Broward synagogues welcome new clergy ahead of High Holy Days
Broward's 50 synagogues are entering High Holy Days with new clergy and a recent merger already reshaping worship in Plantation and beyond.
Broward County’s synagogue landscape is shifting again just as the High Holy Days approach, with new clergy stepping in across the region and Broward Central Synagogue emerging from the 2025 union of Temple Beth Emet and Temple Kol Ami Emanu-El. The Jewish Federation of Broward County said in March 2024 that the county was home to about 180,000 Jews and 50 synagogues.
That scale helps explain why leadership changes matter so much here. A 2016 Broward County Jewish community study found the county’s Jewish population fell from 243,000 in 1997 to 149,000 in 2016, while synagogue membership rose from 27% to 34%. Even with a smaller population, synagogue life remained a central part of Jewish life in neighborhoods from Weston and Plantation to Coral Springs, Parkland, Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale.
For members, a new rabbi or cantor is not just a staffing change. It can alter the pace of worship, the balance between Hebrew and English, the amount of music in the service and the tone of pastoral care for families arriving for the year’s most-attended holidays. It also changes what congregants see at the doors: new greeters, updated security routines, different volunteer assignments and a fresh approach to reaching people who may only appear for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Broward Central Synagogue offers a clear example of what that transition can look like on the ground. The combined congregation, built from Temple Beth Emet and Temple Kol Ami Emanu-El, is now part of a broader countywide shift in how synagogues organize for the season. Temple Beth Emet’s High Holy Days 2026 calendar begins with services on the evening of Monday, Sept. 11, a deadline that gives new leaders only a short runway before the most visible stretch of the Jewish calendar begins. A Sept. 8, 2025 High Holy Days guide to free services across South Florida showed how many residents and visitors still fill local sanctuaries for the holidays, even if they are not regular weekly attendees.
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