Austin's Jewish Community Booms; Silverberg Named Federation Director, Pasternak Named Rabbi at Agudas Achim

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[Kicker] Buoyed by the area's growth, Austin's Jewish community has outgrown its core institutions and is working toward a more vibrant future. [Photo caption, A1] Children go to the altar during part of a recent Friday night service at Temple Beth Israel, a Reform congregation that serves Reform Jews throughout the Austin area. (Larry Kolvoord/AA-S) New, old residents lay foundation for growing diversity of worship By Starita Smith | American-Statesman Staff Transplanted job hunters seeking high-technology careers, students attracted by the academic prestige of the University of Texas and a baby boomlet are energizing Austin's Jewish community. The combined ideas, enthusiasm and money of Jews who have moved to Central Texas in the past few years and of longtime Jewish Texans promise to transform the local Jewish community rapidly and dramatically to resemble larger well-established communities elsewhere. They are laying the foundations for a future Jewish community with more diverse forms of worship, new facilities and support services for young families. "It's a pretty exciting time to be a Jew in Austin," said Gaylon Finklea, editor of The Outlook, a newspaper published by the Austin Jewish Federation. Although the Jewish population is small compared with Baptists and Catholics in Austin, it has been showing substantial growth. The American Jewish Year Book for 1995 estimates the Austin-area See Jewish, A10 [Sidebar, A1] Barry Silverberg takes office as executive director of the Austin Jewish Federation in September. A10 Marty Pasternak becomes the new rabbi at Congregation Agudas Achim in West Austin with a list of objectives to accomplish. A10 — continued from A1 — Jewish community center nears reality ■ New and old residents are laying the foundation for a growing diversity of worship in Austin Jewish population at 5,000, up from 3,600 in 1984. By comparison, Riverbend Baptist Church, believed to be the city's largest Christian congregation, has an average total attendance at its three Sunday services of about 3,000 to 4,000 people. But the Jewish community clearly is growing. Some local leaders put the Jewish population at more than 6,000, not counting hundreds more at the University of Texas and others not affiliated with organized groups. Finklea describes a community that has outgrown nearly all of its core institutions. The Austin Jewish Federation offices in a former Baptist church at 11713 Jollyville Road in Northwest Austin are crammed with staff members who run its programs in human relations and social services. The early childhood education program could take nearly twice as many children as it now accepts for all of them, Finklea said. Even the temple and synagogue might soon need more space. "We seem to be having a population explosion with young families in their 20s and 30s. ... It's a kind of baby boom," she said. "Many people are moving here for high-technology jobs, and many are associated with UT," she said. Helping to guide the multifaceted process of change will be two new local leaders. Rabbi Marty Pasternak, 35, arrived this month to lead Congregation Agudas Achim. Agudas Achim and Temple Beth Israel, both in West Austin, are the two largest Jewish congregations for the Austin area and neighboring counties. At the beginning of September, the new executive director of the Austin Jewish Federation, Barry Silverberg, 42, takes the helm with plans of giving the major secular voice of area Jews more volume in human relations and religious and humanitarian discussions. Silverberg left Syracuse, N.Y., where he had been a leader of a community twice the size of Austin's, mainly because the exciting expansion stage there had been completed. "I'm cognizant of that fact that the Northeast is stable, at best, economically," said Silverberg. "I wanted to go to an area that is growing and growing dynamically. I want to lead the growth of the Jewish community and the larger community." Editor Finklea describes change in Austin not only in terms of personalities and statistics but also in terms of changing religious practices. New groups are forming that allow Jews more choices. Steven Albert, a UT graduate student, and his friends have started a new Orthodox, or traditional, Jewish group using Sephardic practices. Sephardic Jews trace their heritage back to Spain and Portugal before they were driven out in the late 1400s. Visiting rabbis often lead the services for the new group. Austin already has Chabad House, a Lubavitch congregation that practices the Ashkenazic, or eastern European Orthodox form of worship. Meanwhile, Amy Clift, a Round Rock-area homemaker, helped start another group, the Heart of Texas Havorah, around the relatively young Reconstructionist form of Judaism, which Clift described as combining a modern American identity with Jewish worship. "Havorah" means fellowship in Hebrew. Although Heart of Texas doesn't have a rabbi and worships in Unitarian and Methodist church buildings, Clift said it is growing rapidly as word gets around about the new grass-roots, do-it-yourself congregation. Reconstructionism is a recently established movement of Judaism. Austin's two synagogues belong to two other dominant Jewish movements — Reform (Beth Israel) and Conservative (Agudas Achim). The area congregations serve people from Travis, Hays and Williamson counties. While some of the focus is on congregational growth, Jewish leaders also are looking at their role in the larger community. Silverberg said it is especially important for Jews to promote better relationships with other communities. "Jews are a minority that can only thrive in a climate in which democratic pluralistic values thrive," he said. The planned construction of a major Jewish community campus has brought out many "hidden Jews" who want to help with the project, said Sandy Dochen, president-elect of the Austin Jewish Federation. "The more cylinders we can be hitting on, the better we are at identifying our community and engaging people and ultimately helping the community," said Dochen. Longtime Austin residents said they had talked about building a community center, but the right combination of wealth, drive, interest and population to do the project did not come together until recently. With businessman Philip Spertus and computer magnate Michael Dell and his wife, Susan, leading the way, the old dream of an Austin Jewish center is becoming reality. Keith Zimmerman, cochairman of the capital campaign committee, said more than $6 million has been raised. The Dells have donated Northwest Austin land valued at about $3 million to the project. The 40 acres, which include the 22-acre Dell Jewish Community Campus, are bounded by Greystone Drive, Hart Lane, Far West Boulevard and Mesa Drive. Remaining land will be used for future projects. The campus project will be completed in 18 to 24 months, said Zimmerman. Spertus became involved after living in Central Texas for five years. The story of the former Chicagoan's partnership with longtime Austin residents illustrates the coming together of old and new in the Jewish community of Austin. Spertus donated the first $1 million to the building fund for the Dell Campus. The community center on the campus will be called the Sylvia and Philip Spertus Jewish Community Center. The property also will have an early childhood program, a fitness center and perhaps a synagogue and temple. The facilities will be available to both non-Jews and Jews. Spertus said he started working on the project after he visited Charlotte, N.C. "A Jewish businessman showed me the Jewish community campus there. They had a synagogue, a temple, a community center, an education building and other (services) there. It was in the midst of an appropriate area where most of the Jewish people live," said the philanthropist who has helped build a museum in Chicago and who is chairman of the board of the Austin Lyric Opera. "Their Jewish population is about equal to Austin's, and I thought if they could do it, why not Austin?" he said. [Photo caption] Marty Pasternak, formerly of Westport, Conn., is the new rabbi at Congregation Agudas Achim in West Austin. Pasternak plans to raise funds for a new Torah. (/AA-S) Rabbi energized by challenge of leading new congregation By Starita Smith | American-Statesman Staff Marty Pasternak, a slender, youthful-looking man with a pleasant demeanor, is the new rabbi at Congregation Agudas Achim. Pasternak, 35, is eager to take on the challenge of leading his second congregation in his six years as a rabbi. "This congregation has given me new energy for my rabbinate," he said. With more than 450 families enrolled, Agudas Achim is more than double the size of the congregation he led in Westport, Conn. For his rabbi's role as scholar, teacher and spiritual leader, Pasternak has an office amply supplied with the staples of the trade: Huge tomes line the walls, fill boxes and sprawl open on his desk with notes inserted throughout the pages. During a recent visit, Pasternak wore a white yarmulke atop his blond head. The only touch of whimsy in the atmosphere of study and reflection in his office was his tie. It was decorated with images of schoolchildren of all colors happily holding hands. Just as any other person with a new job, Pasternak has a list of objectives to accomplish. "There are a number of structural projects," he said. "Acquiring and raising funds for a new Torah is one." The Torah is a parchment scroll containing the Pentateuch, or the first five books of the Bible. Pasternak also must hire a new education director to manage the afternoon and religious classes of the Conservative synagogue's school. The three largest denominations of Judaism are Orthodox, the most traditional form of the religion; Conservative; and Reform, which is the most modern of the three. "These are separate movements or denominations," Pasternak said, but "the depth of faith that a Reform, Orthodox or Conservative Jew would have is the same. The difference has to do with the interpretation of the relationship between humans and God." Pasternak, who is originally from Detroit, has degrees from Michigan State and Ohio State universities. He is also a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City. [Photo caption] Barry Silverberg, 42, takes charge of the Austin Jewish Federation in September. One challenge he faces is defining the role of the new Jewish community center. (Sung Park/AA-S) Silverberg ready to lead Austin Jewish Federation By Starita Smith | American-Statesman Staff After 20 years as director of the Syracuse Jewish Federation, Barry Silverberg, 42, decided it was time for new challenges. He concluded the Jewish community there has grown as big as it will get for the foreseeable future and his job had become one of maintaining what he had helped build rather than creating new institutions. When Austin beckoned, he was ready to move. "I want to help build the community and make sure the services we offer are really helping to meet the real needs," said Silverberg from his home in Syracuse. "I like the size of the (Austin) community. The members know each other, and I like the sense of togetherness ... of working toward a common goal," he said. When he takes office as executive director of the Austin Jewish Federation in September, Silverberg's major challenge will be to help define the personality and the function of the Dell Jewish Community Campus in Northwest Austin where eventually several Jewish organizations, including the federation, will be housed. "What I bring to Austin are significant organizational skills that I think are going to be necessary in the construction of the Dell Campus," said Silverberg. "It's more than bricks and mortar. It says a lot about what the community thinks of itself and what it needs." Along with defining the focus of the campus, Silverberg, as leader of the main secular voice of the Jewish community, will work for better intergroup relationships among Jews and others and to raise more money for the Jewish community's increasing services. "He is a professional who has been in the Jewish federation management business for 20 years, but he's young and vibrant enough to bring new creativity. He has seen a community grow and presided over that growth," said Sandy Dochen, president-elect of the Austin Jewish Federation. Silverberg was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. and was educated at the State University of New York at Albany and Brandeis University. He was named assistant director of the Syracuse Jewish Federation in 1975 and executive director of that group in 1980.