In 1974, Hevreh was founded with "B'reisheet" - the first word of Genesis - at the top of a flyer sent to Berkshire County Jews, inviting them to a meeting to discuss founding a new Jewish fellowship group in south Berkshire County.
"Hevreh" comes from the Hebrew word for friendship and our name states our purpose, to be a community of friends in a Jewish context. Several years later, Hevreh of Southern Berkshire still adheres to the goals of its founders, to be a supportive Jewish community based on egalitarian and non-authoritarian leadership. Hevreh continues to emphasize democratic decision-making and worship leadership.
Hevreh's services, meetings and religious school classes were held in members' homes. Hevreh members came together to celebrate the Jewish holidays at services led by members at a variety of locations in South County. Within the first ten years, Hevreh affiliated with the Reform movement and became a member of the Union of American Congregations (UAHC), {now the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ}. For over ten years, Hevreh had the good fortune to have a succession of excellent student rabbis provided by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in New York City. The students rabbis-who were with Hevreh at first once a month and then twice a month-led services, taught in the religious school and taught classes for adults.
In 1992 Hevreh was eighteen years old. Eighteen - "Chai" in Hebrew - also means "life". In that year, Hevreh's leadership took two great leaps of faith, not only purchasing our first permanent home but engaging the on-going services of our first ordained rabbi, Deborah Zecher. At that time, Hevreh had fewer than 100 members. Our new home at 41 Mahaiwe Street gave us a permanent address and greater visibility in the community. And combined with Rabbi Zecher's dynamic leadership, Hevreh had, within four years, outgrown its cozy "starter" home.
Focus groups for Hevreh's members enabled all to have an opportunity to help determine how the congregation should go forward. From those meetings came the decision to build our own, new home at 270 State Road which we dedicated in June, 1999.
Our numbers have grown since then and we now have more than 375 member families. Since moving in to 270 State Road we have hired a second rabbi, Associate Rabbi Andrew Klein. Our Religious School administrator, Paula Hellman, continues to oversee an energetic cadre of Religious School teachers.
As we have grown, more congregational wide educational opportunities have become possible. Our new home has become a site for classical musical concerts and a recording venue. Community organizations meet in the library or in classrooms. Hevreh hosts activities and presentations of the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires.
The values which animated Hevreh's founders are still very much alive and well. They have not changed. The Board of Directors continues to reflect those values, balancing the needs of teh congregation with the responsiblity of reaching out to the larger Berkshire County community. Hevreh's members continue to welcome newcomers as we strive to embody the best of Jewish history, culture, ritual and ethical values.
