By Eric Nusbaum, Assistant Editor, JTNews
At Temple Beth El, this is an era for simultaneously recognizing old traditions and welcoming in new ones. The Tacoma congregation celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2009. Then, earlier this summer, it hired its first full-time cantor/religious education director.
Cantor Leah Holland will be officially installed in a service on Friday Nov. 12. But she already feels right at home.
“I am still quite the newby, but I am really loving the community,” Holland said. “I am really enjoying the opportunities to work with the community in terms of the cantorial stuff, in terms of education, and in terms of family programming.”
Holland is excited about her dual roles at Temple Beth El. She is taking a measured approach to both of her duties — one that celebrates change but not at the expense of the synagogue’s customs.
“You don’t want to come in as a cantor and rock the boat so much,” she said. “You want to preserve the musical traditions and heritage of the congregation you’re working with, but you also want to expand their repertoire.”
Temple Beth El is a perfect place for that balance. With half a century serving Pierce County, and as the only Reform synagogue in the region (there is also a Chabad synagogue), Temple Beth El offers more for its members than worship. Kate Haas, the president of Temple Beth El’s board of directors, has been a part of the congregation for 47 years. She is a witness to the way Temple Beth El has maintained its identity, but expanded its reach into the community.
“It used to be a place of worship and a place to send your kids to religious school,” Haas said. “But now it has broadened itself programmatically. It has started being a mini Jewish community center.”
The foundation of that community is volunteers, says Rabbi Bruce Kadden. At last week’s Shabbat service, nearly 100 volunteers were honored for their contributions to the Beth El community — and that wasn’t even everybody. Considering the overall membership at Beth El, Kadden is thrilled by the extent to which members participate, especially considering that in the recent economy, membership has dwindled slightly.
“Right now we have 280 families,” Kadden said. “It’s a nice size for the size of the city. We had slow growth over a number of years, then because of the recession are down a few households. We look to return to the slow growth over the next few years.”
One way Temple Beth El hopes to combat the impact of the recession, which can especially hit young families with all the expenses associated with raising children, is to boost family and youth programming.
For instance, with the help of a local donor, the congregation has just introduced the PJ Library program, which lends Jewish books and music on a monthly basis to children up to 8 years old. The program is not limited to members.
“It reaches out to people in the community,” Kadden said. “We’re pretty pleased; we’ve only been doing it for about a month or two, and it seems to be developing really nicely.”
Not that Temple Beth El’s primary concern is membership. The leadership is content with the size of the community, as it large enough to breed a dynamic, multi-faceted programming, but small enough to still feel welcoming.
“There’s something about the closeness of a smaller congregation where they really know each other and they know what they’re looking for and they’re just welcoming,” said Holland, herself a new member of the community.
Beth El is also welcoming to fellow Pierce County institutions. The temple has members associated with nearby Joint Base Lewis-McChord. It is also heavily involved in interfaith activities throughout Tacoma. Beth El cosponsors a food bank and occasional blood drives with St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, located right down the street, and is an interfaith partner of the ecumenical group Associated Ministries. The synagogue has also sponsored interfaith builds through Habitat for Humanity and co-sponsored an interfaith youth camp.
Within the Jewish community, Beth El is in a unique place. Tacoma is a distinct region, and it comes without the broad surrounding Jewish infrastructure of Seattle. The synagogue is not affiliated officially with the Jewish Federation, but both Rabbi Kadden and Cantor Holland are involved with certain groups and programs. Last year Beth El participated in a Jewish Family Service of Greater Seattle program that reached out to Jewish families in Pierce County to provide Hanukkah gifts for needy children.
Overall, however, Temple Beth El is its own community with its own traditions separate from Seattle. And with Holland around as a full-time cantor/religious education director, new programs such as the PJ Library underway, and a sturdy, enthusiastic volunteer base, the congregation appears poised for another strong half-century.