A banner promoting Israel hangs in the lobby of the YM-YWHA of Northern New Jersey. Noam Safier

Beginning Sept. 1, the YM-YWHA of North Jersey in Wayne will be rebranded as “The Wayne Y” and its operation will be taken over by the Metro YMCA of the Oranges. The arrangement was approved last week by the YM-YWHA board.

There are no plans to change the current roster of Jewish programs, which range from a pre-school to programs for elderly Holocaust survivors, officials of both Ys say. Under the agreement, the building will continue to be owned by the YM-YWHA and its logo will appear alongside that of the Metro YMCA on brochures for Jewish programming.

The move comes in response to changing demographics and declining revenues at the YM-YWHA, which was founded in 1914 as the YMHA of Paterson.

The new operation will maintain the Y’s “Jewish culture,” said Lawrence Fechner, president of the YM-YWHA. “This is a joining of two organizations that have a very similar purpose,” he said.

Fechner said that the Y will continue to be closed on Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, and at times during Passover. Now, it also will close on Christmas and Easter, but will not have decorations for those holidays. The Y began opening on Shabbat afternoons in 2006; in 2009, it extended its Shabbat opening hours to the morning.

The Metro YMCA of the Oranges encompasses five YMCA facilities in Sussex and Essex counties that share back office and administrative services. Bringing the Wayne Y into this system will result in cost savings. “That’s part of the advantage of being in a YMCA association,” said the organization’s president and CEO, Richard Gorab.

“The YMCA is an organization that promotes youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility,” said Gorab. “It is our objective to deliver our mission throughout the community while maintaining the core programs of Jewish content.”

With the resources of the larger YMCA, the Wayne Y will be able to catch up on building maintenance that had been deferred. “Our members will see improvements,” said Joyce Goldberg Fein, interim executive director of the YM-YWHA.

Fein said that her Y had approached Jewish institutions for partnerships before beginning negotiations with the YMCA 18 months ago.

Several years ago, a study of the YM-YWHA prepared for the Jewish federation warned of its negative long-term outlook, according to people involved in that study.

The decline in YM-YWHA membership “reflects the continued out-migration of the Paterson Jews beyond Wayne to points north and west,” said Wayne resident Eric Weis.

The Y moved to its Wayne campus in 1976.

The Metro Y hopes to double the Wayne Y’s membership through “a major marketing effort,” said Gorab. The Y currently has around 1,800 membership units and an estimated 5,000 members, of which an estimated half are Jewish, according to Fein.

“We anticipate that through our marketing we’ll be able to drive revenue,” said Gorab.

“It is regrettable that the Wayne Y cannot remain a totally Jewish institution,” said David Gad-Harf, interim executive vice president of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey. “However, we know that this was the only alternative that they saw that was feasible. We also know that the leaders of the Wayne Y are completely committed to maintaining if not strengthening their service to and programming for that area’s Jewish community.”

The YM-YWHA has been one of the eight major agencies supported by the federation. In recent years, it had received an allocation of $90,000, as had the JCC on the Palisades and the YJCC in Washington Township. But with an eye toward the change under discussion in Wayne, the federation changed its funding this current year from an unrestricted grant to targeted support for Jewish programming. In the process, the federation boosted the allocation to $100,000, said Gad-Harf.

“We envision the Wayne Y continuing to be a hub of activity focusing on the Jewish community,” he said.

The Wayne Y will not be the first Jewish facility operated by a YMCA.

In Toledo, Ohio, the Jewish Community Center has been under YMCA auspices since 1999, said Larry Lev, chief operating officer of the Metro Y, who held that position in Toledo. “The JCC of Toledo was a stand-alone organization,” he said. “It’s much more productive to stand together with friends than to stand alone.”

The Toledo JCC remains a center of the Jewish community, and is housed on a campus that includes two synagogues, he said.

Closer to home, the Jewish Community Center of Middlesex County in Edison shares a campus with the YMCA of Edison. Under that arrangement, the JCC is closed Friday nights and until 1 p.m. on Saturday — but the building is open and operated by the YMCA during those Shabbat hours.

While the YMCA movement has its historical origins as a Christian one, today each Y defines its own mission in accordance with community needs. In New Jersey, that means diversity is a priority, said Lev.

“Our mission statement doesn’t talk about Christian values,” said Lev of the Metro Y.

“The Y is a non-denominational entity where people of all faiths are welcome,” said Lev, who serves on the board of Jewish Congregation-Kinnelon. “That’s one of the reasons I’ve been able to work with the YMCA all these years.”

Lev said the process of combining the two Ys will take until at least the new year. Among the questions that have not yet been decided include whether the Y’s Tel Aviv café will remain under rabbinical supervision, and whether the Y will continue its policy of not conducting monetary transactions on Shabbat.

The YM-YWHA will continue to maintain an independent board and will own the building.

“We have a very rich history,” said Fein. “I’m part of that history — my grandparents were members of the Paterson Y.

“I feel optimistic,” said Fein, “I believe this is our best option. We will continue carrying forward our Jewish traditions toward the future.”

But Irwin Kijkai, a longtime YM-YWHA member, does not like the changes. Sitting on a bench outside the facility last Thursday, he said, “Jewish people have invested in the Y. Why are they changing it?”

“It will have another ta’am, another flavor.”

Asmall thing like a logo is demonstrating how big a problem merging entities can be. Recent press releases coming from the YM-YWHA of North Jersey in Wayne and a recent letter to the community from the Metropolitan YMCA of the Oranges made it appear as though the YM-YWHA will be turning into a YMCA come September.

Actually, the two are merging their efforts, according to Joyce Goldberg Fein, executive director of the YM-YWHA of North Jersey. She stressed in an interview with The Jewish Standard that the facility will retain its Jewish programs, including its “Jewish nursery school, Jewish programming for seniors, and all the things we do.”

While the YM-YWHA will retain ownership of its physical building in Wayne, the Metro YMCA of the Oranges will take over managing day-to-day operations on Sept. 1, according to Lawrence Fechner, the Jewish Y’s president.

“They will be running the building like a business, which is something we have had trouble with,” he said.

As previously reported here, the merged facility will be officially rebranded “The Wayne Y.” That was not at all clear to people, however, in the wake of a July 18 letter from the president and CEO of the Metro YMCA of the Oranges. The letter was sent on his letterhead, with only the YMCA logo visible. There was no YM-YWHA logo. The letter was “basically saying, ‘Welcome to the [YMCA] family,’” according to Randall Mark, rabbi of Cong. Shomrei Torah in Wayne and current president of the North Jersey Board of Rabbis.

“My sense is, everyone’s feeling their way — maybe the two groups aren’t totally aware of the sensitivities of the other,” Mark told the Standard. “Maybe the CEO of the YMCA sent out this letter to be welcoming to members of the Wayne Y, and people were like, ‘Whoa — what’s going on here?’ So maybe everyone needs to be taking baby steps.”

The letter flap was not the only thing to raise concerns about the Jewish character of the merged entity.

Last week, three press releases were sent to area newspapers and other media outlets promoting classes for infants, toddlers, and parents. While the programs appeared geared toward the Jewish community, the press release letterhead also bore only the YMCA logo. There was no accompanying YM-YWHA symbol of any kind. In addition, each of the three releases contained a so-called “boilerplate paragraph,” which described The Wayne Y as being a part of the Metropolitan YMCA of the Oranges, but did not mention any YM-YWHA affiliation.

The absence of the YM-YWHA logo was an oversight, said Fein, who also took responsibility for inclusion of that particular paragraph. In the future, she said, “all communication” from the Wayne Y (including brochures, fliers, letters, and press releases) will include the YM-YWHA logo, as well as the words “The Metropolitan YMCA of the Oranges is a proud partner with the YM-YWHA.”

“Going forward, there will either be no boilerplate or most likely there will be mention of the YM-YWHA,” as well as the YMCA, she said.

Such details reflect the substance of the merger, which includes respect for the facility’s Jewish character, she maintains.

She added that “there will be the same amount of Jewish programming” as members have come to expect, including nursery school and day camp with Jewish curricula, and senior adult programs that are “Jewish in tone while welcoming to all.” She also said that the Y will continue to celebrate Jewish holidays in its programs, but not religious holidays of other faiths.

At present, about 50 percent of YM-YWHA of North Jersey members are Jewish, she said.

Fechner, the YM-YWHA president, echoed Fein’s comments. “Part of our arrangement with the YMCA is the YM-YWHA logo will be affixed to every ad, every document that comes out regarding programming or things going on at the Y,” he said. “We have made certain representations to our board. It has to be the way we said it would be and it will be.”

Mark, Shomrei Torah’s rabbi, shared some thoughts on what he sees as the realities that have shaped the new partnership.

“This Y was Jewish in conception and commitment. However, half the people using it were not Jewish and it has not seen strong support from the Jewish community in recent years — because if it had, none of this would have come about. It’s not like [the community] said, ‘This [merger] creates the best of all possible worlds, let’s set this up,’ but rather, ‘Here’s an institution that once thrived in the Jewish community and is now struggling to survive.’”

Mark believes the ability of the Wayne Y to retain its Jewish character will depend on the commitment of its Jewish members.

“As I understand it…, Jewish programming will be offered as long as the community wants it. My sense is it’s a ‘Use it or lose it’ situation.”

Eric Weis, a member of the Wayne Jewish community who belongs to both Shomrei Torah and the Y, said he was unconcerned about the logo flap and believed that others were as well. People are more concerned, he said, with substance, not symbolism.

“I would love to be able to [continue to] go into the Y and enjoy Jewish cultural programming and [eat in the Y’s kosher] Tel Aviv café,” said Weis. “I don’t really care about the logo.”