Long before there was any silicon in Silicon Valley, a group of young Jews met in a Palo Alto living room and decided to form a congregation. Fifty years later, that ad hoc group is Congregation Beth Am, one of the largest Reform synagogues in the United States.
With its golden anniversary in full swing, the 1,380-family congregation in Los Altos Hills is in a mood to party. “It’s a great time to acknowledge where we’ve come from and, more importantly, to think about where we want to go,” says congregational president Jim Heeger, a member for 21 years.
“Beth Am today is a vibrant, leading congregation in the Reform movement, and it’s fun to think: How did we get here from that little group of people that wanted to educate their kids?”
Possible answers might come from some of the founding members present at the birth of Beth Am.
“It was all orchards,” recalls Harry Springer, 86, of the Peninsula in those days. “There were not too many Jews in the South Bay then.”
Springer, 86, recalls that first meeting in 1954. The Polish immigrant had been living in the South Bay since 1946, and he had established a bustling optometry practice in Sunnyvale. “We got together and discussed what kind of congregation we wanted to form,” he says. “We ended up liberal Reform.”
For some years, Beth Am congregants held services in various churches, including First Methodist in Palo Alto. “We were very comfortable there,” recalls Springer, ” and they were nice to us. But then they decided to rebuild their church, and we knew we had to do something. That’s when we bought land in Los Altos Hills.”
Louise Ginsburg, 80, is another founding member and Beth Am’s first sisterhood president. She has nothing but fond memories of Beth Am’s early days. “We produced the baby boom,” she says. “I had five children, and there were a lot of kids. Everybody knew everybody.”
She, too, recalls the big change from itinerant congregation to stakeholders in a nine-acre Los Altos Hills site. “The building was a stroke of genius,” she says. “To buy land there, which seemed like the boonies at the time, and to have Goody [architect Goodwin] Steinberg design a spectacular building.”
Heeger remembers being drawn to Beth Am’s “warm, caring, educated crowd.” As for the congregation’s core values, he puts Jewish education at the top of the list.
“It’s a big deal,” he says. “We developed an intergenerational program called Shabbaton. We moved the Sunday school program to a two-hour Saturday afternoon program, including an hour of family learning. So when it came time to give my kids a Jewish legacy, I was doing it with them. I didn’t just drop them off.”
Heeger is also proud of the transformation in worship services, especially in the five years Janet Marder has been senior rabbi. “We’d been using the traditional siddur,” he says, “but we switched to one that [Marder] wrote, started a more lively kabbalat Shabbat, added lots of music and put more Hebrew back in. Participation jumped way up, and we get several hundred people every Friday night now.”
Marder is quick to give the credit to the congregants themselves.
“We have fantastic lay leadership,” she says. “Lots of talented people, innovative in their professions and willing to invest time. With many large congregations, lay leaders check out and hand things over to staff. Not here.”
The admiration is mutual. “Janet Marder is one of the most phenomenal senior rabbis,” says Heeger, “and recognized by her peers as a leader in the Reform movement. She is an incredible speaker and an incredibly warm and caring person. She lives her Jewish values.”
So now it’s party time. Kicking off the golden anniversary with 50 High Holy Day shofars, the congregation is planning some big events, including a Purim carnival blow-out and a dinner/dance in June. An expanded guest speaker program will feature lectures from such Jewish leaders as Union for Reform Judaism President Eric Yoffie and Hebrew Union College President David Ellenson. Also planned, 50 special tzedakah projects and a community trip to Israel.
Over the past half-century, Beth Am had only four senior rabbis, among them the much-beloved rabbi emeritus Sidney Akselrad, who served for 25 years. Three years ago the congregation established a fund in his honor to support efforts in human relations, ethics and social justice.
Says Marder, “Some of the things constant here. There’s a real devotion to social justice and inclusiveness. Our sanctuary was built like the tent of Abraham and Sarah, open on all sides and connecting to the larger community.”
Adds Heeger, “I don’t go to Beth Am just to be there. I go because I get a chance to change things. There is a lot of dedicated very smart people here.”
And how do the founding members feel about having reached this milestone?
Says Ginsburg, “I’m feeling pretty old!”