Welcome home!
Fellow members of Temple Beth El…imagine having an open house a few hours after you move into a new home. We did that on Friday night, January 7, in our new building. The Clergy and Staff did an incredible job of preparing the building…if you had seen it a few hours before the service, with ladders and boxes, you would have been stunned and incredibly impressed!
We needed a practice service before the MLK Shabbat. A surprising 550 people came to that service. Wow. Thank you for your willingness to be flexible as we figured out what worked and what didn’t! We punted with a temporary sound system, no stained glass in the ark…we punted, but it was our Temple home and our community. What a great spirit in the building; and how we have missed being there!!! We have been living in the building for a few weeks and have learned a few things.
Most comments have been so favorable…however, some comments made me realize I need to remind everyone what we did…and didn’t do…with the renovation.
We did not change the size of the sanctuary itself…but we did make it possible to expand the sanctuary size in increments. These changes will make our Temple home more flexible and will make it feel at times larger and at other times more intimate. These are the changes we made:
1. We made the sanctuary more flexible for different kinds of worship services we have…casual worship, Tot Shabbat, Teen Band and chorus and the more formal services including guest choirs and groups we will host including MLK Shabbat.
2. Added air walls to allow the sanctuary to be enlarged by stages, while keeping the social halls intact for parties or Onegs. You saw that Friday…although they can break down pretty quickly to accommodate bigger crowds.
3. Added a second social hall with a brand new kitchen for events and parties and to enlarge the sanctuary by opening the air walls and adding chairs.
4. We made the Bima accessible to all…the elderly and those who are infirm or in wheelchairs…now all can have honors.
5. We tremendously enlarged the community gathering space in the main foyer so we can gather as a community before and after services.
6. Added a second foyer near the education building for the same reason.
7. We added a new gift shop that will make great strides in funding our Religious School scholarships.
8. We built a new chapel.
9. We turned the old chapel into a Beit Midrash or a study hall for the B’Nei Mitzvah students and for Torah Study.
10. We built a wing for new offices for administrative staff.
11. We changed the offices and enlarged that wing for the clergy.
12. We added a wonderful room for families of the bereaved or for brides…either way…a family room.
13. We built outside spaces…gardens and great spaces in the front and back to create outside worship and event spaces.
We have a new sound system coming…the stained glass is in and is gorgeous. A LOT of things are being added every week. Every time you come, something new will be there. Take a look and let me know what you think.
