Walking into Congregation Sha’ar Zahav for the first time, Irene Ogus — a wandering Jew if ever there was one — felt as if she had come home.
“I felt I could never go to another synagogue,” said the British-born Ogus, who moved to California after a rift with her Orthodox family once she came out as a lesbian. “But it was instant when I walked in there. Finding Sha’ar Zahav was a miracle.”
Ogus’ story echoes that of hundreds of Sha’ar Zahav congregants, many of them lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Since 1977, the San Francisco Reform congregation has been both a haven and a trailblazer, leading LGBT Jews to full participation in Jewish life.
Thirty years on, the extended Sha’ar Zahav family has only one thing to say: “It’s time to party!”
Congregation Sha’ar Zahav is set to celebrate on Thursday, May 17 with “The Chosen Party,” a 30th-anniversary bash that includes a kosher dinner, musical entertainment and reminiscing. Lots of reminiscing.
Oakland native David Stein, 65, joined Sha’ar Zahav in 1982. “We wanted to join before,” he says, “but we didn’t have the $60.”
That’s $60 a year, the suggested annual dues at the time.
Within six months of joining, Stein became treasurer (he would later serve as president). Among the milestones during his tenure were the purchase of Sha’ar Zahav’s first building on Danvers Street and the hiring of Rabbi Yoel Kahn (now rabbi at Berkeley’s Congregation Beth El). Both were expensive gambles that paid off.
“We did classic fundraising techniques,” Stein remembers. “We had hunky guys in tank tops selling $50 lottery tickets. We made a lot of money.”
No story about Sha’ar Zahav would be complete without a look back on the AIDS epidemic. It devastated the congregation, claiming many lives. But from the ashes of that crisis, a new spirit was born.
That wasn’t the only thing born. For the last two decades, Sha’ar Zahav has undergone what Rabbi Camille Angel calls “the gayby boom.”
“Our religious school is booming,” she says. “We’ve had more life affirming cycles, more b’nai mitzvahs and baby namings, more welcoming of new Jews into the covenant. In the seven years I’ve been here I’ve officiated at only 10 funerals. That’s unheard of for a rabbi. This has been a time of life.”
Says Ogus, 63, of her longtime membership: “It’s my primary connection to other Jews. I’m able to find that familiarity. When I work for the synagogue, there’s this passion, sharpness and intellect. I know I’m with my people.”
For Ogus, a personal highlight came after the congregation bought that first building. “We got permission to close off the street,” she recalls. “We marched down the street holding the Torah. It was a very powerful moment. I felt I had had an opportunity to lead my people into something great, to a home of our own, which was the name of our campaign.”
Today, after years learning the ropes as a congregational lay leader, Stein serves as an administrator with Berkeley’s Congregation Netivot Shalom. But he remains a member of Sha’ar Zahav.
“At Sha’ar Zahav, early members remain active in many areas, even more so than at a standard synagogue,” he says. “It’s this emotional and soulful connection.”
Angel cites the scholar-in-residence program, the congregation’s work with LGBT college students and Sha’ar Zahav’s participation in the San Francisco Organizing Project as among the personal highlights of her tenure.
But most of all, she’s proud of the positive impact her synagogue continues to have on the Jewish and LGBT communities locally and nationally.
“The congregation is thriving,” she says. “I feel we’re at the top of our game.”
“The Chosen Party” takes place 6:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Thursday, May 17, at the Galleria of the San Francisco Design Center, 101 Henry Adams St., S.F. Tickets: $118-$180. Information: (415) 861-6932.