Park Synagogue sits on a broad, leafy campus at 27500 Shaker Boulevard in Pepper Pike, an eastern Cleveland suburb. Twice the size of most neighborhood congregations, Park is known across the region as a center of Conservative Jewish life, anchored by a daily minyan and a full calendar of programming that runs from toddlers through twelfth grade and on into retirement. Senior Rabbi Joshua Skoff, who has led the congregation since 1990, frames the work plainly: "At Park, everybody feels empowered. Everybody belongs." Members include families whose ties to the synagogue stretch back five generations alongside newcomers who joined last month.
The congregation's formal name, Park Synagogue Anshe Emeth Beth Tefilo Congregation, reaches back more than 150 years, into two Orthodox congregations founded by Jewish immigrants in late nineteenth-century Cleveland. The merged congregation eventually identified as Conservative and has called its Pepper Pike home since 1957. Today, Park Synagogue is affiliated with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
A Day Built Around the Daily Minyan
Park Synagogue is one of a small number of congregations anywhere that keeps a daily minyan without fail. Morning services begin at 7:30 a.m., Monday through Friday, in person and on Zoom. Evening minyan runs Monday through Thursday at 6:00 p.m., also available in person and on Zoom. Sunday brings two more services, an 8:30 a.m. minyan in person and on Zoom and a 5:30 p.m. minyan on Zoom only. The rhythm reflects a deeply held belief that a quorum of ten Jews is never more than a quick phone call away, so mourners saying Kaddish and yahrzeit observers can find a community standing with them. Members who cannot attend in person join through Zoom links that are refreshed in the weekly email known as the Weekly Wrap.
Friday Evening, Saturday Morning, Saturday Afternoon
Shabbat at Park is structured for every member of the household. Friday evening services begin at 6:00 p.m. and run with music, singing, instruments, and prayer in the main sanctuary. The Saturday morning service starts at 9:30 a.m. and is led by Rabbi Skoff with Cantor Misha Pisman chanting the liturgy, Ritual Director Gadi Galili reading Torah, and a rotating volunteer adult choir. Rabbis and Cantor draw on a Conservative prayer book the congregation has long used, and Rabbi Skoff delivers a weekly sermon tied to that week's parasha. The service is available in person and on Zoom.
Shabbat morning is also family morning. Children in kindergarten through sixth grade who attend Wolf Religious School worship with their classmates during parts of the morning, and there are structured options for the youngest members of the community as well. Shabbat Clubhouse, in Room 144 of the school wing, is a free drop-in program for children from toddlers through first grade with supervised activities and snacks while parents attend the main service. On most weeks there is also Tot Shabbat-ON-Shabbat, a 10:00 a.m. to 10:40 a.m. program for fourteen months through five year olds featuring sing-alongs, Israeli dance, storytelling, and Shabbat blessings. Teenagers are encouraged to join their parents in the main sanctuary. After the morning Kiddush, the community gathers for the brief Shabbat Mincha service at 12:15 p.m., held in person only.
On Friday evenings and Saturday mornings, services include a Hebrew-leading minyan and a parallel family-friendly minyan for those who want a more accessible pace. The building is fully kosher, supervised by the ritual director, so families can simply walk in.
Clergy and the Ritual Team
The senior rabbinic position at Park is the Leighton A. Rosenthal Chair in Rabbinics, currently held by Rabbi Joshua Skoff. Rabbi Skoff joined the congregation in 1990 and has been recognized by The Jewish Forward as one of "America's Most Inspiring Rabbis." He is widely known for his weekly email, his teaching, and a warmth that members describe as personal rather than pastoral. Rabbi Avram Ellner joined as Associate Rabbi in 2026; the entire congregation was invited to a special welcome Kiddush to mark the moment, and the fall calendar was already filling with programs built around Rabbi Ellner's arrival.
Cantor Misha Pisman, a tenor, has been chanting at Park since 1999. He was the first Russian-born Jew to graduate as a cantor from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and he continues to train the adult and volunteer choirs, lead the Sunday school in prayer, and shape the liturgy during Shabbat and holiday services. Gadi Galili, who was born in Jerusalem, served as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces, and graduated from the Hebrew University, has been Park's Ritual Director since 1999. He prepares B'nei Mitzvah students, chants Torah, coordinates minyan services, and supervises the kosher kitchens. Together, the four clergy and ritual staff lead the cycle of daily, Shabbat, and holiday prayer.
The Milton and Roslyn Z. Wolf Religious School
Park Synagogue's flagship education program is the Milton and Roslyn Z. Wolf Religious School, sometimes called PSWRS. The school opens for the littlest learners with a free Sunday morning program for toddlers aged thirteen to thirty-four months and a caregiver. The hands-on class features songs, stories, and Jewish-themed play. Sunday Preschool, Jr. Kindergarten, and Kindergarten meet from 9:30 to 11:45 a.m. with morning blessings led by clergy, Bible stories, holiday traditions, Israel, mitzvot, mindful yoga, Israeli dance, and Jewish and holiday songs.
First grade is the Consecration year. Sunday school continues for first graders, with a new emphasis on Thursday afternoons at All-Star Thursday Hebrew School. From first grade through sixth grade, the Thursday program includes Hebrew immersion, an Israeli ShinShin guest teacher, a student-led Mincha service, weekly challah-baking, and exploration of Shabbat rituals. The Sunday program for second through sixth grade is built around Hebrew and prayer, Bible and Jewish history, Israel and Jewish holidays, and mitzvot and Jewish values, with grade-level classes and school-wide specials.
Sixth grade is a year of B'nai Mitzvah preparation. Students learn about tefillin, tallit, and the Torah service, and they participate in an international heritage competition run in partnership with the Museum of the Jewish People, joining more than 20,000 Jewish youth from over thirty countries in a creative heritage project. The Bar/Bat Mitzvah Club, now in its 101st year, gathers all sixth-grade synagogue members, including PSWRS students, day school students, and their families, for an intergenerational experience led by Rabbi Skoff and supported by the clergy and faculty.
Seventh grade is the year the B'nei Mitzvah is usually marked. Students continue to deepen their ritual preparation and may join the optional Klezmer Teen Band. In the second semester they can apply to become Madrichim-in-Training, helping in classrooms, earning leadership credit, and earning their own set of Hebrew letters in a new role.
Beyond Consecration: Confirmation, Civil Rights, and a Senior Klezmer Band
The Chai-er Learning program carries PSWRS students through 8th to 12th grade. Eighth and ninth graders can serve as Madrichim (teacher aides), join the Klezmer Teen Band, take part in Sunday morning discussions, and participate in field trips to the Maltz Museum, the Polster federal courtroom, and other culturally significant Cleveland venues. Ninth graders take an annual Civil Rights journey in partnership with Akiva High School, traveling through Atlanta, Montgomery, Birmingham, and Selma.
Tenth grade brings Confirmation, a long-standing Park tradition that celebrates a continuing commitment to Jewish life. The milestone includes a heritage trip, and the year often culminates with Confirmation Shabbat at which students lead parts of the service. Juniors and seniors meet monthly with Rabbi Skoff in a college-prep seminar that covers ethics, Jewish decision-making, compassion, prayer, and spiritual growth. The year can include the JNF Teen Summit at the Global Conference.
Youth Groups, NextDor, and the Twelve-Year Pipeline
For children in third grade through high school, Park runs three nationally affiliated youth groups. Chaverim is the chapter for third through fifth graders. Gesher Youth serves sixth through eighth graders. USY is for ninth through twelfth graders and serves as part of the Conservative movement's United Synagogue Youth network. Each chapter holds at least one activity a month, ranging from ice skating and Hamantaschen baking to a Zip City trip and joint events with the youth group at Congregation B'nai Jeshurun.
Young adults ages twenty-one to forty-one find their home in NextDor. Created to be the next generation of Park, NextDor hosts Sunset and Sweets pool parties with Havdalah, Israeli dance parties, Mahj and Mingle nights, and moms' mahjong evenings. Older young adults in their twenties, thirties, and early forties with young children are also a primary audience for Park Family Connection, which plans events for families with children up to B'nei Mitzvah age. Park's college outreach program sends four care packages a year to students enrolled as Young Adult Members, with a suggested donation of $18 per student. A $72 one-time fee covers college-age membership up to age twenty-five or marriage.
Women of Park, Men's Club, and the Network of Adult Communities
Park Synagogue has long organized women's programming through formal groups. Park Sisterhood, Neshama, and Women's Rosh Chodesh have now merged into a single community called Women of Park, which retains an affiliation with the Women's League for Conservative Judaism. The group runs a monthly book club: recent selections include Shanda, by Letty Cottin Pogrebin, and Heart of a Stranger, by Angela Buchdahl, plus the annual Women's Shabbat, Sisters in the Sukkah, a Pre High Challah-day Tashlikh program, Mom's Night Out with Mahjong, Morning Movement and Mimosas yoga, and the Generational Girls Night Out, a multi-generational outing to a Cleveland Playhouse Square musical.
The Men's Club is open to all men in the synagogue and runs its own programming, including the Big Fat Greek Sukkah each fall and an annual Men's Mikvah immersion at the Charlotte Goldberg Community Mikvah before Yom Kippur. For members in their fifties, sixties, and beyond, Gesher hosts trips to local Jewish cemeteries, Maltz Museum exhibitions, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Ohio Light Opera, and walking tours of Cleveland's downtown landmarks. The Park Senior Adults group adds further programming, and the Family Life Council coordinates mitzvah meals, transportation, home visits, and bereavement support.
Bereavement Support and a Kosher Kitchen for Social Action
Park Synagogue runs a six-week Bereavement Support Group most springs and summers. Open to anyone in the community, it meets weekly with Olivia Setnik, the Membership and Program Director, and is free of charge. The Social Action Committee plans a Mitzvah Day each year with assorted acts of chesed, and the community has long partnered with the Journey Center for Safety and Healing, a Cleveland shelter for families rebuilding after domestic violence. On one Sunday a month, Park volunteers prepare a homemade dinner in the homes of co-chairs Wendy and David Firestone and deliver it to the shelter, serving twenty mothers and twenty-five children. Volunteers can be reimbursed for the cost of their ingredients.
The Charlotte Goldberg Community Mikvah
The Charlotte Goldberg Community Mikvah at 3300 Mayfield Road in Cleveland Heights is operated under Park Synagogue's auspices. The mikvah is open by appointment year-round for individual immersions, and each year the Men's Club sponsors a men's-only immersion event before Yom Kippur. The space is also available to women for observance and to men preparing for wedding, Yom Kippur, or other significant life-cycle moments.
Life-Cycle Facilities: B'nai Mitzvah, Weddings, and Simchas
Park Synagogue houses the full cycle of Jewish life-cycle events. B'nai Mitzvah students prepare with Rabbi Skoff, Cantor Pisman, and Ritual Director Gadi Galili and lead the Saturday morning service from the bimah. The Goldberg Sanctuary seats 397 in the main chamber plus 80 in the rear. The Garson Chapel hosts smaller religious functions for up to 80 people. For the celebration that follows, families can choose the Lois J. and Larry Davis and Family Community Hall (340 seated or 150 to 220 with a dance floor), the open-air Wain Pavilion (up to 300, May through September, weather permitting), the Rosenberg Veranda, and the Kaufman Foyer. Approved kosher caterers include 56 Kitchen, Marigold Catering, Davis Catering, Kantina Katering, Preferred Kosher Catering, and Marla Badowski as the in-house caterer, all working through an on-site kosher kitchen supervised by the ritual director.
Members can also sponsor an Extended Kiddush to honor a simcha, mark a yahrzeit, or commemorate a meaningful occasion. The synagogue's in-house catering is led by Marla Badowski, who is reachable directly through the synagogue office.
Adult Learning, the Library, and Daily Gathering
The adult education program is described simply as "Classes Coming Soon" while the congregation enters a new chapter, but the tradition of adult learning at Park is far more substantial. Members can study parasha with Rabbi Skoff, attend the regular Selichot Institute before the High Holidays, take a Hebrew class through the Women's League, or sit in on timely policy discussions led by the Social Action Committee. The Leonard Senkfor Library, run by Librarian Julie Moss, holds copies of every book discussed in the Women of Park book group and serves as a quiet place for daily study between minyanim. Scholarships are available for members who want to deepen their Jewish learning, and the synagogue distributes a monthly print and digital bulletin called The Park Bulletin.
Membership and Belonging
Park Synagogue offers a tier of membership for every life stage. Family membership is the norm for households. Young Adult Membership covers single children of member families from age sixteen through twenty-five and includes their own High Holiday ticket. The College Outreach program sends care packages to students who enroll. Scholarships are available so that financial ability does not prevent anyone from belonging.
The membership and program staff, led by Olivia Setnik with Sasha Huston supporting programs for women and seniors, helps new arrivals find their footing. The synagogue's security volunteer program is also open to members, and the building is equipped with the kosher kitchen, the sanctuary, the chapel, multiple simcha halls, a religious school wing, a library, and outdoor spaces for Sukkot.
How to Reach Park Synagogue
The synagogue's administrative offices are open Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and on Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The main number is (216) 371-2244. Members of the community can also reach the clergy and staff by email through individual extensions, and donations, membership dues, event registration, and annual campaign pledges can all be made online. Service schedule updates, the Weekly Wrap email, and live-stream links for daily minyan and Shabbat services are posted each week.
Park Synagogue traces a 150-year arc from two small Orthodox congregations on Cleveland's near east side to a multi-generational community of Conservative Jews on Shaker Boulevard. The daily minyan, the religious school, the youth groups, the life-cycle facilities, the mikvah, the simcha halls, the bereavement support, and the social action partnerships all serve the same purpose. As Park's own vision statement puts it, everybody belongs. Mishpocha is what the congregation calls itself, and what it keeps becoming.