By a vote Thursday evening, the membership of Congregation Kol Am has taken the first step in the process of closing the temple due to ongoing financial difficulties.

“It’s a very sad time,” said Norman Berkowitz, president of the 37-year-old Reform synagogue of nearly 70 families. “It was a wonderful congregation with a great group of people.”

The motion, an authorization for the organization’s board to begin dissolving the institution, was passed “overwhelmingly” at this week’s congregational meeting, said Berkowitz.

He said the congregation has been forced to sever the position of its rabbi, Severine Haziza-Sokol, in anticipation of the closure.

“She is a lovely person,” he said. “It was just a sad outcome of this situation.”

Lay-led services will continue until the completion of the process, which could run until late April or early May after which the temple is expected to cease operations permanently.

The shuttering of the synagogue was the result of fiscal challenges brought about by the construction of Kol Am’s new building in Chesterfield where it relocated in 2006, Berkowitz said. He said the institution knew it would be incurring significant deficits with the 22,000-square-foot facility but believed it could attract new members to keep it in a financially sustainable position.

He said families did join but not in large enough numbers for the temple to remain viable.

“We knew there was a sizable Jewish population out there and we thought we’d be a good option for people,” he said. “Initially, there was a lot of enthusiasm and excitement but it just didn’t happen. It took a year or two to realize that it’s not happening.”

“Of course, we realized it’s not happening throughout St. Louis and throughout the country, not just Jewish temples, but affiliation in general is down,” Berkowitz added.

Kol Am is one of many institutions across the nation that finds itself in a bind over infrastructure costs, a difficulty worsened by a sluggish economy and a shrinking Jewish affiliated population. Last spring, the Jewish Federation of Greater St. Louis held a summit of local Jewish groups to promote collaboration among community institutions as part of an effort to mitigate the problem.

Berkowitz said Kol Am even engaged in merger discussions with other area institutions in hopes that the synagogue’s new building might be a selling point for a potential joining.

“We got some good talks going at different times but they never really went anywhere,” he said.

A series of formal merger conversations have roiled the St. Louis synagogue scene in recent months. In December, well over a year of talks between two Conservative congregations, Brith Sholom Kneseth Israel and Shaare Zedek Synagogue, ended after one or both boards elected not to continue them. That move came just weeks after briefer discussions between Reform congregations Temple Israel and United Hebrew ended without a joining.

The last successful merger in the area was the 2006 creation of the U. City Shul from two small Orthodox congregations.

Berkowitz said that although Kol Am was willing to look for a partner, he understood why it was difficult to find another congregation willing to make such a move.

“Even if there are warning signs that a few years down the road they are going to be in more serious trouble, they’ll take the gamble,” he said. “They don’t want to give up their identity if their temple goes back a long time with generations of families that have belonged.”

Berkowitz said Thursday’s action, while unfortunate, was not unexpected. He said congregants had been aware for some time that Kol Am was in trouble and the decision had seemed increasingly obvious since last summer.

“We’ve all known and we’ve been very transparent about everything,” he said. “I don’t think there was any kind of outrage or anger or even irritation that people didn’t know.”

Berkowitz said that many congregants were inclined to move to Temple Emanuel, another small West County Reform synagogue, after Kol Am’s closure.

“They’ve opened a welcoming door and have been extremely kind and have made it very inviting for us,” he said.

Rabbi Justin Kerber of Temple Emanuel said his congregation felt great sympathy for its fellow synagogue.

“Our hearts really go out to the families of Congregation Kol Am,” he said. “It’s a devastating loss for them and we are truly sorry. It’s not just a loss for the families at Kol Am but a loss for the entire Jewish community.”

Kol Am congregant Michael Krem, a resident of unincorporated St. Louis County, is one of those considering a move to Temple Emanuel.

“I think many of us will probably go to Emanuel,” said the 66-year-old who, with his wife Sandy, has been a member of Kol Am since 1979. “It’ll be nice because they are not so large that you can get lost there and if the couples from Kol Am go there, we’ll be able to still congregate and see our friends. It’ll just be a new building.”

Congregant Jeffrey Solomon was among those who voted against the motion. He said he had hoped the struggling congregation might be able to scale back and regroup in a different location.

“We had some very generous offers, frankly,” he said. “One congregation in town made an offer to house us temporarily. Another agency offered us a rent-free home so we could organize and meet on a week-to-week basis.”

Still, he said he understood and respected the decision. Solomon, a former temple president, praised the leadership and his fellow temple-goers for their hard work and dedication in attempting to keep the institution running during an extremely difficult time.

“These are great folks and if that’s their feeling, then that’s their feeling. It’s very easy to understand it,” said the 58-year-old St. Louis Countian who hasn’t made a decision on where to attend next. “The very name of the congregation means ‘Voice of the People’ so it’s always been important that whatever the majority votes would be supported by everybody else.”

Congregant Ruth Brown, 81, is another who might go to Emanuel. She said she was upset over the dissolution of the synagogue she’d been a part of for more than three decades but not surprised.

“I’m very sad but it’s been awhile that we knew it was coming so I’d kind of resolved myself to it,” said Brown, a resident of Creve Coeur. “It’s like a death in the family.”

Brown and her husband Al, were one of 28 founding families at Kol Am, which broke off from B’nai El in 1974, initially meeting in a private residence and later leasing space. In 1980, the synagogue hired its first ordained rabbi, purchasing its own building, a house on Clayton Road, two years later.

Plans for the present facility began taking shape in 2000.

Berkowitz said the synagogue has lined up a potential buyer for the structure and was confident the building would be sold but could not yet release a name.