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The community in 2024–2026 · three historic congregations active · collaborative and shared-space discussions between Sinai Synagogue and Temple Beth-El documented from October 2024
Scale: The Jewish Federation says it reaches more than 1,800 Jewish people across the St. Joseph Valley — against the 2,652 individuals counted in 1960. The Federation's executive director observed in October 2024 that the Orthodox community was "continuing to be ascendant as a percentage of the overall Jewish population."
The congregations: All three historic congregations remain active. The Hebrew Orthodox Congregation worships at 3207 South High Street with daily and Sabbath minyanim and the South Bend Kollel in its building. Sinai Synagogue, Conservative and egalitarian, worships at 1102 East LaSalle Avenue, where Rabbi Tyson Herberger succeeded Rabbi Michael Friedland in September 2026. Temple Beth-El, Reform, has worshipped at the Jewish Federation building since selling its own building in 2023, under Rabbi Shoshana Kaminsky. Two further Orthodox institutions stand in current directories: the Midwest Torah Center, founded in 2007 at 2516 South Twyckenham Drive under Rabbi Elie Ginsparg, and a Chabad of Greater South Bend, whose Rabbi Schneur Gansburg appears in the Federation's newsletter in October 2024; a place listing puts Chabad in Granger. The community's schools — the South Bend Hebrew Day School, founded in 1973 by the Torah Life directory's account (a private-school directory says 1970), and the Yeshiva of South Bend, which began classes in June 2008 in the Hebrew Orthodox building — belong to the schools history and are noted here only to complete the roster.
Collaboration, as documented: The two non-Orthodox congregations' futures have been a matter of public discussion in the Federation's newsletter. In April 2023 the newsletter framed Temple Beth-El and Sinai Synagogue as each facing membership and financial questions of a critical nature. In October 2024 the Federation's executive director, Moshe Kruger, wrote that "Sinai and Temple continue to have candid discussions about a new collaborative future," that the two were "reimagining a shared-space future possibly on the campus of the Federation," and that one outcome to explore was a "Campus for Jewish Life." The February 2025 newsletter carried the campus idea forward, naming three priorities for it: to build community, to engage and connect, and to provide a safe oasis to be Jewish, with the 28-acre Federation campus as the community's central hub. The record consulted documents discussions of collaboration and shared space, with dates as given; it does not document a merger vote, a merger agreement, or either congregation's use of the word merger, and no merger is recorded here.
Sources:
- Jewish Federation of St. Joseph Valley, Our Community News, October 2024 (Moshe Kruger, "A Minute with Moshe"), February 2025, and April 2023 — the Orthodox share of the population, the candid discussions and shared-space future, the Campus for Jewish Life, and the congregations' membership and financial questions.
- Jewish Federation, "Our History" — the more than 1,800 Jewish people the Federation reaches; National Register nomination — the 1960 count of 2,652 individuals.
- South Bend Torah Life, Torah Institutions directory — the Hebrew Orthodox Congregation and Kollel, the Midwest Torah Center, and the Hebrew Day School; Sinai Synagogue and Temple Beth-El websites — current rabbis and arrangements; Indiana State Board of Education document — the Yeshiva of South Bend's June 2008 opening.