Lack of a Reform Synagogue in St. Louis Park

While St. Louis Park is home to three Orthodox synagogues, a Conservative synagogue and multiple of other Jewish institutions, is has never housed a Reform congregation. This does not mean that no residents are Reform Jews. In fact, two siblings that I talked to who grew up and raised their kids in St. Louis Park were bar mitzvahed at Temple Israel, a reform synagogue in Minneapolis, in the 60’s, and some of their children were also bar mitzvahed there more recently. ¹  A few Russian Jews at the Beth El community Passover seder also mentioned that they were current congregants of Temple Israel.

This particular synagogue, the only Jewish synagogue in the heart of Minneapolis, never relocated to St. Louis Park because their mission revolves around their city location. As senior Rabbi of Temple Israel Marcia Zimmerman said, “the health of the city is our health, and our health, that of Temple Israel, is the health of the city."²

"I think for a reform community, the eruv doesn’t speak to us, so there was no need to move there" - Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman, Temple Israel

Rabbi Zimmerman strongly believes that Temple Israel holds a special place in the Jewish community by being at the table of a lot of interfaith work. “We believe that if there isn’t a Jewish voice in the city and in interfaith conversations, then the entire Jewish community suffers,” she said in an interview. “We see ourselves as an important buffer for those Jews in St. Louis Park, and we see ourselves as really leaders of a Jewish community for all the Jews, wherever their movements, wherever their observance."³

Why no other reform synagogue has popped up in St. Louis Park, though, is an interesting question, and one that we can’t completely answer. Temple Israel is located only a few miles from St. Louis Park, so Reform Jews possibly didn’t feel a need. Additionally, while the eruv has promoted a vibrant Orthodox Jewish community that continues to grow, it does not hold much significance for other Jews who do not strictly follow Shabbat. Reform congregations might not have had any motivation to relocate or build in the eruv.⁴