By Leyna Krow, Assistant Editor, JTNews
Kol HaNeshamah is in a time of transition. With both a new rabbi and a new president starting within a month of each other, there is definitely a sense of leadership in flux. Add to that the acquisition of a cemetery parcel, seesawing membership numbers, and budget concerns, and you’ve got one busy synagogue.
“There’s a lot happening right now. But I think there’s a great willingness on everyone’s part to make this work,” said outgoing president Eric Orlin.
The West Seattle congregation lost its founding rabbi, Michael Latz in July of 2009 when he left to take a position with a synagogue in Minnesota. For the year following Latz’s departure, Anson Laytner, former director of the Seattle chapter of the American Jewish Committee, acted as interim rabbi.
“Rabbi Laytner did a really good job,” Orlin said. “He challenged the congregation intellectually in a way it hadn’t been challenged before. I think he opened up a new way of thinking about Judaism for a lot of members.”
After a nationwide hunt for a new permanent rabbi, the synagogue’s search committee settled on someone they found very close to home. At the beginning of July, Kol HaNeshamah welcomed Rabbi Zari Weiss, a longtime fixture in the Seattle Reform community, to the pulpit.
“She really understands the values that are important to us,” Orlin said. “We have tried to build a very inclusive, diverse community. We have people who come from a lot of different places spiritually, lots of people without a religious Jewish background at all, and we’re trying to build a single community from all these backgrounds, but still make room for people to be themselves. A number of rabbis we talked to — particularly people who were not from the West Coast — didn’t quite get this.”
Prior to coming to Kol HaNeshamah, Weiss worked as a spiritual consultant and headed up Rodef Tzedek, a non-profit she founded in 2004 that focuses on the intersection between Judaism and environmentalism and social justice.
“The nature of the congregation feels like it’s a real good match for my interests and passions,” Weiss said of Kol HaNeshamah.
Orlin said that the integration of Weiss into the congregation, along with preparations for the end of his own term as president, have gone smoothly thus far. But that’s not to say there won’t be a few bumps in the road along the way.
“With transitions of this nature, by definition they bring challenges,” Orlin said. “No matter how much you’re thinking ahead, there’s always things you overlook.”
A new president and board slate are expected to be voted on in August.
Kol HaNeshamah has also experienced challenges in the form of fluctuating membership numbers and financial concerns. Like most synagogues in the Seattle area and nationwide, Kol HaNeshamah has not escaped the economic downturn unscathed.
“Before the financial meltdown, we were growing pretty fast,” Orlin said. “We didn’t have to make any cuts, but we had hopes of making one of our part-time staff full-time and expanding education offerings. Those plans had to be put on hold.”
The departure of Rabbi Latz, coupled with many families looking for ways to save money, led to a drop in membership in 2009. But Orlin said those numbers have since been recouped. Kol HaNeshamah currently serves around 150 member households.
One plan the congregation hasn’t had to put on hold, however, is the acquisition of a parcel at Riverton Crest Cemetery in Tukwila. The parcel is named Neveh Zikaron and Orlin noted that several members have already purchased plots within it.
About 50 percent of Kol HaNeshamah’s members are West Seattle residents, with the rest making the trek over the bridge from elsewhere. Orlin said he thinks the progressive atmosphere of the synagogue and the emphasis on family programming and education are what draw people in.
“One of things we do is that we do all our education on Shabbat, so parents and children show up together,” Orlin said. “Parents do Torah study while kids are in various classes. When services start, the older kids come in. The younger kids join when the Torah service beings. So everyone is there together. People seem to really like that.”