For San Francisco’s Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, 1997 will mean a new, larger home.
Late last month, the congregation voted to approve the purchase of a two-story building on the corner of Dolores and 16th streets in San Francisco. The 9,000-square- foot building is more than three times larger than the synagogue’s current facility on Danvers Street in the city’s Castro District. The congregation, which was founded in 1977, purchased that building in 1984.
Growth in Sha’ar Zahav’s membership spurred the search for new quarters. Over the past 10 years, the Reform synagogue known for its special outreach to gays and lesbians has seen a dramatic increase in numbers: Current membership stands at 500 adults and 130 children.
“With the purchase of the new property, the congregation looks forward to enhancing our services to members,” said David Stein, Sha’ar Zahav president.
The building cost Sha’ar Zahav some $800,000; currently the money is in escrow. A $1.3 million capital campaign to cover purchase and remodeling costs is under way and congregants hope to move into their new lodgings by Rosh Hashanah.
To mark the occasion, a major celebration is planned. “We’re hoping to be able to carry the Torahs from one building to the next,” Stein said. “It’s very important that we take leave of our building on Danvers Street. So many memories have been with us [there].”
The search for a new location began more than four years ago as it became increasingly apparent that Sha’ar Zahav was facing a space crunch. Members considered a number of sites including warehouses, former churches and convents. However, some of those were unreinforced-masonry buildings that would have required major, costly upgrades.
As it is, the Dolores Street property, formerly the Cominsky Roche Funeral Home, will need its share of cosmetic and structural renovations, including work to make it wheelchair accessible as required by the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Once the renovations are completed, the congregation expects to have a sanctuary that holds 250 people, double the capacity of the former site’s sanctuary. The new building will also feature several meeting rooms and educational facilities, a spacious rabbi’s study, administrative offices and a library.
“We will be able to have six or seven unrelated functions going on at the synagogue without one bothering the other,” Stein said. “We often need that kind of space.”
Another selling point is the building’s location just blocks from Dolores Park, which used to be a Jewish cemetery, in an area Stein said once supported a thriving Jewish community.
“We feel we’re reclaiming the corner,” he said.
As the congregation prepares to move into its new home, it faces another large transition as well. Earlier this year, Rabbi Yoel Kahn, longtime leader of Sha’ar Zahav, left the synagogue to complete his doctoral studies and devote himself to his family full time.
Serving as interim rabbi is Rabbi Martha Bergadine, a recent graduate of Hebrew Union College — Jewish Institute of Religion and the wife of Rabbi Stanton Zamek, assistant rabbi at the city’s Congregation Sherith Israel.
Both Bergadine and the congregation understand their partnership to be temporary, Stein said, and therefore, the search for a full-time rabbi is still under way.