Rob Goldberg

In late March, the Buffalo Jewish community welcomed Kansas City playwright Victor Wishna, whose play Tree of Life tells the story of a small Jewish community in Iowa grappling with the closure of its historic synagogue. Though fictionalized, the story is rooted in real experience. The Jewish Community Legacy Project (JCLP) worked with a congregation in Ottumwa, Iowa as it navigated the difficult process of dissolution, seeking to ensure that its legacy, sacred objects, and communal story would continue to have meaning beyond the life of the institution itself.

At the time of Victor’s visit, Jews around the world began reading the opening chapters of Leviticus. While these verses can feel distant or repetitive, beneath their detailed ritual language lies enduring insight into how our people create sacred space and sustain community. These themes also resonate deeply with Tree of Life and with the sacred, often emotional work that JCLP supports as congregations consider how best to honor their past while stewarding their future.

Leviticus introduces the sacred responsibilities of the priests. Much of the text describes sacrificial practice, yet embedded within it is a powerful image of continuity: “A perpetual fire shall be kept burning on the altar; it shall not go out” (Leviticus 6:6). This earliest reference to the ner tamid, the eternal flame present in every synagogue, reminds us that Jewish life is continuous, but not automatic. It depends on those who tend the flame, sustain sacred institutions, and guide communities through change.

In Tree of Life, the congregation’s long-serving president, Ken, reflects on his synagogue’s ner tamid, which has burned continuously since the building opened more than a century ago. Even as the community struggles to gather a minyan and many members believe it is time to close, the eternal flame inspires Ken to hold on just a bit longer. This tension is familiar to many small congregations today – the deep desire to preserve what has been built alongside the recognition that continuity sometimes requires a new path forward.

The Torah further highlights the sacred responsibility of leadership through the roles of Aaron and his sons. Jewish continuity has always depended on devoted leaders who sustain institutions and guide communities through change. In the play, Ken and his fellow congregants have faithfully held their synagogue together for decades, yet the absence of emerging leadership leaves the future uncertain. Across the United States, JCLP accompanies congregations facing similar realities, helping leaders explore options that honor both dignity and sustainability.

Tree of Life captures the deep pain of losing not only a building, but also the rhythms of shared prayer, celebration, and belonging. Yet even in closure, there is hope. In the play, the congregation’s remaining Sefer Torah finds a new home in a growing Jewish community in Colombia. In the real-life case of the Ottumwa congregation, one Torah was gifted to a burgeoning community in Paraguay, and JCLP helped identify a congregation in Israel to receive the other. Though in the play one chapter ends in Iowa, another begins in South America. A sunset becomes a sunrise.

For JCLP and for synagogue leaders striving to sustain Jewish life in smaller communities, the enduring lesson of Tree of Life and the early chapters of Leviticus is clear: holiness does not reside in buildings alone, but in the people who enliven them. Sacred space is created when communities gather with intention, care for one another, and show up for each other in moments of joy and challenge alike. Even when a synagogue closes, its holy flame is not extinguished; it is carried forward by those committed to ensuring that Jewish life and Jewish joy continue to flourish in new places and new forms.

Rob Goldberg is the former CEO of the Buffalo Jewish Federation. He currently serves Federation as Senior Advisor and provides consultation to the Jewish Community Legacy Project and Trybal Gatherings.