Temple Bat Yahm begins expansion

Alex Coolman

With a slice of a gold-handled shovel, Temple Bat Yahm broke ground

Sunday on a $5 million expansion project that will see construction of a

new library, administrative wing, classrooms, a sanctuary and other

facilities.

The 20,000-square-foot project, which is expected to be finished a year

from this fall, is aimed at preparing the temple to meet the demands of

its rising membership, said Rabbi Mark Miller.

“We will bequeath a legacy of pride and accomplishment to those who will

come after,” Miller said, speaking before a large crowd of families that

assembled at the temple for the event.

Temple Bat Yahm’s current facility was designed to handle 400 families,

said Lee Berman, president of the congregation.

But there are already 660 families who belong to the temple, and the

facility is bursting at the seams. Not only is there not enough room to

handle all the members, but some of the temple staff are crammed into

makeshift quarters in the library.

Berman said the temple expects to hold upward of 800 families within a

few years.

The expansion will take place on land that is now a parking lot and a

vacant yard, pushing the developed temple site close to the edge of

Jamboree Road.

Money for the ambitious project, Berman said, was generated by a

fund-raising effort among the temple’s members. Planning for the

expansion, in one form or another, has been in the works since the

formation of a long-range planning committe in 1992.

In addition to purely practical details such as providing temple staff

with office space, the development includes some facilities that are a

departure from the style of the temple.

Plans call, for example, for a small amphitheater near the back of the

property that can be used for outdoor events.

A ritual bath, or “mikvah,” will be constructed in what Miller

characterized as an gesture of inclusion toward more Orthodox currents in

Judaism.

“It’s reflective of my my desire to build bridges between all branches of

Judaism,” Miller said.

The presence of such a bath, which is used by both men and women for

“spiritual cleansing,” is common at Orthodox temples but unusual at a

reform temple such as Bat Yahm, Miller said.