By Dan Aznoff, Special to JTNews
Like “Cheers,” the fictional neighborhood tavern in Boston, the Jewish community in West Seattle has flocked to Kol HaNeshamah for the intimate atmosphere “where everybody knows your name.”
A neighborhood congregation is what Michael Latz visualized when he graduated from rabbinical college on the East Coast four years ago. The effort to start a new congregation in the oldest neighborhood in Seattle has turned out to be much more spiritual than he ever imagined.
“People refer to us as the ‘Cheers’ synagogue. That’s a label I’ll take as a compliment,” says Latz. “This is a place where we do not need name tags. It’s a shul that you want to share with your family and friends.”
Kol HaNeshamah celebrated its first anniversary on the Shabbat of June 25-26 with music by the Klez Katz and a meal of lox and bagels.
The one-year anniversary also marked the date that Latz was able to occupy an office at the church that his congregation has called home for the first year. The rabbi will be sharing an office at the Alki United Church of Christ with a church intern. Until June of last year, the Kol HaNeshamah office was a room in his own house and the congregation’s phone number was the rabbi’s cell phone.
“We serve a diverse population in West Seattle,” explained Latz. “Even though we are members of the Reform movement, we do our best to meet the diverse spiritual needs of Jews who grew up in households that are much more Conservative or Orthodox than we practice.”
The term “diverse” relates to more than just the religious background of the membership. Latz explained that his congregation includes members from a variety of sexual orientations, including individuals who are in various stages of gender reassignment. Latz, who is gay, is raising his own family with his partner in West Seattle.
West Seattle’s self-proclaimed progressive synagogue community has been welcomed with open arms by the liberal Christian church and its pastor, Diane Darling. Latz pointed to several activities that church and synagogue members attended together, including a screening of The Passion of the Christ.
The church staff fashioned a cloth cover that is lowered every Friday afternoon to cover the large cross above the pulpit of the church. Latz said the covering is so attractive that it has been has occasionally been left in place by the church clergy. The staff at the church has volunteered to create a formal white covering for the cross in time for the High Holidays in September.
“The two congregations have worked hard to be respectful of each other’s needs on the rare occasion there was a conflict with times or dates,” said Ann Eisenberg, who served as president during Kol HaNeshamah’s first year of existence.
Eisenberg’s son Joe will be the congregation’s first Bar Mitzvah in July of 2005.
Incoming Kol HaNeshamah President Nanette Robinson-Goss said her board is still enjoying a honeymoon with its own members and in its relationship with the church, but expects the second year to be a challenge to the creative souls who helped craft the neighborhood congregation.
“We’ve had very little structure, but that has not hampered our growth,” said Robinson-Goss. The congregation started with 23 families. That number almost doubled before the High Holidays.
“We do our best to meet the needs of our congregation because we listen. Why else would 37 of the 40 families attend our annual business meeting?”
Robinson-Goss praised Rabbi Latz for keeping the membership focused on core values during its first year. As a resident of West Seattle, Robinson-Goss has a special appreciation for the number of unaffiliated Jews who have joined Kol HaNeshamah.
Robinson-Goss enjoys the friendships she has created with members of the congregation. Her last temple membership did not live up to her expectations, she said.
“The only faces I recognized from one High Holy Day service to another was the rabbi and the cantor,” said Robinson-Goss.
Though Rabbi Latz says he likes the intimate feel he currently gets from his synagogue, Eisenberg envisions the day when Kol HaNeshamah will have membership in excess of 150 families.
“Who knew there were so many Jews in West Seattle?” asked Eisenberg with a smile. “Michael and the creative spirit of Kol HaNeshamah have inspired people to take a chance on Judaism again.”
Rabbi Latz dedicated the first year to the importance of celebrating Shabbat with members of his congregation. Emphasis during the second year will be focused on Torah study.
“We are a mission-driven congregation and try to make all of our decisions based on a foundation of integrity,” said Latz. “We ask our members to stretch beyond being simply liberal and progressive. We want to maintain a spiritual intimacy.”
Children, besides his own, remain a focus of Rabbi Latz’ work. Students in the religious school play a part in every Saturday morning Shabbat service by staging a production based on that week’s Torah portion.
One way Latz has been able to build his program for children has been through a trust known as The Joshua Fund, established by an anonymous donor at Kol HaNeshamah to pay for activities outside the normal budget.
“The money has been used to pay for retreats and for supplies in the religious school,” said Latz. “The fund has been essential in our mission to enhance Jewish life in any way we can.”
Latz moved to the Seattle area in 2000 to become the assistant rabbi at Temple B’nai Torah, where he rekindled a friendship with Cantor David Serkin-Poole. The two had met five years earlier when Serkin-Poole was on Sabbatical in Israel and was introduced to a young rabbinical student while dining at a Bohemian restaurant in Jerusalem.
The next time Serkin-Poole saw that young man was when the newly ordained rabbi knocked on the door of his office during the interview process, and led to Latz serving on the bima at B’nai Torah for three years.
“I was blessed to be able to befriend this beautiful spirit of a man who showed us new and ancient paths to holiness,” said Serkin-Poole.