Walk into Congregation Beth El of Bucks County on a Sunday morning and you will find every inch of usable space humming with activity, said Rabbi Jeff Pivo.

“I even give up my own office to a Hebrew class and a Torah trope class on Sunday mornings,” Pivo said as he stood outside the Yardley, Pa., synagogue with congregational copresident Randall Flager. “There’s such a crisis of space here, it’s been impossible to effectively meet the needs. That’s part of what’s driving this.”

As Pivo spoke, two huge earth-moving machines stood at the ready on a grassy stretch of land nearby. Those heavy shovels would soon be digging into the ground adjacent to the synagogue, carving out the foundation of the congregation’s new $3.2 million, 10,000-square-foot addition, said Flager, a resident of New Hope, Pa., who is a fourth-generation congregant at Beth El.

“It’s fabulous. It’s long overdue,” Flager said. “It’s a dream come true.”

When that dream becomes a reality sometime around next year’s High Holy Days, Pivo said, Beth El will have grown to encompass a new sanctuary, a large social hall and reception area, a greatly expanded kitchen, and an enlarged parking area. The older portion of the building will be given over to classrooms and offices, and the old social hall will be converted into a small chapel.

“It’s quite a large expansion for us,” the rabbi said. He noted that the project would double the size of the synagogue. A third phase of the expansion — the addition of an educational wing — is still in the planning stage. “We’ll be in continuous building mode probably for five to seven years,” he said.

The expansion project has been spurred by the ongoing growth of the 270-family congregation, Flager said — some 50 new families on the congregational rolls and 25 new students in the religious school over the past two years. “I guess we’re the fastest-growing synagogue in Bucks County at this point,” he said.

The thing about Bucks County, Pivo said, is that it is filled with Jews — perhaps 50,000. But only a small percentage of them are affiliated with synagogues. He noted, however, that more and more families are being attracted to the welcoming nature of Beth El and to the excellence of its religious school program under the direction of Karen Lewin.

“As our programming has improved, our numbers have improved,” Pivo said, “and I expect that will continue as our physical building improves. Staff, programming, and building — those have been the building blocks for us.

“And we’ve established a culture of community,” he added. “Families stay. They see this as their home.”
That sense of community will grow as the expansion makes it possible for congregants to celebrate their bat/bat mitzvas, weddings, and other parties at Beth El, Pivo predicted.

“Congregants are always asking me, ‘Where can we have our simha?’ I’ll be thrilled to be able to say, ‘You can have it right here, on site,’” he said. “That’s the joy of this for us. We can now be a full-service synagogue.”

Michael Rettig of Holland, Pa., Flager’s copresident, is also looking forward to the transformation of Beth El.

“We’re extremely excited to now be commencing the building of a full-service synagogue,” Rettig said in a telephone interview. “We look forward to the continued growth of our community.”