By
Donald H. Harrison
Congregation Adat Yeshurun will relocate from relatively tiny, leased
quarters to a
beautiful new home, ten times as large, in the hills of La Jolla on
Sunday, Aug. 19th .
Joyous congregants will depart on foot from the residence of Rabbi
Jeff Wohlgelernter at
10 a.m. and carry Torahs up La Jolla Scenic Drive North to the 15,000-square-foot
complex.
Wohlgelernter, who walks at a determined clip, normally can cover the
distance in 4 1/2
minutes, but the actual procession is expected to take considerably
longer than that. And
why not? It has been 14 years since Wohlgelernter and a handful
of families began the
Orthodox congregation. Over the course of the walk, members of
Adat Yeshurun, which
now numbers 230 family units, will have the opportunity to savor
how far their
congregation has come.
The rabbi provided HERITAGE and a congregant, Dr. Barry Kassar, a preview
tour of
Adat Yeshurun's new building last week. Most of the structure
already was in place.
However, carpeting, a new coat of paint, and some of the windows remained
to be
installed by the Kvaas Construction Company before such furnishings
as the walnut Aron
Kodesh and reader's table-both made by hand by the rabbi's late father,
David-could
be moved into their places in the sanctuary.
From the street, one is impressed by the sleek curve of Adat Yeshurun's
roof line and by
a large Torrey Pine tree, to the right of the sanctuary building, which
dominates a
courtyard connecting the shul to its school building and offices.
The Torrey Pine is a protected species. In carefully building around
the mammoth tree,
the synagogue not only showed great respect for the environment but
provided itself with
a place for meetings, outdoor weddings and kiddushes.
Without the Aron Kodesh (Holy Ark) to draw a visitor's eye, the sanctuary's
all-wood
ceiling commanded immediate attention. Made from Douglas fir,
the ceiling is
reminiscent of the storied ceiling in the Hotel del Coronado's fabled
Crown room.
The main space in front of the Aron Kodesh will be the men's section,
capable of seating
220 persons theater style, but expected to be configured normally
with tables for 150
persons who will both pray and study. To the left, and
above the men's section is the
women's gallery which will have seats for 180. A slatted
mehitza will be angled in such
a way that it will provide everyone in the women's section a clear
line of sight to the
bima, Wohlgelernter said.
When not in use, the bima can be rolled under the elevated women's section,
thereby
enabling the sanctuary to be converted into a room for wedding receptions
and other
simchas.
To the right of the men's section, and just a few steps higher, is an
area for holding a
kiddush, or other small ceremony. There is a similar area
behind the men's section,
which can be used for a variety of purposes. Rolling bookshelves
will partition these
areas from the men's section - giving the synagogue the look and feel
of the study house
it is intended to be.
For High Holidays, the bookshelves may be rolled away, creating a far
larger space for
worship. The auxiliary area behind the men's section would
be divided into
supplemental men's and women's sections, and the kiddush area also
would become a
men's section.
Connected to the kiddush area is a kosher kitchen, and a few steps away,
outside the
sanctuary building, is a "vessel mikvah" for the ritual immersion of
dishes, glasses, pots,
pans and other eating utensils.
To the right of the kiddush area will be large glass doors leading to
the Torrey Pine-
dominated courtyard, and to the congregation's offices and classrooms.
After conducting us through the courtyard area, Rabbi Wohlgelernter
took us back in
front of the synagogue, and then down a private pathway to the left
of the sanctuary
building. This is the entry to the regular mikvah, for congregants
observing the laws of
family purity. Although there will be special hours for men,
most of the mikvah's usage
is expected to be by female members of the congregation.
The mikvah not only includes a pool fed by rainwater (mixed with city
water) for
immersion, but also preparation rooms where the women may first take
a regular bath or
shower to clean their skin of any impurities before entering the ritual
bath. There also is
an area for the mikvah attendant to station herself throughout the
day.
"It is a very exciting realization of a dream to have our own facility,"
Kassar said. "It is a
carefully designed facility that meets everyone's needs and stays within
the guidelines of
the rabbi's desire to have a halachically kosher place. ... It is so
exciting to be part of a
new shul, not a new congregation, but a new shul."
Wohlgelernter said he too was excited about the move. "This will
allow us to do the
things that we want and need to do but in a much more terrific way,"
he said. "You need
to feel like you are settled somewhere, that you are not temporary,
and not just a little
makeshift thing. When you really have a home and a place to spread
out, you can do all
the programs and the things you want to do."
The design by architect Mark Steele is simple, functional, and beautiful.
Wohlgelernter instructed: "You take a Torah scroll and put a beautiful
mantle on it.
Why not just a shmata (old rag)? The answer is because everything
about the Torah has
to be beautiful, and the building it is in, that has to be beautiful
too."
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