Case Studies

Temple Beth El

Jefferson City, Missouri

We are a small, but strong and devoted community.
–Gail Severance, Temple Beth El president

Challenge

How JCLP can help the members of a thriving lay-led community plan and document their intentions regarding the future of their congregation’s assets.

Little did the German Jewish immigrants who arrived in Jefferson City, the capital of Missouri, in the mid-19th century know what sort of community they would establish in the American Heartland. Today, small and mighty Temple Beth El worships in what is the oldest functioning synagogue building west of the Mississippi.

The first documented Jewish settler arrived in 1844. Temple Beth El, along with a Jewish cemetery, was founded in 1874. In 1883, the members erected today’s synagogue on a lot that had been purchased with funds raised by the Hebrew Ladies Sewing Society.

The congregation relies on visiting rabbis and lay leaders. Members and their children over the age of 13 take turns leading Shabbat services. With technology enabling a virtual gathering, even a pandemic could not prevent Friday night services.

Temple Beth El was affiliated from the very beginning with the Reform movement and what is now the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ). Temple members proceeded through the decades as a proud and exemplary small-town embodiment of the movement’s observances and principles, including active involvement in the civic life of their community.

A circumstance of “Jewish geography” brought members of the community halfway between St. Louis and Kansas City into conversation with JCLP Senior Vice President Noah Levine. Noah described how working with JCLP could help create a plan to record the intentions of current members regarding the future of the congregation’s assets.

Solution

JCLP helped the members develop a long-range plan to preserve the congregation’s assets and history.

Much discussion, often heated and contentious, followed in the year it took to craft Temple Beth El’s Legacy Plan. Noah listened carefully and advised. His experienced counsel helped overcome what were at times substantive disagreements and was instrumental in bringing everyone to agreement.

A key subject, and one repeated several times in the actual plan, was that the process was undertaken considering the “unlikely event that the Temple ceases to be viable.” But the plan does make clear the congregation’s intentions should the unlikely occur.

“Some members were reluctant to engage at the beginning,” Noah said. “Everyone ultimately came on board and the final document was professional and excellent.”

Creating a positive communal historical legacy and recording the intentions of current members for the future of the congregation’s assets are the key components of the plan.

Outcome

Temple Beth El continues to be the center of Jewish life in Jefferson City and has a Legacy Plan that serves as a model for others.

The congregation has been building on the foundation of the plan and has already completed some major objectives.

Temple Beth El now has a verified Wikipedia page highlighting its formidable historic status.
All religious artifacts have been digitized with annotated comments regarding provenance.
Yahrzeit plaques have been submitted to JewishGen.
Oral histories have been submitted to the American Jewish Archives. Additionally, documents were added to others already with the State Historical Society of Missouri and to those with the American Jewish Archives.

The poignant story of a refugee family was revealed while congregational minutes were being reviewed for the archive. In 1940,Temple Beth El sponsored the family to come to Jefferson City from Vienna, Austria. Some sleuthing discovered that the family’s small boy went on to become a prominent chemist now living on the East Coast. His recollections of his family’s time in Jefferson City, now recorded in an email, brought that history to life.

“Working on the plan also allowed us to put our legal house in order,” said Gail Severance.

She, along with committee co-chairs Ann and Harvey Tettlebaum and other lay leaders, did the work necessary to complete the legacy plan. In the final document the members of Beth El’s Long Term Planning Committee thanked the Jewish Community Legacy Project for encouraging the congregation to undertake this effort and for expert guidance through each stage of the process.

The Marcus Foundation has been the primary funder of the Jewish Community Legacy Project since its inception in 2008. With an expanded mission to provide dedicated resources and solutions to small congregations throughout the United States and Canada, JCLP now seeks to ensure its own future. Individuals and organizations interested in supporting this meaningful work can contact David Sarnat (david@jclproject.org) or Noah Levine (noah@jclproject.org).