Our Vision
We at Temple Beth-El embrace our founders’ legacy of a caring community of Reform Jews. Here we nurture each other as we mark, in celebration and sorrow, the cycle of our lives, continuing our Jewish people’s covenant with God. Here we create a warm, inclusive synagogue family that works for the fulfillment of these Jewish values:
- To infuse our worship of the living God with the verities of Jewish tradition, with the insights of modernity, and with the joy of spiritual fulfillment.
- To teach and to learn, enabling our children and encouraging each other to immerse in Torah, encounter the mitzvot (commandments) and deepen our knowledge of our heritage.
- To raise the voice of social conscience and the hand of social action, responding to human needs and contributing to Tikkun Olam (the perfection of God’s world).
- To reach within the congregation to the less involved and to reach out to the unaffiliated, welcoming interfaith families and sojourners, encouraging all along their Jewish journey.
- To secure excellence in the lay leadership, the clergy, and the professional staff, encouraging programmatic and administrative quality.
- To participate in temple life, functioning ethically and respecting each generation and opinion.
- To develop friendships and enjoy our temple community as we gladden our hearts, engage our minds and elevate our souls.
- To sustain the congregation’s fiscal health, encouraging all to be responsible for the temple’s support while affirming that none should be financially unable to participate.
- To strengthen K’lal Yisrael (the entire community of Israel), working through the Union for Reform Judaism and its affiliates, and supporting varied expressions of Jewish peoplehood in our community and around the world.
- To deepen our ties with Medinat Yisrael (The State of Israel), working to strengthen it and drawing strength from it.
We act as Jews determined that this Beit Eil, this house we have named for God, remains appropriate to that dedication.