WEST HARTFORD – After more than half a century in Newington, Congregation B’nai Sholom has set up a new, if temporary, home at Solomon Schechter Day School on Buena Vista Road in West Hartford.

B’nai Sholom was founded in Newington in 1956 by 22 families who worshiped in a building on Francis Avenue. In 1971, the congregation built a new home on Church Street, which will now become a Hindu temple.

By the late ’70s, membership had grown more than ten-fold to around 240 families. The egalitarian Conservative congregation was the first in the U.S. to elect a female president, in 1978. In 2002, it welcomed Rabbi Debra Cantor, the first female rabbi to serve the synagogue.

But demographics have changed over the last two decades, with few young Jewish families moving into Newington, and many Jewish families moving out. Now the congregation numbers between 100 and 200 families, with more than half living in Newington and the rest in West Hartford and Farmington. Many are older, longtime members. “People say they would continue to come to us if we were closer,” Cantor says.

The congregation has been discussing a move for a couple of years now, and chose West Hartford because of its central location and growing Jewish population. Just before Rosh Hashana, they sold the synagogue building on Church Street to a Hindu group and rented space at Solomon Schechter Day School in West Hartford. Cantor and congregational leaders hope to attract younger Jewish and interfaith families from West Hartford and the Farmington Valley.

“It’s always been that Jews will move and the synagogues will follow,” Cantor says.

This year, B’nai Sholom held High Holiday services in the Schechter auditorium. There are regular Shabbat services in the school’s sanctuary and other activities at a number of venues around the community.

“One of the really important pieces of our synagogue culture is a commitment to lifelong learning,” Cantor says. “We’re a small congregation but have always had many opportunities for adult learning.”

A women’s Rosh Hodesh group, started in November, meets at Borders near West Farms Mall, where the Sisterhood book group also meets. The eclectic group of women come from throughout the greater Hartford region and from all Jewish denominations, who each month are studying one of the seven female Prophets listed in the Talmud.

Text study is part of every Shabbat service. Cantor says she prepares a sermon “only very occasionally” for the highly participatory congregation.

“Usually, just before I reach my beautifully constructed conclusion, somebody will raise their hand and say, ‘What about this?’ thereby blowing my beautifully constructed conclusion,” she says. “They’ve already thought of the same point.”

For more information on the congregation visit www.cbsnewington.org or call (860) 521-3133.