By Morris Malakoff, JTNews Correspondent
Maturity. It’s the word two West Seattle congregations are using to describe recent developments.
For the members of the Kol HaNeshamah progressive community, it comes in the face of a rabbinical change that means saying good-bye to their beloved and popular founding rabbi and finding comfort in the guidance of an interim rabbi.
For the West Seattle Torah Learning Center, it means finding and settling into a permanent home that suits the needs of a growing and spiritually diverse community.
July 1 was transition day for Kol HaNeshamah, as Rabbi Anson Laytner stepped into the role of “interim rabbi,” replacing Rabbi Michael Latz for the coming year.
Rabbi Laytner is well known in the Seattle community, having founded the Interfaith Council of Washington State in 1988. He directed the Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle for a decade. Most recently, he directed the Seattle chapter of the American Jewish Committee. He is an adjunct professor at Seattle University in the School of Theology and Ministry.
For all that experience, his turn at Kol HaNeshamah will be his first pastoral appointment. He looks forward to the new experience and thinks that it will be mutually beneficial.
“I bring experience from the non-profit sector,” he said. “Hopefully Kol HaNeshamah will take advantage of that and my knowledge of fundraising. But at the same time, I hope to be able to help spiritually throughout the year.”
For long-time Kol HaNeshamah board member and former congregation president Nanette Robinson-Goss, who also serves on the search committee that both found Rabbi Laytner and is seeking a permanent rabbi, the change is a difficult but positive development for Kol HaNeshamah.
“For many of us, Rabbi Michael is the only rabbi we have had,” she said. “His leaving gave us an opportunity to learn that we have gained maturity and become a strong community. If we had gone through this a few years ago, I don’t know that we would have survived.”
Robinson-Goss said that Laytner would be particularly valued for his administrative skills.
“We are growing and expanding programs,” she said. “That involves skills that Rabbi Michael would be the first to admit weren’t his strength.”
To make the transition for the year easier for the members of Kol HaNeshamah and Laytner, a transition committee is organizing intimate “meet and greet” events.
“We are holding meetings of small groups at people’s homes so they can get to know Rabbi Laytner and he can get to know them,” said search committee member Danica Bornstein. “This is a big deal for us.”
One other sign of maturity for Kol HaNeshamah is, literally, a sign.
On June 19, a permanent sign recognizing the tenancy of Kol HaNeshamah was dedicated in front of the building it shares with the Alki UCC on Hinds Street in West Seattle.
Robinson-Goss said the congregation’s quest for a building of its own is still a goal, but for the medium term, the six-year-old congregation will happily stay at the Alki UCC, where it has been since its founding in 2003.
At the Torah Learning Center, eight years of wandering West Seattle have ended, as the congregation is now ensconced in a house at 5121 SW Olga St.
“We have been in a storefront, another house, even a mansion,” said Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz, the TLC’s head rabbi. “Now we have a location we own and are established in for good.”
Having a permanent location has allowed the “alternative Orthodox” TLC to grow, said Rabbi Schwartz.
“People may wonder how permanent you are when you move so much,” he said. “This proves our maturity and commitment to the community.”
Putting down roots has already paid off: Half a dozen new families have joined the congregation and programs are being expanded, particularly through the summer.
In addition to traditional services, there are now a Thursday and Friday minyan, a weekly Wednesday barbecue, and a Thursday “study partners” meeting.
Through the auspices of the Seattle Kollel, small groups of students from yeshivot and seminaries on the East Coast are coming to Seattle to work with adults and children in a variety of programs.
Rabbi Schwartz said that one other advantage to the facility, located in the Alki-Admiral neighborhood, is that it is easily accessible.
“It is just off Admiral, so there are buses and there is plenty of nearby street parking for those that drive,” he said.