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<\/a><\/p>\nThe Alexander Grass Campus for Jewish Life in Harissburg, Pennsylvania. (Google Streetview)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The slow-rolling collapse in Harrisburg, which has roughly 9,000 Jews in the city area, has included the closure of programs, the displacement of Jewish institutions and the planned sale of the Alexander Grass Campus for Jewish Life, which was purchased by the federation for $4.5 million in 2022 and envisioned as a hub for Jewish life in central Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
The downfall has also featured an unusual intervention by Jewish Federations of North America, the umbrella organization for 141 local federations that usually work highly independently. JFNA dispatched a former federation leader to help the Harrisburg Federation make hard financial decisions as it became clear its situation was not sustainable.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile well-intentioned, there were clearly mistakes made that have set back Jewish life in Harrisburg and caused distress and division,\u201d JFNA\u2019s president and CEO, Eric Fingerhut, wrote in a letter to the community in April, in which he called the local federation\u2019s business model \u201cnot viable.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the time, Fingerhut expressed optimism that the situation could turn around, writing, \u201cDespite all that has transpired in recent years, I am confident the members of the Greater Harrisburg community can come together to repair what has been broken and build a bright future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Four months later, that optimism is being tested as Harrisburg\u2019s Jewish residents have watched core functions of the local federation evaporate.<\/p>\n
Gila Ogle, the head of the Silver Academy, a Jewish day school in Harrisburg, said there was a \u201cdeep desire to ensure a vibrant future for Jewish life in Harrisburg,\u201d but lamented that there is no longer a local Jewish federation to support it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat people are saying is, \u2018Well, now what\u2019s our opportunity? How can we come together?\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nA teacher at the Silver Academy prepares for the fall 2026 school year. The school will now operate out of Beth El Temple. (Courtesy of Gila Ogle)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
A teacher at the Silver Academy prepares for the fall 2026 school year. The school will now operate out of Beth El Temple. (Courtesy of Gila Ogle)
\nThe Silver Academy officially learned in June that it could no longer be housed in the Grass Campus, Ogle said. The school will open this fall in the educational wing of Beth El Temple, a Conservative synagogue in Harrisburg. The synagogue is also hosting senior programs previously operated by the JCC.<\/p>\n
Ogle said the school had seen a small decline in enrollment over the past year, a trend she attributed to the \u201cunsettlingness of the whole situation\u201d for families.<\/p>\n
\u201cFamilies have a lot of concerns, and I think that\u2019s fair,\u201d Ogle said. \u201cWe\u2019ve really done our best to communicate transparently and keep families looped in and part of the process, but it is hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Silver Academy was not the only institution housed on the Grass Campus that was hurt by the Harrisburg federation\u2019s downfall.<\/p>\n
When Rebecca Anzel first heard about the looming closure of her 3-year-old daughter\u2019s preschool in April, she was \u201cshocked and confused.\u201d Her daughter attended the Brenner Family Early Learning Center, which shut down on May 1, just over a week after Anzel and other families were informed of its closing. The preschool has no plans for reopening.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was devastated for my daughter, because I was worried about what that would do for her development and progression,\u201d Anzel said at the time.<\/p>\n
Now, as the federation\u2019s collapse enters its final stages, the institutions it once supported are beginning to chart a future without it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t that the Harrisburg Jewish community failed; it was that the business construct, the model, was failing and was faulty,\u201d said Marc Terrill, the former head of the Jewish Federation of Baltimore, whom the national organization dispatched to Harrisburg to help the local federation deal with its finances. \u201cThey recognized that this isn\u2019t the end to Jewish life in Harrisburg. They want very much a reset in putting together a financial, an organizational, construct that is more similar to what the most thriving Jewish communities in North America have.\u201d<\/p>\n
The abrupt closure of the campus comes as Jewish institutions increasingly rethink the necessity of large physical hubs amid rising operational costs and shifting demographics. While closures on the scale of Harrisburg\u2019s are rare, in 2022, the Jewish Federation of New Mexico collapsed following a spate of bitter legal and boardroom battles and a widening financial crisis.<\/p>\n
For some in Harrisburg, the federation\u2019s short-lived experiment with the 6.4-acre campus underscored the need to pursue a more flexible model of community building.<\/p>\n
Terrill pointed to the purchase of the Grass Campus as the pivotal decision in the federation\u2019s unraveling.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s been called into question is the business model,\u201d said Terrill. \u201cThat wrapped around a number of things, but really, the thing that was the large decision that became existential was the purchase of the Grass campus.\u201d<\/p>\n