By Karen Vance
Enquirer contributor

DEERFIELD TOWNSHIP - Following population migration, the Northern Hills Synagogue will break ground on its new home Sunday, becoming the first synagogue in Warren County.

"There just isn't a Jewish neighborhood like there used to be, like Roselawn and Avondale," said Rabbi George Barnard. "The suburban Jewish population is moving north, like other suburban populations."

IF YOU GO

The groundbreaking will be Sunday at 2 p.m. at the new site, 8430 Fields Ertel Road. Carpooling will be available from 715 Fleming Road and the Fields Ertel park-and-ride.

The Conservative Jewish congregation was founded in 1960 and its building at 715 Fleming Road was built in 1964.

In 1967, Congregation B'nai Avraham, founded in Norwood in 1912, merged with the synagogue.

While in Finneytown, the congregation saw steady growth, reaching about 230 households; but in the late 1990s those numbers began to decline to about 170 households now, Barnard said.

The congregation began studying the population shifts and realized its congregants were moving to northeastern suburbs. In 1999, the congregation voted to move.

The new synagogue will be on 5 acres in Deerfield Township at 8430 Fields Ertel Road, near the intersection of Snider Road.

It will be the first synagogue in Warren County, although there is a Messianic synagogue, Beth Messiah, also in Deerfield Township.

The project, including land, will cost about $3.5 million and will include a 316-seat sanctuary, 338-seat social hall, classrooms, offices, youth lounge and media center in its 21,700 square feet. Barnard expects it will be completed this fall.

A groundbreaking ceremony, including music, the blasting of a dozen shofars - instruments made of rams' horns - prayers and the mixing of dirt from the Finneytown and Norwood synagogues as well as dirt from Israel, will be at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Northern Hills President Sonia Milrod is among those who have moved north. Milrod recently moved to Mason to take the assistant superintendent position with the Mason City School district.

"I felt the opportunity was wonderful. This is where I'd really love to live, and I wanted to work close to where I live and worship," she said. "For the first time, I'll be able to do all that in the same place."

Milrod said she thinks members of the Jewish community are moving north for the same reasons as other Cincinnatians - the availability of newer houses for families and empty-nesters.

She's also found that the Mason community is open to diversity. The schools have seen an increase in students from other countries as well.

The Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati is also located in a northern suburb - nearby West Chester.

Milrod feels the synagogue's attitude of acceptance toward all people, including gays and lesbians, will fit in with the sensibilities of the neighborhood. And the new synagogue will be only a few miles from Cedar Village, a Jewish retirement and assisted-living community.

"We're hoping to bring our strong commitment to Conservative Jewish values and education to a new community," she said. The congregation is "just a wonderful group of people."