synagogue spotlight
Jarrad Saff ren | Staff Writer
C ongregation Kol Emet’s new
outdoor contemplative space
is not a big sanctuary with
seating for hundreds. It’s a small patch
of land with benches and enough
seating for perhaps 100 people.

But leaders at this Reconstructionist
synagogue in Yardley want to use the
space for the biggest events in Jewish
life, from High Holiday services to
bar and bat mitzvahs. They also want
to use it for regular activities on the
Jewish calendar, like Shabbat services.

The outdoor sanctuary is the
primary piece of a $750,000 capital
campaign to upgrade the synagogue.

Post-COVID, this congregation of
about 180 households is leaning into
the outdoors, to the smell of fresh air
and to intimacy.

The synagogue broke ground on
its outdoor sanctuary on April 2. It is
dedicating the space on June 4 with a
ceremony, a barbecue and an ice cream
truck. “I can’t wait until June 5 so we can
use it,” said Sue Weiner, the religious
school and camp director at Kol Emet.

The congregation’s rabbi, Anna
Boswell-Levy, is also counting down
the days.

“I really am excited to lead services
in that space and see how it feels to
be out there, be singing. Acoustically,
it will be diff erent,” she said. “The fresh
air on people’s skin. It’ll change the
whole dynamic. Kids could run around
and be loud kids.”
Boswell-Levy explained that Kol
Emet has always been a community
open to experimentation. And during
COVID, it had to experiment with
outdoor services and activities. Two
years ago, the congregation gathered
for High Holiday services outdoors. On
another occasion, members watched
an Eagles game in the sukkah.

As synagogue member Geoff Goll,
whose engineering fi rm, Princeton
28 MAY 18, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
Kol Emet synagogue leaders (back row) Howard Greenberg and Ken
Goldstein and (front row) Liz Ravitch, Alexis Miller and Sue Weiner in the
shul’s new outdoor contemplative space
Kol Emet’s new outdoor contemplative space
Hydro, designed the space, explained
last fall, congregants wanted to fi nd
a way to use the property better. Kol
Emet’s patio could only fi t about 30
people. So, Goll’s blueprint for the
contemplative space allowed for more
than twice that number. The outdoor
sanctuary has enough seating, no
walls and wheelchair accessibility.

“There are benches. There’s light-
ing. There’s electricity. There’s Wi-Fi,”
the rabbi said. “We’ve made it easier
to be outside. It allows us to be more
unbounded.” “It says to our congregation that we
are a community that is open,” added
Howard Greenberg, the shul’s incom-
ing president. “And we want people to
have options. People could have a bar
mitzvah out here. We could put a table
on the side so, if it’s small enough, they
could eat.”
“I think it signifi es how healthy our
congregation is,” said Alexis Miller, the
synagogue’s executive director.

Ken Goldstein, Kol Emet’s treasurer
and a member since the ‘90s, said that
an outdoor sanctuary has been an idea
among the leadership for two decades.

But a donation from the Schatz family,
a longtime member household, made it
fi nancially possible, and the pandemic
created a desire among the congre-
gants. As Goldstein explained, “People
want to be outside.”
“I don’t think we’ll have to twist
anybody’s arm to have an event out
here,” he added. “It’ll be the opposite.

If there’s any way they can do it
outdoors, they will do it outdoors.”
According to Weiner, Kol Emet’s
summer camp will use the space as its
amphitheater and use it every morning
and afternoon as its meeting place to
begin and end the day. Liz Ravitch,
the synagogue’s preschool direc-
tor, said that the school has Shabbat
every Friday, and once the space is
dedicated, she wants to move Shabbat
outside so students can experience
nature. Boswell-Levy mentioned that
families are already considering the
outdoor sanctuary as an option for bar
and bat mitzvahs.

Greenberg hopes the space can
attract the unaffi liated masses of Jews
in the Yardley area. Boswell-Levy also
thinks that it may help with expenses if
it can be rented. But even if it doesn’t
do either of those things, that’s OK.

“The days of the big synagogues with
thousands of members, it would be
lovely fi nancially if that could happen,
but I think those days are over,” Ravitch
said. “And I think the more intimate
kind of gatherings are what people are
looking for. And you could still have
100 people out here. It’s not like it’s
limited to 10 people. But I think those
are the kinds of gatherings that people
are looking for nowadays.” ■
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com
Photos by Jarrad Saff ren
Congregation Kol Emet Introducing
New Outdoor Contemplative Space



bonus digital content
calendar MAY 19–25
SATUR DAY, MAY 2 0
FRIDAY, M AY 1 9
DAVID AND ME
David Harris and Alvin Gilens met in
Israel in 1965 and bonded instantly
over their mutual love for Israel and
for photography. The photographs
displayed in this Temple Judea Museum
exhibition through June 30 attest to
their friendship and their talent for
capturing the land and its people. For
more information, contact tjmuseum@
kenesethisrael.org or 215-887-8700.

8339 Old York Road, Elkins Park.

PARSHA FOR LIFE
Join Rabbi Alexander Coleman, a
Jewish educator and psychotherapist
at the Institute for Jewish Ethics, at 9
a.m. for a journey through the Torah
portion of the week with eternal lessons
on personal growth and spirituality. Go
to ijethics.org/weekly-torah-portion.

html to receive the Zoom link and
password. JRA FOOD PACKING
Volunteers will assist with Jewish Relief
Agency’s pre-distribution preparation
from 10 a.m.-noon. Volunteers will
tape boxes, pack toiletries and
assemble family-friendly food bags.

For more information about JRA’s
volunteer schedule, visit jewishrelief.

org/calendar. 10980 Dutton Road,
Philadelphia. FAMILY SHABBAT
Join Congregation Kol Ami to say todah
rabah and l’hitraot to Cantor Harrison
for her contributions to our legacy and
unified congregations, starting with
JEWISH NEW MEDIA FESTIVAL
After four years, Philadelphia Jewish Film and Media’s Jewish New Media Festival is back and bigger than ever. Join
PJFM for a weekend celebrating prolific up-and-coming Jewish content creators at the Weitzman National Museum of
American Jewish History. The weekend will feature Israeli-American rapper Kosha Dillz and a live, in-person recording
of the “Unorthodox” podcast. Tickets are available at phillyjfm.org and through the digital app. 101 S. Independence
Mall East, Philadelphia.

latkes at 5:45 p.m. and with Shabbat
evening services following at 7 p.m.

For more information, contact
info@kolaminj.org or 856-489-0029.

1101 Springdale Road, Cherry Hill,
New Jersey.

Agar and the band at 6 p.m.

for a musical Kabbalat Shabbat.

The community is welcome to attend.

Call 215-887-1342 for information.

8231 Old York Road, Elkins Park.

MUSICAL KABBALAT SHABBAT
JRA FOOD DISTRIBUTION
Join Beth Sholom Congregation’s Rabbi
David Glanzberg-Krainin, Cantor Jacob
THROUGHOUT THE WEEK,
THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
NOW on your favorite podcast platforms.

SPOTIFY, GOOGLE, AMAZON,
APPLE AND MORE!
Jewish Community Radio
with Estelle
Deutsch Abraham
MUSIC | FEATURES | INTERVIEWS
FOR INFORMATION CALL 301-530-6530
S U N DAY, MAY 2 1
Join Jewish Relief Agency from 9
a.m.-2 p.m. for junior and all ages food
packing, as well as food delivery to
allow recipients to receive assistance
directly to their door, alleviating some
of the challenges they may face,
such as transportation, language
barriers or access. Additional delivery
opportunities are available Monday
through Wednesday. For more in-
formation about JRA’s volunteer
schedule, visit jewishrelief.org/
calendar. 10980 Dutton Road,
Philadelphia. MON DAY, MAY 22
MAHJONG GAME
Melrose B’nai Israel Emanu-El
Sisterhood invites the community to join
our weekly mahjong game at
7 p.m. Cost is $36 per year or free with
MBIEE Sisterhood membership. For
more information, call 215-635-1505
or email office@mbiee.org.

8339 Old York Road, Elkins Park.

SCIENCE AND POWER OF
SPIRITUALITY Join Moving Traditions’ Rabbi Daniel
Brenner in conversation with Lisa
Miller, author of “The Awakened
Brain” and “The Spiritual Child,” at 8
p.m. on Zoom, as we observe Mental
Health Awareness Month. For more
information, contact cohenrosie@
movingtraditions.org or 215-887-4511.

TH U RSDAY, M AY 25
CANASTA GAME
Ohev Shalom of Bucks County
Sisterhood invites the community to
a weekly canasta game from 1-3 p.m.

Open play is $4. Call 215-968-6755 for
more information. 944 Second Street
Pike, Richboro. ■
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 29