Hazak Information

What is HaZak?

It is the unique collaboration named after Har Zion and Kehillah and a play on the Hebrew word chazak, meaning strength. The HaZaK Committee was formed by and includes leadership from both Har Zion and Kehillah Boards and other interested volunteers from both synagogues. The HaZaK Committee’s charge is to explore ways to collaborate, keeping in mind two goals: to strengthen the individual identities and financial foundations of both synagogues; and to offer more opportunities for study and prayer to our respective congregants than neither synagogue could offer on its own. In other words, the HaZaK collaboration is all about exploring how combining resources – not combining synagogues – could benefit all congregants and even the larger Jewish community.

The first and most visible change is that Congregation Kehillah now makes its home on the campus of Har Zion Congregation. We hope that as our congregants get to know one another, they’ll discover that Conservative Jews and Independent Jews have much in common and much to offer each other!

We are looking forward to working together on larger projects, such as a Scholar-In-Residence program and Social Justice projects. Discussions on these are well under way. The HaZaK Committee continues to meet to assure that the interests of both congregations are considered. We hope that you will share our excitement over this unique collaboration, which is a positive accomplishment for our congregations and a model for the Jewish community.