• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

TEMPLE BETH EL OF BOCA RATON MARCH/APRIL 2019 | ADAR/NISAN 5779 Celebrating 10 years of the Beck Family Campus pages 5-7 BETH EL BECK FAMILY CAMPUS PASSOVER BASH HOUSE PARTY & PURIM page 8 (CHANUKAT HABAYIT) page 15 page 9 “If you build it…” BY RABBI DAN LEVIN [email protected] “I think we should buy the ‘Bean Field’. visionary commitment to build the We can get 20 acres at $10,000 an congregation’s future. acre.” After securing our campus at Yamato This was the advice given to Rabbi Road and U.S. 441, an incredible group Merle Singer in 1980 by Lt. Col. of people came together to design what Ben Lake z”l, an early member and would become the premiere Jewish visionary supporter of Temple Beth learning center in our area. The Campus through the Maimonides El. The proposal was brought before Beck family and an anonymous donor Institute for Jewish Learning have the board, who asked why they would provided the lead gifts that paved the blossomed beyond our wildest dreams. spend $200,000 on a God-forsaken way for our Building Tomorrow Today Ours was the first Jewish infant care piece of farmland in the middle of the campaign. Barry Podolsky led the center in the area which now provides Everglades. fundraising campaign and Art Siegel led nurturing and educational care for 75 What was the Bean Field is now the the design team and agreed to supervise children under the age of two – and is Home Depot shopping center at the the construction. Susan Podolsky a model that is being copied by other Jewish early learning centers. Our Early Learning Center is so highly The Beck family and an anonymous donor regarded that we now have 240 children in our program, with waiting provided the lead gifts that paved the way for our lists in nearly every class. Building Tomorrow Today campaign. The success of our Early Learning Center and Religious School has Barry Podolsky led the fundraising campaign and brought hundreds of families into our Art Siegel led the design team and agreed to congregation, with members from Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, supervise the construction. Lake Worth, Highland Beach, Coconut led the team that commissioned the Creek, Parkland, Deerfield Beach, and Susan Podolsky beyond. So as not to turn away families artwork for the welcome center. who want to be part of the Temple Beth El community, we pushed ourselves to corner of US 441 and Glades Road. led the team that commissioned the build more classrooms, a teen lounge, But at the time it was offered to Temple artwork for the welcome center. So in and the new Kehillah Center – a multi- Beth El, no one ever imagined that May of 2008, we gave the word: Go! purpose auditorium with a catering anyone would live west of Powerline And then the Great Recession. kitchen for assemblies, classes, indoor Road. Boca West was BOCA WEST. Fundraising came to a halt as donors play, Shabbat and holiday services, and Temple Beth El’s campus on Fourth who had promised million dollar gifts parties. Avenue was practically the middle of could no longer fund their pledges Our expanded facilities, on both town. due to the downturn in the economy. the Beck Family Campus and the Times changed and Boca Raton The construction loan Temple Beth Schaefer Family Campus will provide experienced exponential growth. As El received was the largest loan of the foundation for us to achieve our thousands of homes were built in new its kind to close in August of 2008 in congregation’s mission: “to inspire communities far north and west of our Palm Beach County. Still Temple Beth a passionate commitment to Jewish original campus, our congregation El persevered, and in the summer of life, learning, community and spiritual embarked on a monumental endeavor. 2009, we opened the doors to our new growth.” The decision to build an educational Beck Family Campus. Chazak, Chazak, V’Nitchazek. satellite in the middle of Greater In the ten years that followed, the Together may we go from strength to Boca Raton required an extraordinary seeds planted on the Beck Family strength. March/April 2019 | THE CHRONICLE 3 A MESSAGE FROM THE TEMPLE PRESIDENT Investing in the Future BY MARK SUNSHINE TEMPLE BETH EL PRESIDENT [email protected] I vividly remember the first time I went to the Beck congregants. Everyone I met was brimming with Family Campus to tour the incredible new facility. enthusiasm, excitement and commitment. It was February 23, 2010 and I met Rabbi Levin Even with the terrible news that I was carrying, around 11:00 am. When I entered the building, it was impossible to remain depressed. The Early Rabbi Levin bounded out of his office and literally Learning Center team was full of life and adorable ran into the lobby to meet me. He had infectious children who were just beginning their personal enthusiasm and was more like a child about to journeys. Everyone and everything at the Beck show off his new toy than a Senior Rabbi meeting a Family Campus was designed to make a better congregant. future for our children and our congregation. In What Rabbi Levin didn’t know was that a few that environment I could not concentrate on my hours before I had been told that my father had problems of the past, and instead started thinking unexpectedly died and I had to immediately fly about the promise of the future. home for the funeral. I learned that happiness is infectious, even when you don’t want it to be, and that infectious happiness is the best lesson we can teach ourselves Everyone, and everything, and our children. Like everyone else, I had heard stories from other at the Beck Family Campus was congregants about the risks of building the Beck designed to make a better future for our Family Campus during the Great Recession. But, from the moment I walked into the facility I knew children and our congregation. that investing in our future was the right decision. I still believe that betting on ourselves, and our future, is the best investment we can make. I didn’t share the news with Rabbi Levin; I And, my view of the essential nature of the Beck couldn’t ruin his joy with my problems. Family Campus has not changed in the past 10 When we started the facility tour I remember that years; it is the happiest and most loving place on Rabbi Levin and the staff were unusually excited earth and an important pillar of Temple Beth El’s about the educational opportunities for our littlest future success. Welcome NEW AND RETURNING MEMBERS For help getting involved, please contact Elinor Josephson, Director of Engagement and Programming, at [email protected] or 561-391-8900. Jules Balkin Shirley and Stephen Kaufman Laurie and David Putterman Benjie Birnbaum Ronni and Eric Levy and their Danielle Franklin and Adam children, Samantha and Zachary Ravitz and their son, Blake Rachel and Michael Eisenstein and their sons, Scottie and Max Laurie Malden Adrianne Schatz Julie and Tal Falk Cathy Ghazal and Gonzalo Sanchez-Momox Audrey and Martin Schwartz and their children, Asher, Rafael and Eva Carol and Lawrence Feidelman Sharon and Daniel Stern and their son, Caleb Arlene Moskowitz and her son, Suzie Rizzuto and Morris Flancbaum Allison and Erik Sylvin and their Lawrence Moskowitz sons, Lucas and Cameron Fern Kanter and Scott Gershaw Fernanda Slavutzki and Daniel Matone and Susan and Jerome Wolf Nicole Mazzaschi and Jay Katz their children, Gabriel, Alice and Marina and their son, David 4 THE CHRONICLE | tbeboca.org 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BECK FAMILY CAMPUS STORIES FROMBACK 10 years ago the Beck Family CampusIN opened its doors inTHE West Boca Raton. In honor of this milestone, Patty and Louis Beck along with Art Siegel reminisce about its beginnings. Plus three families with children who were among the first to graduate from the Early Learning Center at the Beck Family Campus share what the new school meant to them.DAY TOP LEFT TO RIGHT Patty and Louis Beck; Barry and Susan Podolsky with Margie and Marucie Plough, Jr.; CIrcle time. CENTER Beck Family Campus groundbreaking BELOW LEFT TO RIGHT Art Siegel, Syd Jacobs and Syd Butler; tricycle fun with Josh Lerner March/April 2019 | THE CHRONICLE 5 Patty and Louis Beck Alissa The idea for a west campus emanated from our founding and Mike Rabbi, Merle E. Singer, who for many years during the early 2000’s strongly believed that in order to reach the Jacobs Sydney, 10; and Lauren, 7 entire Boca Raton community we would need to have a “We toured the Beck presence west of I -95. Not everybody agreed, but the Rabbi persisted. He would frequently gather several Campus when it first congregants to go for a ride and survey the areas of vacant opened. We thought it land, which at the time was plentiful, but growth was was beautiful and knew evident. it would be a great place Through the work of many for our daughter to attend congregants, the current site was preschool. It exceeded all secured and Merle set off on his of our expectations, from vision to make a western Temple daily warm greetings to the Beth El campus a reality. Merle caring teachers & clergy. It’s called many people to get their been a great transition into feelings about this, including us, religious school. Both of and without hesitation we signed our daughters are getting a up! The original vision was for wonderful Jewish education a much more modest facility and making life-long although once the board began friends.” to recognize the potential of an early learning center, the project grew in dimension.

Load more

  40

Copy Link