
The Playschool year runs September through May. Children ages 18 months to 4 years may attend three, four, or five days a week, while Pre-Kindergarten (ages 4 to 5) requires five-day attendance. Daily early care begins at 7:45 am. Classes run from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm, with Pre-Kindergarten extended to 2:00 pm. Afternoon Arts runs until 3:00 pm, and extended care runs until 6:00 pm. A summer camp blending hands-on exploration, music and movement, art projects, indoor and outdoor play, and water splash zones runs from early June through mid-August, with registration opening in February. Children need not attend during the school year to enroll in summer camp.
The school's rhythm is gently Jewish. Each week brings Tkiya music classes tied to seasonal themes and beloved stories, Monday morning Havdalah with Rabbi Kamesar, and a Friday morning Shabbat celebration with singing, dancing, and challah. Older students visit the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Academy of Natural Sciences, and live theatre performances. Playschool draws families of all religious and ethnic backgrounds from across Philadelphia.
Megan Nachod directs early-childhood education and oversees Playschool as well as Tuesday Hebrew School Ivrit classes. Lead teachers and assistant teachers for each class, Comets, Suns, Moons, Meteors, and Galaxies, are listed individually with their training and prior experience.
The Ann Spak Thal Hebrew School
The Ann Spak Thal Hebrew School grounds students in Jewish text, tradition, and community from Pre-K through 7th grade, with a FourEightTeens program running from 8th through 12th grade. The Hebrew School is closely integrated into synagogue life, with the Rabbi and Hazzan participating regularly in celebrations, commemorations, and discussions.
Students from Pre-K through 7th grade meet on Saturdays from 9:30 am to noon, when they join the Sanctuary for the Torah discussion, the bimah for Kiddush and Motzi, and the weekly communal lunch. Students in 3rd through 7th grades also attend classes on Tuesdays from 4:15 to 6:15 pm. FourEightTeens meets on Tuesday evenings.
The curriculum celebrates Hebrew as both an ancient liturgical language and a living modern tongue, with classes focused on siddur literacy and the building of modern Hebrew vocabulary. Students study Midrash and Tanakh through biblical text, music, stories, theater, cooking, art projects, and games. A multi-faceted connection to Israel builds knowledge, critical thinking, and pride. Field trips take students to Jewish performances, museum exhibitions, and tikkun olam (repair of the world) social-action projects.
Karen Hafter, a third-generation member and alumna of the Hebrew School itself, directs youth and family education. Debbie Jaffe, the B'nei Mitzvah tutor since 2017, has mentored hundreds of students since 2000.
Adult Education and Lifelong Learning
The adult-education catalog, published each year, runs courses from introductory surveys to deep textual study. Course offerings include:
- Nuts and Bolts: A (Re)Introduction to Judaism with Rabbi Kamesar, meeting Tuesday evenings in person or on Zoom, exploring foundational elements of Judaism and Jewish living.
- Hebrew for Beginners with Marc Schwartz, weekly on Thursday evenings on Zoom, using the National Jewish Outreach Hebrew Reading Crash Course.
- Judaism of the Heart: An Introduction to Hasidic Thought, a seven-session course with Rabbi Kamesar exploring the presence of God in everyday life.
- A Religion? A Culture? A Nation? What Is Judaism? with Rabbi Kamesar, drawing on Leora Batnitzky's book of the same name.
- Unlearning Jewish Anxiety with Hazzan Jessi Roemer, using Rabbi Dr. Caryn Aviv's book as a base.
- Monthly Spontaneous Choir with Hazzan Jessi Roemer, a Monday-evening gathering to sing nigunim and Shabbat tunes outside of services.
- Understanding the Kaddish: Meaning, History, and Practice with Barbara Spector.
- How to be Holy: An Overview of Mesillat Yesharim with Tim Cravens, a study of the classic Mussar text by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto.
- The Journey to Peace with Rabbi Avi Winokur, drawing on The Future is Peace by Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon.
- The Joseph Saga with Joseph Freedman, examining the character of Joseph across the Torah portions of Vayeshev, Miketz, and Vayigash.
Members audit most adult-education courses at no additional cost, with reduced fees for several offerings.
The Jewish Year: From the High Holidays through Shavuot
The synagogue marks the full Jewish calendar, with services and celebrations for the major festivals. Each year Rabbi Kamesar publishes sermons for the Days of Awe, archived back to 2018. The High Holiday liturgy comes from Mahzor Lev Shalem, the Conservative movement's Days of Awe prayer book whose title literally means whole heart.
For the High Holidays, the Sanctuary holds the main services, with parallel family services for children ages 6 and younger, family services for children ages 7 to 12, and an alternative teen program. Childcare is available in the Sanctuary during services. Tickets are mailed to members in good standing, with guest tickets available for purchase.
Sukkot brings the building of a sukkah in the synagogue's courtyard and a Sukkot TGIShabbat, with a young families service in the sukkah and a Coolanu Salsa 'n' Sips evening. Hanukkah brings the annual Hanukkah Happening, with gluten-free latkes from the Latke Brigade, dreidel games, art projects, a Boldly Hanukkah Sweater contest from Coolanu, sufganiyot, and goodie bags of candles, dreidels, and chocolate gelt. The Purim Carnival was voted Best Synagogue Event in the Jewish Exponent's 2025 Reader's Choice Awards and features 18 game booths, a prize station, hamantaschen, and refreshments; a Rock Purimspiel written by Hazzan Jessi Roemer and performed by an intergenerational cast follows a hamantaschen bake-off and Scotch tasting on the eve of Purim. Lag Ba'Omer brings bonfires in the courtyard, kosher and vegetarian grilling, and Nerf archery. Pesah includes a community Second Night Seder led by Rabbi Kamesar with more than 150 attendees, services with Yizkor, and a J.Proud LGBTQ+ Community Passover Seder hosted at the synagogue. Shavuot closes the year with a Leil S'lihot participatory concert in Elul.
Life Cycle: B'nei Mitzvah, Weddings, Baby Naming, and Beyond
The synagogue's life-cycle work happens through Rabbi Kamesar and Hazzan Jessi Roemer.
Baby naming takes place most often during a regular Shabbat morning service, when the family is called to the bimah for an aliyah and the baby's Hebrew name is announced before the congregation. Rabbi Kamesar offers blessings over the baby and the whole family, and the synagogue presents the family with a gift to mark the occasion. For a brit milah, the Social Hall is available for space rental, and families can be referred to a mohel. Baby namings are available to members of the congregation.
B'nei Mitzvah preparation begins with Hebrew School enrollment in Pre-K through 3rd grade. Hazzan Jessi Roemer assigns a date during 5th grade. Group training begins in 6th grade, and individual tutoring with one of the professional tutors begins nine to twelve months before the service date. The b'mitzvah orientation and training fee is $1,500, billed in two installments during 6th and 7th grade, and families are asked to sponsor the Kiddush lunch on the day of the service. The Social Hall can host private receptions of up to 201 guests. Adults can also become b'nei mitzvah through the program, including those who grew up Jewish but never had the opportunity, or those coming to Judaism later in life.
Weddings are officiated by Rabbi Kamesar, who meets with each couple several times to plan the ceremony, including personalized ketubah language, the hupah (a synagogue hupah is available for use), the exchange of rings, the Sheva Brakhot, and the breaking of the glass. The synagogue welcomes LGBTQ+ couples, and Jewish ceremonies are officiated for interfaith couples as well. Rabbi Kamesar does not officiate on Shabbat or Jewish holidays, or during the weeks immediately preceding Rosh Hashanah or Pesah. The Sanctuary and Social Hall are available for ceremonies and receptions for a rental fee.
Funeral and mourning support and conversion preparation are also part of the life-cycle work, with conversion inquiries welcomed by the clergy.
Standing for Justice: Social Action
Society Hill Synagogue takes its Jewish obligation to repair the world seriously, with three primary social-action channels.
The Food Insecurity Committee partners weekly with The NeighborHub (the new name for Old Pine Community Center) to pack food bags for over 150 families in the neighborhood. Volunteers meet at the NeighborHub on Tuesday afternoons from 4:00 to 5:30 pm, with registration required. Donations to the Food Insecurity Fund allow the synagogue to purchase hard-to-source items like eggs. The committee is co-chaired by Laurie Krivo and Bob Kaufman.
POWER (Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower, and Rebuild) is an interfaith coalition of 150 congregations throughout Philadelphia and across Pennsylvania. Society Hill Synagogue is a founding member. POWER organizes around five campaigns: Live Free for criminal justice reform, Education for fair public school funding, Economic Dignity for living wages and union rights, Civic Engagement, and Climate Justice and Jobs for a just transition to green energy. In the words of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, the synagogue prays with its feet as well as its heart.
Vare-Washington Elementary School, a public school at 5th and Federal Streets, about 15 minutes' walk from the synagogue, has been a partner since 2006. Volunteers tutor students, run book drives, developed an after-school photography program, lead a biweekly library program, organize a multi-pronged food assistance program, and run annual holiday mitzvah projects that have provided hundreds of coats, scarves, hats, and gloves to students and thousands of dollars in gift cards to families.
The Hesed Committee cares for the internal community, visiting the sick, supporting members in hard times, and coordinating meal deliveries. The Inclusion Committee, Ohel Patu'ah (the Open Tent), works to make Jewish life accessible to all. The Israel Committee fosters engagement with Israel across a diversity of perspectives.
Many Communities Within the Community
Beyond formal programs, the synagogue hosts a wide range of regular groupings and activities.
Young Friends (the 20s and 30s cohort) hosts happy hours, a Matzah Pizza Party on Pesah, and other gatherings. Young Families Group brings together families with children from newborns through age 6, and is led by members Joanna and Micah Hart. Triple Chai (Ages 54+) organizes programs for the middle-aged and older community. Coolanu: Culture and Community runs multi-generational events like salsa nights in the sukkah and the Boldly Hanukkah Sweater contest. Rosh Hodesh gatherings, held approximately monthly, center women's voices and experiences and welcome cisgender and transgender women as well as non-binary and gender-expansive individuals. Men's Club, meeting roughly monthly on Thursday evenings at 7:00 pm, strengthens communal bonds through learning and social gatherings. The Book Club and Mah Jongg Club round out the regular calendar, alongside ice skating, gallery visits, and other curated events.
Clergy and Staff
Rabbi Nathan Kamesar has served Society Hill Synagogue since 2014, first as a rabbinic intern while at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, then as Associate Rabbi from 2018, and as Senior Rabbi since 2020. He earned his M.A. in Hebrew Letters from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2018, where he served as President of the Reconstructionist Student Association and received the Tikkun Olam Award. He also holds an M.S. in Nonprofit Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania (2016), a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley (2010), and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Oregon (2004). Before rabbinical school he was an attorney at Skadden Arps and an AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteer in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. He is a member of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association and the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and lives in Society Hill with his wife Caroline and their daughters.
Hazzan Jessi Roemer has served as Cantor since 2017, after years of leading children's and family services at the synagogue. Ordained by the ALEPH Cantorial Program in January 2017, she grew up near Washington, D.C., and lived in Jerusalem during the 1990s. She previously served as a cantorial soloist at Congregation Leyv Ha-Ir in Rittenhouse Square and as a prayer leader at Congregation Kol Tzedek in West Philadelphia. She directs Ezuz, the Philadelphia Jewish world-music ensemble.
Rabbi Avi Winokur serves as Rabbi Emeritus after leading the community from 2001 to 2020. A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (Ordination, 1991), he previously served as Senior Rabbi at West End Synagogue in New York (1992-2001) and at Congregation Shirei Shalom in Monroe, Connecticut (1990-1992).
Sahar Oz is Executive Director. A native of Rishon LeZion, Israel, he joined the congregation as Director of Education in 2012 and was promoted to Executive Director in June 2020. Megan Nachod is Director of Early Childhood Education. Karen Hafter is Director of Youth and Family Education. Alexis Rosen serves as Manager of Community Engagement and Communications.
Visiting Society Hill Synagogue
The synagogue sits at 418 Spruce Street in Society Hill, served by SEPTA bus routes 12 and 57. Office hours are 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday.
Free parking is available during Friday evening and Saturday morning Shabbat services and all High Holiday services on the west side of 5th Street from Lombard to Walnut, and the east side of 6th Street from Spruce to Pine. The lanes are marked No Stopping, and a synagogue-branded parking placard, available in the lobby, must be displayed on the dashboard. Even with the placard, parking is not permitted by fire hydrants, in crosswalks, blocking garages, or in disability-designated spots without a valid permit.
The building is accessible to people with mobility difficulties. The accessible entrance is through the Paula Kline Learning Center door on Spruce Street. An elevator provides access to the first and second floors and the rear courtyard. Accessibility support can be requested through Executive Director Sahar Oz.
Drop-ins are welcome to all Shabbat services. Visitors are also welcome at Young Families Shabbat and the Monday evening Zoom minyan. Membership includes weekly Shabbat services, holiday celebrations, adult-education courses, Playschool tuition discount, life-cycle officiation, pastoral counseling, and a wide range of social-action and community-building programs. Membership inquiries go to Sahar Oz or Rabbi Kamesar.
Donations may be made online by credit card, ACH through a bank account, recurring credit-card gifts, or PayPal, with the option to designate gifts to the General Fund, Oneg and Kiddush Fund, Social Action Fund, Rabbi's Discretionary Fund, Hazzan's Discretionary Fund, or Education Scholarships and Programs.