During high holidays at the local synagogue, Adas Israel, they would “pack the place,” said Michael Libbie, spiritual leader of Mason City’s Jewish congregation for the past 28 years.

Then a lot of those families moved away.

“There’s practically no one left,” said Alan Steckman, president of the congregation.

The same thing has happened in other places in Iowa. In 1979 there were 18 or 19 synagogues in the state. Now there are only a dozen left, mostly in larger cities.

Then there’s Adas Israel.

Only 12 to 15 families from Mason City, Clear Lake, Charles City, Dows and other North Iowa communities currently attend services there.

Libbie, who lives in the Des Moines area, travels to Mason City once a month for services at Adas Israel.

He said three years ago the congregation considered closing the doors, but he argued that as long as there’s one Jewish family left in Mason City, Adas Israel needs to remain open.

"It’s important for the congregation to exist so there is a Jewish presence in Mason City,” Libbie said.

If there is no Jewish presence, “there is a richness to the environment” that is lost, he said.

Having a synagogue in Mason City also is important because “if people know Jews, they are less likely to hate them,” Libbie said.

If people don’t have first-hand knowledge and experience, stereotyping can occur, whether it is of Jews, Muslims or Christians, he said.

The first Adas Israel synagogue in Mason City was built in 1912 at 621 S. Adams Ave. The current synagogue at 620 N. Adams Ave. was built in the early 1940s.

Despite the small size of the congregation now, Libbie sees signs of hope.

“There are new people who come all the time,” he said.

Bar mitzvahs have been held there in recent years. A baby-naming took place last month.

There’s a Sabbath eve service the third Friday of each month followed by a Midrash, or study session, the following morning.

Attendance at Midrash ranges from 10 to 25 people, both Jews and Christians.

Libbie said the Midrash brings together people from the entire range of the political spectrum — from right-wing evangelical Christians to left-wing Unitarians — to study the Torah, the first five books of the Bible.

All these people realize during the Midrash that they have more in common than they thought, according to Libbie.

He said the Torah, which he described as “a guidebook to life,” is based on something they all agree on: “the moral treatment of each other.”

Libbie said he would love to have people from the Muslim community in Mason City come to the Midrash. He said he doesn’t see any reason why Adas Israel can’t keep going.

Some members of the congregation have put together a fund. Others have remembered Adas Israel in their wills.

Steckman said he would like to see Adas Israel also become a museum — somewhere people who are studying the Jewish faith, such as those taking college religion classes, can come to learn.

Steckman said it would have to be done in a way that allows the building to still be used as a synagogue.

Shawn Soifer of Charles City said it is important to keep the synagogue open for the next generation.

“I can only tell my children so much,” he said.

Soifer also said so much of what it means to be Jewish is felt rather than spoken, and the synagogue “ties everything together.”

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, April of 2016