CONGREGATION KOL AMI will break ground for this Southwest Washington synagogue on Aug. 29.

Richard Brown Architect AIA

Kol Ami builds for the future

By DEBORAH MOON, Jewish Review

article created on: 2011-08-15T00:00:00

On Aug. 29, Congregation Kol Ami will break ground on the synagogue for which the Southwest Washington Reform congregation received an anonymous $6 million donation nearly four years ago.

After an extensive survey of congregants, the building committee explored more than 90 properties before settling on a 5-acre parcel near the corner of Northeast 72nd Avenue and 119th Street. Kol Ami also purchased an adjoining 3½ acre flaglot to protect the view and to help the congregation meet the county’s strict storm water runoff regulations.

The 6 p.m., Aug. 29 groundbreaking for the nearly 17,000-square-foot synagogue is open to the public.

“We are building a building for generations, so it is less important that it is done by a certain date than that it is done well,” said Kol Ami President Cheryl Richards, who nonetheless noted the congregation hopes to be in its new home by September 2012 in time for the High Holidays.

She said the property was chosen because it is centrally located in Clark County, it is topographically friendly without a lot of slope and “on a clear day you can see four mountains”—Mount St. Helens, Mount Hood, Mount Adams and Mount Rainier.

“When we face east, we’ll have a holy vision,” said Richards, adding the view from the sanctuary, which will be glass on the east, is her favorite feature of the site. She said even when clouds obscure the mountains, the designated wetlands and trees below the sanctuary will ensure people can see “why we live in the Northwest.”

“This is one of the most exciting opportunities I have ever been a part of,” said Rabbi Elizabeth Dunsker, who arrived in Vancouver shortly after the congregation received the anonymous donation. “Building a synagogue is not just about making sure there is a sanctuary and classrooms, or all synagogues would look identical. A large part of this process has involved thinking about who we are as a community and how that can best be represented in a structure. How do we make our synagogue feel as though it came from us and will be used by us. How does a building feel like Kol Ami. It has been a wonderful creative experience to be a part of.”

Designed by Richard Brown Architect AIA, who also designed Havurah Shalom’s home, the synagogue will feature a 200-seat sanctuary, which is adjoined by a social hall that can open into the sanctuary to seat an additional 200 worshippers for High Holidays and other large services. A library, offices, six classrooms and school meeting space will be located in a U shape around a courtyard for outdoor simchas and a sukkah. The library will include a changing room for weddings and b’nai mitzvah.

Richards said the synagogue will easily accommodate up to 250 family units (families, couples, individuals). Currently membership stands at about 125 family units she said. She added Kol Ami does hope the new building and the additional educational and social programs it makes possible will attract members from among the 3,000 households in Clark County that a recent Jewish Federation of Greater Portland demographic study estimated have least one Jewish individual.

“We are building for the congregation we are today as well as the congregation we hope to be in the future,” said Dunsker. “This synagogue building is historic for Clark County, it is spiritual for Congregation Kol Ami, and it has been personally moving for so many of us helping it get to this moment.”

Richards praised the building committee and especially its co-chairs of three years Keith Koplan and Stephen Horenstein for “doing an amazing job of taking the mandate we gave them three years ago and turning it into an end result that is incredible spiritually and structurally and says something historical about the Jewish community in this county.”

Both co-chairs said they are pleased to have reached the groundbreaking stage in the project.

“I am very comfortable that we have designed a facility that meets the intent of our current donors and includes the program requirements asked for by our congregants and staff,” said Horenstein. “The facility will be beautiful, functional and constructed at reasonable cost.”

Koplan agreed: “We feel good that we listened and designed a long lasting, eco-sensitive facility that meets the needs and desires of the vast majority of congregants and donors. No one, from the Rabbi to the chairs to the committee got everything they wanted, but the process generated what I believe will be a wonderful Jewish house of worship for Southwest Washington.”

Richards said despite the initial donation of $6 million, the congregation is still fundraising with hopes of raising a total of $9 million for the land, building and an endowment fund to meet future major maintenance needs of the building. So far about 75 congregants have donated to the project.

She said since the original donor wants to remain anonymous and has no wish to claim any naming rights, there are plenty of naming rights available for donors. For information on naming opportunities, contact president@jewishvancouverusa.org.

The public is welcome to attend the groundbreaking. Take Northeast 119th Street east from Northeast 72nd Avenue; the building site will be on the north side of the street. For more information or to RSVP, contact admin@jewishvancouverusa.org.