Hanukat Bayit
Dedication Weekend
June 7-9, 2013

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Slideshow: From Clearing our Site to Dedicating our New Synagogue building / 2010 - 2013

Rabbi Amy Levin and Building Committee Chairman, Andrew G. Sholes, affix the mezuzah to the new building.

The mezuzah placed at the main entrance of our new building in East Greenwich (above) is the same mezuzah that graced the main entrance of our congregation's building in Cranston for 60 years!

Dedication Addresses

Andrew G. Sholes,
Chairman
TY Building Committee

Welcome to the beautiful new home of  Temple Torat Yisrael.  We did it.  We turned a dream into
reality and along the way we built this magnificent building.  

Some nine years ago, our Congregation realized that the survival of our
Temple required that we move south.  Our members were moving away from our
Park Avenue home..   We began the search for the site of our new home in 2006.  In 
2007, we found this 6 ½ acre site which includes the three bed room home in the front on Middle Road  to serve as the parsonage for our Rabbi.  

Our president at that time and still president, Susan Smoller, signed the documents to purchase the property.  Little did she know the rollercoaster ride that she and the rest of the Congregation would experience over the next six years as we began our Capital Campaign, sought the various regulatory and municipal permits and approvals for our Project, engaged architects and engineers, reviewed building designs and
redesigns, held our ground breaking event, bid out the site work, commenced the site work, bid out the construction of our new building, sold our home of over 60 years on Park Avenue in Cranston, moved our Torahs and our belongings out of Park Avenue, constructed our new home, held our cornerstone event,  and moved our Torah scrolls and our belongings into our new home.  After much hard work and planning our journey to our new home ends today.

We are thrilled to have completed our move to  East Greenwich RI.  The move from Cranston  was no easy feat.  We had many
volunteers and friends of the Temple who
helped.

We have overcome many challenges to complete the project.  In the bible we all
remember  Noah and his ark.   When we started clearing this parcel and doing our site work, we almost needed Noah’s ark.  We started the site  construction during the historic floods of 2010.  The heavy rains and high water table during that spring and summer presented a challenge.   During the site work we unexpectedly  discovered ledge
where this building is now situated.  We overcame those challenges.  The Great Recession of 2008 was another challenge which we overcame.  The economic turmoil slowed our fund raising ability and also potential buyers for our Park Avenue facility.  After 2½ years on the market, we sold our former building in April, 2012.   Flush with cash and with the help of our lender, we commenced construction of this building on May 21, 2012.  It took 12 months almost to the day to complete.  In fact we completed the paving on the parking area last Thursday. Just in time for our Dedication Weekend. 
 
This project succeeded because of the many people who helped in our endeavor.  The
Building Committee and its various subcommittees spent many hours on this labor of love.  The time that the Committee members devoted to the project took time away from their families.   We wish to thank all the families of the Committee members for their support and understanding in allowing their loved ones to be active participants of this magnificent project.  To the Committee members, thank you for your work and support.  It has been my honor and privilege to be the Chair of the Building Committee these past six years.  Our work is not over, we still have much to do.  

As Chair, I realized that the Committee was
entrusted with the hopes, the wishes, the faith and the financial resources of our members to make our entire congregation’s  dream come true.   We  persevered to make that dream come true. The Building Committee spent many hours laboring on this task.  We brought together a diverse group of Committee members with varying backgrounds which banded together always keeping our goal in sight.  

Together they had the fervency and zeal to keep the Project moving. Selecting colors with a Committee may have been the ultimate challenge. 
The Committee has been meeting almost weekly for the past year and biweekly before that.  Always conscious of construction costs and maintenance issues for the completed
Project, we redesigned a portion of the building and after receiving initial bids for the building, did some value engineering to have the costs come within our budget. When we hit some low spots in our roller coaster ride, I always kept a positive outlook. Throughout the last six years, I always told our Rabbi to “have faith.”  I never lost that faith.  I 
always knew that we would prevail in our project and prevail we did.  Today is the proof.  
 
Along the way we lost some of our fervent
supporters. Sidney Kramer, Sheldon Shollosy, David Smoller and  Herb Spivack.  The sands of time passes ever too fast.  

The dream to design and build a new Temple where everyone may gather to pray, to socialize, to learn, to contemplate and to feel
safe has become a reality.  We built a spiritual home that is welcoming to all.  Our 18,000 sq ft building was planned and designed to make the most use of our space. 

We wanted a bright sunny building which
used natural light and brings nature into the Sanctuary as we pray, contemplate and sometimes just zone out.  We wanted to minimize future maintenance cost and selected building materials that will require minimum maintenance. 
 
We wanted an energy efficient building.  We chose LED lights for the lobby, social hall, sanctuary, chapel, lighting of the exterior of the building and soon in the parking lot.  The
remaining lighting uses fluorescent fixtures.   With 60 years of experience, we knew
that we wanted a beautiful sanctuary, a large social hall since food and social events are an important part of our life, a chapel easily accessible from the lobby, a large library for reading and gathering, and a school wing that will be attractive to our students and accommodate the  needs of our teachers.
  
The sanctuary seats 240 people and when the moveable partition is open  there is room for an additional 420 seats.  The easterly wall of the Sanctuary is glass from floor to ceiling to take full advantage of the conservation area and to give one a distraction during the Rabbi’s sermon.  

 The Building Committee weighed and deliberated on the many decisions that had to be made during the course of this Project. 
Their unwavering support made my job that much easier.  
 
Being Chair of the Committee was a rewarding experience. Knowing that I was
entrusted with the task to oversee the construction of our new home, a new house
of worship for the Torat Yisrael Congregation and for those members of the congregation yet to come  made me even more determined to have our project succeed.  

The scope of the project for the size our congregation was enormous.  Keeping the entire congregation involved in the project was paramount. 
We knew at the outset that not all our members would follow in our journey.  We lost some due to the geographic distance from Cranston to East Greenwich, we lost others who did not want to make any financial commitment to help fund our Project. 

Our remaining members never lost their focus and support for this Project.  We have built a  new home to serve the Jewish community for our generations here today and for the generations to follow. 
A place to pray, to socialize, to gather, and to  be the center of Jewish life . ..   We are all proud of our accomplishment.  As a congregation, we welcome all who want to join in our excitement and enthusiasm to rekindle Jewish learning and keep our beacon of Jewish faith burning bright for years to
come.


I would like to recognize the members of the
Building Committee.  
Sue  Abbotson, our resident Professor, always offering her expertise.
Marc Davis, who also serves as Chair of our
Capital Campaign.  Marc has worked
very hard and his work continues to raise the funds thru voluntary donations to
fund our Project.
Alan Field, our resident lighting expert and
almost nightly building inspector.
Michael Field, who was instrumental in finding
this site.  We always had some
comic relief when both Fields were at a meeting.  It was unbelievable the number of
meetings they would come to dressed almost identically.  
Norma Friedman, always offering sage
advice
Barry Golden, our Vice President of Finance, who kept tight rein on the purse strings and somehow always found the funds to pay
our contractors.
Our Rabbi, Amy Levin, who made sure that we observed all the Jewish Holidays  There was no construction on any Shabbat or Jewish Holiday and since she was in the house on those days, she became our enforcer in case someone erred.  She was our spiritual leader during the transition, from helping to form a  consensus that the move was necessary, to being one of our fervent
supporters.
Alan Olinsky, our immediate past president, who was instrumental in promoting the vision to move to East  Greenwich
Anita Olinsky, our Treasurer, who was my go to person for money to pay the bills. 
Steve Shapiro.   Steve Please join me at the podium.  Steve has unselfishly given his time
during these past several years to do whatever was necessary to make our dream
come true.  When the closing for
our Park Ave building  was moved up
and we only had 3 weeks to move out, he stepped up to the plate and helped me
during those hectic  few weeks.  When we moved into this building, he has been here almost every day this past month helping in
unpacking, setting up and doing whatever is necessary to turn this building our home. 
His hard work has not gone unnoticed. In appreciation for everything you have done, it is my pleasure to give you this token gift on behalf of the entire Congregation. 
Susan Smoller, our President and minute
taker at each Building Committee meeting. 
She lead our Congregation in the Journey to East Greenwich similar  to a modern day Moses.  Her leadership kept our congregation together as a tight knit family.  Her support helped make my job easier.  Lately, however, I have heard that she has been complaining to a few folks that she does not have a
key to the Building.  We did that on purpose.  Now that the Building is complete and officially dedicated, it is my pleasure to present to you your key to the Building.  

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Susan Smoller,
President
Temple Torat Yisrael

Shalom and Bruchim Habaim –welcome to all.

Thank you very much to Andy Sholes for the introduction. 

I am so very proud to be President of this congregation!  This is my 7th year of Presidency, and I am humbled by the great honor to speak at the dedication of our new building.  This is a dream that we, as a congregation, have had for quite some time–and now it has come true.  This is also an honor for the current generations and those of our forefathers and foremothers.   This will stand strong for generations to come.

This is our house of God.  Today, we are privileged to consecrate stones and to imagine the future with reverence and hope.

Look around us! This magnificent sanctuary, social hall and entire building that is being dedicated today, came about as a result of family –Torat Yisrael family!  We got together to plan and build and finance this building for ourselves and for future generations.  We had a dream that we could create a Jewish home for the community–and it has come true.

This has been an exciting period, one in which we showed our mettle and demonstrated the power of working together.

Our congregation did not waver in its determination to build.  The unity and respect that permeated this project is a testament to all who were involved. 

We worked collaboratively under the guidance and direction of our tireless and dedicated building Committee Chair, Andy Sholes.  Andy demonstrated tenacity, the ability to negotiate while keeping the project moving ahead and the ability to continually motivate all the contractors to give their best.  He committed himself fully to this undertaking and was the rudder of our ship.  He kept us motivated and able to provide input in an organized fashion.  Andy held us together as a strong unit throughout this project.  He held regular meetings and visited this site daily, often more.  We owe Andy the utmost gratitude for his passion, work, advice and time.  On behalf of Torat Yisrael, to a pillar of our community, thank you, Andy.

Rabbi Levin –thank you very much for your guidance and long hours in providing ideas, creativity and insight.  You had foresight in the design of the building and taught us about the creation of a new Jewish shul.  You helped motivate us.  You have been a strong supporter of this move and I thank you on behalf of the congregation.   Thank you very much.

Marc Davis, our capable Capital Campaign Chairperson –you tenaciously have been obtaining the pledges and cash donations that are so fundamental to support this venture.  You have generously committed to continuing to collect money to support this new building.  As you continue with these efforts, on behalf of Torat Yisrael, I thank you.  (Sidenote: to everyone out there, please feel free to see Marc about this after the ceremony.)

To Barry Golden –our Vice President of Finances.  Barry, you have managed the money and the budget and been careful to ensure that no money was ever spent frivolously.  You checked and double checked all expenses and you keep us on course.  Your constant leadership and reliability became integral in the development of the new shul and the congregation is stronger as a result.  On behalf of Torat Yisrael, we appreciate all you do for the congregation and know that under your care, we are being very fiscally responsible.

Steve and Elaine Shapiro –you have shown your total commitment to this congregation by carrying, assembling and organizing the moves and the details related to the building.  You have also fed us and on behalf of Torat Yisrael,  thank you.

I would also like to express our gratitude to the families of the volunteers for understanding their commitment, enthusiasm and time away from home.

A thank you to my family and all my friends for understanding my commitment and supporting me.  Michelle, thank you for being here with me this weekend.

My thanks to everyone for making this such a fun venture and for all the time, sweat and money you contributed. 

Today we are acknowledging the past and the hopes and dreams that we share for ourselves,  and the ones we have for future generations, and the ones that have yet to exist.    

It was just last year that we were praying, studying and eating in our Park Avenue synagogue building in Cranston.

Now, as we sit here today, we can only imagine how we at Torat Yisrael will be using this building in years to come.  This really is the house that love built! 

Each of us has a personal vision of the multiple uses for this building and the growth of the congregation, yet it is up to all of us to fulfill those visions and to be here and to actually implement those visions.  We need to fill this building with activity.  We need to fill this building with community.

Changes in life and in the world occur extremely rapidly, and we can plan and strategize and hope and pray –yet life and our actions will ultimately dictate the way in which we live in this new building.  Together we will attain our dreams.  We all have the ability to harness our energy, skills and talents and accomplish that which is yet to be imagined.  The potential is limitless.

Within each of us, is the ability to accomplish amazing things, but as a community when we combine our strength, we create something greater than all of us.  Greater than all of us.  Literally and figuratively.  When we combine our visions with the ideas and the insight and the contributions of those around us and allow ourselves to be a part of a greater community, then the accomplishments we are able to achieve are endless.

Within our personal lives and the Jewish community this opens up a new realm of possibilities.  In revealing this physical result of our efforts we embark on a new era –not just for Torat Yisrael now, but for future generations of Torat Yisrael.

My personal vision is for this building to be a hub! A hub of activity, socializing, praying, studying, eating and most of all for sharing and communicating.  This will be a place where we will feel comfortable and come to fill all the rooms, lobbies and gardens.  We will enjoy all the building has to offer and we will fill it with our voices and spirit.  This is a place for all to feel safe and welcome.  It is our home and we will enjoy it as a family.  May we all let our imagination lead us so we can accomplish more as a community than we ever thought possible.

As Theodor Herzl said: “If you will it, it is no dream “.  It is no dream!  We are proof of the reality of Temple Torat Yisrael on Middle Road in East Greenwich.

So, today, it is my honor and pleasure to remind you that the imagination is boundless.  Dreams do come true.  The future is open.  And, together, we have the potential to fill this new synagogue with unforeseen joy and possibilities that even we cannot anticipate.  With the continued involvement and participation of members of the Rhode Island community, may our hopes and dreams flourish here, as an honor to our past, present, and future.

Welcome to a new era of our life.  
May we go from strength to strength.
Thank you

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Rabbi Amy Levin

Dedicating God’s House

תכון בית תפלתי
ושם תודה נזבח

The verse from one of our most beloved
Hanukah songs, מעוז צור
  which we have chosen as the theme of this Dedication weekend is
actually an excerpt of a conversation:
God instructs: tikon beit tefilati, "establish My house of prayer," in the imperative.
 The response of our ancestors, which we
echo here today: "v'sham todah nzabei'ach!"
and there, in God’s house of prayer, we will offer thanks.

 Our Dedication Weekend Planning Committee considered a number of different
verses as potential themes for this weekend’s
celebration. Most were verses from Psalms, words of praise to God:  "This is the day the
Lord has made . . . " but I think we came to choose this verse from a Hanukah song
because it acknowledges that establishing a House of God requires the partnership of God and a kehillah k'doshah, a holy community.

The concept of Beit Tefillati is intriguing . . . Why does God command us to establish
 "God’s House of Prayer?"  Our youngest Torat Tots students learn that God is
everywhere . . . our God is so "other" that God cannot be seen, does not have the
human attributes of eyes and mouth and legs and arms .  . . why does God need a
house?  And why does God’s house need to be a place of prayer?  We also teach our students, from their first days of study, that God is accessible to us at any time and in any place.  We need no intercessor, we need no
one to convey our prayers to God.  We need not travel to a specific site in order to direct our prayers to God.

The Creator of the human spirit understands our need for God’s house of prayer:  We could rely only on our personal prayers in our
personal spaces at our personal moments of relationship with God . . . but if we did, we would be relegated to lives of spiritual isolation.  We would be cut off from a world of wisdom and insight and simply profound liturgy that has shaped our people and expressed the values of our tradition for three thousand years.

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote:
Many are the facilities which help us to acquire the important worldly virtues, skills and techniques.  But where should one
learn about the insights of the spirit?  

Many are the opportunities for public speech; where are the occasions for inner silence?  

It is easy to find people to teach us to be eloquent; but who will teach us how to be still?  

It is surely important to have a sense of
reverence."  

"Where should one learn the general wisdom of compassion? The fear of being cruel?  The danger of being callous?  Where should one learn that the greatest truth is found in contrition?"

 "We are all in danger of sinking into the darkness of vanity; we are all involved in worshipping our own egos. Where should we become  sensitive to the pitfalls of cleverness...?  

We are constantly in need of experiencing moments in which the spiritual is as relevant and as concrete, for example, as the
esthetic.  ...we must learn to be sensitive to the spirit.

 It is in the synagogue where we must try to acquire such inwardness, such sensitivity."

Through breathtaking determination and focus, we have created this place of tranquility.  Our synagogue is our place to develop our senses of reverence and humility and compassion.    My teacher and Rabbi, Neil Gillman, recounts a moment he shared with Rabbi Heschel while Neil was still in
rabbinical school   On a spring afternoon, strolling in Riverside Park along the Hudson River, Rabbi Heschel stopped, pointed to a blossoming tree and declared:  "God is in that tree."  Not yet familiar with Rabbi Heschel’s teaching methods, I suppose, student rabbi Gillman asked, "What do you mean, Professor?"  and Rabbi Heschel replied:  In that tree, see the renewal of life?  God is in that tree . . . "

We will be gathering here together, God willing, for decades, finding God in those trees behind us, finding God in this sanctuary in our presence together as a community.

Why else does God need a house?  Because God understands our need for community:

Rabbi David Teutsch writes in his inspiring book, Spiritual Community: "Recognizing and being able to participate in a ritual reinforces our sense that we belong." 

The community teaches us the "secret handshakes" of our rituals so that our sense of belonging is reinforced.  If I know how to put on a tallit, how to have an aliyah, how to walk into a shiva house I am finding
comfort and meaning in my belonging and I’m signaling to others that I belong.

Belonging today yields a bonanza of values,
inspiration, collective history, mutual support and appreciation . . .to have a place "where everyone knows your name" . . . and where you know everyone else’s name.  Belonging . . . really belonging . . . places us shoulder-to-shoulder with others who share the common denominators of Jewish tradition and peoplehood  . . . and places us shoulder-to-shoulder with others whose Jewish survival is as dependent on community as our own.  We, our parents, our children are embraced by peers and mentors, inspired by the quests of new "belongers" . . . we inform each other, we envision together, we feed off of each other’s enthusiasms and passions for Judaism, for the good in life.  Through our belonging in sacred community, bring holiness to the world together.  God understood that we needed to find each other in order to do this . . . we need to find each other in God’s house.
 
God instructs: "establish My house of prayer," in the imperative.

The response of our ancestors, which we
echo here today:  "And there, in God’s house, we will offer thanks."

 The instruction to establish God’s house of prayer is in the singular, but the response is in the plural . . . each of us in our community has been charged with establishing God’s house individual.  We have each been called to contribute in a myriad of ways: from donating substantial amounts of money to packing and unpacking our library books, from devoting innumerable evenings to committee meetings to setting up chairs and decorating tables and stuffing envelopes.  Tens of individuals, accepted the call to
establish God’s house . . . and now we offer thanks together.

The Hebrew name for the ritual we will perform in a few moments, hanging the first
 mezuzah in our new building, is called 
Hanukat Bayit, dedicating the house.   We
were constantly mindful of the Jewish values we wanted to weave into our new
congregational home . . . you can read about them in my remarks in your program booklets.  As we come together as a community to dedicate the God’s House of Prayer, we express our hopes for all that this new building will mean to us and our friends and our neighbors.

 I ask that all the members of the Torat Yisrael congregation rise and read together with me the values to which we dedicated
God’s newest House of Prayer, on page 14 of your booklets.  Please join me:

The Door of our Synagogue
  May the door of this synagogue be wide enough to receive all who hunger for love, all who are lonely for fellowship. 
  May it welcome all who have cares to unburden, thanks to express, hopes to nurture. 
  May the door of this synagogue be narrow enough to shut out pettiness and pride, envy and enmity. 
  May its threshold be no stumbling block to young or straying feet. 
  May it be too high to admit complacency, selfishness, and harshness. 
  May this synagogue be, for all who enter, the doorway to a richer and more meaningful Jewish life.

Psalm 150, the last in the book of
Psalms begins: sing praise in God’s sanctuary:  I invite you all to join the members of Torat Yisrael in singing our offered thanks in God’s House of Prayer:

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