Historic Shaarei Tfiloh Synagogue Closes 'Gates of Prayer' After More than a Century

With its iconic turquoise dome and arched stained glass windows, Shaarei Tfiloh Synagogue, at 2001 Liberty Heights Ave. across from Druid Hill Park and The Maryland Zoo, is a genuine landmark of Jewish Baltimore.

But the historic Orthodox synagogue in West Baltimore — known by generations of local Jews simply as “the Shul in the Park” — has closed its doors permanently after more than a century of offering worship services and communal events. Plans have not yet been announced for future usage of the building.

For decades, Shaarei Tfiloh, founded in 1921 predominantly by Russian and Eastern European immigrants, has experienced a dramatic decrease in services and attendance. The synagogue primarily operated during the High Holiday season and no longer offered daily or weekly minyanim or Shabbat services.

Rabbi David E. Herman served as the shul’s spiritual leader since 1992 and was the congregation’s primary catalyst.

But according to the local Orthodox community media source Baltimore Jewish Life, Shaarei Tfiloh is now closed, despite input and support from local real estate developer and philanthropist David S. Cordish and others.

(Cordish’s late father, Paul L. Cordish, was the first bar mitzvah at Shaarei Tfiloh, and his grandfather, Louis Cordish, was the synagogue’s first president.)

“Shaarei Tfiloh is no more,” Rabbi Leonard Oberstein, the congregation’s former spiritual leader who officiated at last year’s High Holiday services, told BJL. “Mr. Cordish took it over and closed it down. I understand that he has some ideas, but I am not in the know. One thing it will not be is an Orthodox synagogue; Rabbi Dovid Herman is no longer involved. … It was kept open by dedicated individuals who had a feeling for the structure.”

According to the book “Synagogues, Temples and Congregations of Maryland: 1830-1990” (Jewish Historical Society of Maryland) by Earl Pruce, Shaarei Tfiloh’s rock-faced limestone edifice at the corner of Liberty Heights and Auchenteroloy Terrace was dedicated on Sept. 25, 1921. The congregation itself was founded the previous year and held services nearby at a private residence at nearby 2216 Bryant Ave.

From the 1920s through the 1950s, Shaarei Tfiloh was a popular in-town synagogue for generations of Jews, particularly those living in the Park Circle community. The synagogue’s first spiritual leader was Rabbi Dr. Nathan Drazin, a highly respected Jewish scholar who served the congregation from 1933 to 1964. (Among those who reportedly became b’nai mitzvah at Shaarei Tfiloh was the world-famous mouth organ virtuoso Larry Adler, who grew up nearby at 2210 Bryant Ave.)

In recent decades, the area’s dwindling Jewish population severely impacted Shaarei Tfiloh.

Baltimore's Bygone Synagogues: History Captured — Shaarei Tfiloh was among the local shuls featured in the 2019 art exhibition, “Baltimore’s Bygone Synagogues: History Captured.” (File photo by Steve Ruark)

“It was a neighborhood between neighborhoods,” the late Sylvia Bliss Mandy recalled of growing up near Shaarei Tfiloh, as quoted in the book, “Jewish Baltimore: A Family Album” (Johns Hopkins University Press) by Gilbert Sandler. “If I had to give a name to the neighborhood, I would call it ‘the Shaarei Tfiloh neighborhood.’”

In a 1995 Baltimore Sun article marking Shaarei Tfiloh’s 75th anniversary, Rabbi Herman said, “People said we wouldn’t survive the ’60s, then they said we wouldn’t survive the ’70s. We’ve survived for a good 40 years after other synagogues moved or were sold. We’re saying, ‘If this synagogue and the sacrifice of your parents to build it meant something to you, help us maintain the dreams of your ancestors.'”

Shaarei Tfiloh — which means “Gates of Prayer” — was part of a trio of historic, in-town operating synagogues, along with B’nai Israel in East Baltimore and Beth Am, which since 1974 has been based at Chizuk Amuno’s former Reservoir Hill location. (The city’s oldest synagogue facility, East Baltimore’s Lloyd Street Synagogue, is now a museum and no longer operates as a house of worship.)

In 1996, Shaarei Tfiloh’s imposing building — which was designed by noted architect Stanislaus Russell — was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Three years later, the synagogue’s ornate sanctuary — with its seating for 700 men on the main floor and a women’s balcony seating 300 — was featured in the film “Liberty Heights,” which was written and directed by Baltimore-born, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Barry Levinson.

In 2019, Shaarei Tfiloh held its annual High Holiday services for the first time away from the synagogue, due to a major infrastructure project. Instead, the congregation’s Rosh Hashanah services were held in the main sanctuary of Bnos Yisroel of Baltimore at 6300 Park Heights Ave.