by Marilyn Silverstein
NJJN Bureau Chief/PMB

May 06, 2008

A $3.2 million transformation of Congregation Beth El of Lower Bucks County is nearing completion.

The project is transforming the synagogue from a modest suburban shul to a soaring structure of glass and stone on Stony Hill Road in Yardley, Pa.

The 280-family Conservative congregation plans to dedicate the expanded synagogue during a program over Memorial Day weekend (see sidebar).

The expansion will provide an additional 12,000 square feet of space, more than doubling the size of the synagogue, according to Rabbi Jeff Pivo and congregational copresident Randall Flager.

Sheltered within sweeping curves of tinted glass, the new space will house a 275-seat sanctuary, a large social hall, a reception area, two kosher kitchens, a gift shop, an elevator, and a second-floor storage facility — all of it accessible to the handicapped.

Topping the sanctuary rotunda will be a towering, 44-foot-high copper-style roof emblazoned with a magen David. Flager good-naturedly refers to the effect as a “shteeple” — a play on the Yiddish word “shteibel,” meaning “prayer house,” and a reference to the fact that Lower Makefield Township zoning laws permit no structure to be higher than 35 feet, except for steeples on houses of worship.

“It’s going to be visually stunning,” Flager said as he and the rabbi showed off the new construction, where workmen were spackling walls and installing electrical wiring.

“I can say,” added Pivo, “that this is really going to be one of the landmark buildings in Lower Makefield Township. It’s going to be a beautiful building, an imposing building, and one that literally raises the profile of the synagogue.”

To date, the congregation has raised more than $4 million for the project, said Flager, who serves as chair of the capital campaign. In concert with the new construction, Beth El is also refurbishing its existing building — repainting, repairing, recarpeting, adding a conference room, and transforming the sanctuary space into a chapel. The new elevator will render the second-floor synagogue library and school classrooms accessible to the handicapped for the first time.

“This is truly a watershed for us,” the rabbi said. “This is a historic moment in this congregation’s life of 56 years. Up until now, the congregation has been slowly growing, but we realized about two or three years ago that if we wanted to grow our community, we’d have to reach out to people who were looking for a full-service synagogue. We can now host beautiful, large simhas that we simply had no capacity for before.”

The expansion of the synagogue is also a milestone in the life of Flager, whose family has belonged to Beth El for four generations.

“For me personally, this will be the second beginning of a golden age at Beth El,” he said. “Beth El was the leading synagogue in Bucks County when I was growing up. This is an opportunity for us to continue growing and becoming a leading voice for Judaism in Bucks County.”

With room for as many as 500 people in the combined new sanctuary/social hall and 200 more in the chapel, Beth El will be able to host its own High Holy Day services for the first time this fall, Pivo said. And the new facility will also offer a place for community-wide programs featuring prominent speakers and entertainers.

“Our hope is that the synagogue will become a center of social life here in Lower Makefield Township,” Pivo said. “We have good reason to believe that the building itself is going to be an attraction.” He added that the potential for growth is great, since only about a quarter of Bucks County’s estimated 45,000 Jews are affiliated.

As the expanded building takes shape, his excitement grows, Flager said.

“When I drive by now, it jumps out at you,” he said. “Now, it’s like, ‘Wow!’ We’ve worked for so many years to get to this moment.”

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A weekend of celebration

Congregation Beth El of Lower Bucks County will dedicate its expanded building during Memorial Day weekend — Friday, May 23, through Sunday, May 25 — at the synagogue, 375 Stony Hill Road in Yardley, Pa.

The weekend of celebration, prayer, and community will begin with Shabbat services on Friday, May 23, at 7:30 a.m. Services will continue Saturday, May 24, at 9:30 a.m., followed by a kiddush luncheon.

Rabbi Neil Gillman, professor of Jewish philosophy at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York, will keynote the dedication ceremony on Sunday, May 25, at 10 a.m.

The dedication weekend will culminate that evening at 6:30 with a gala dinner dance honoring congregants Michael and Rose Koretsky of Yardley. Michael Koretsky is first vice president of Beth El.

“They are the driving force behind the building project,” said Beth El copresident Randall Flager. “This family is the embodiment of tzedaka. They not only give of their money, they give of their time and their spirit, and they do it in a beautiful way.”

— MARILYN SILVERSTEIN

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