|
Our History - 38 Years of Travels with Emek Beracha
The opening of Parshat Masei, the last portion of Sefer Bamidbar (Book of Numbers), recapitulates the journeys of Israel in the desert. In Rashi's commentary on the first verse, he divides the 42 journeys over 40 years into three groups; 14 took place in the first year of the Exodus; 8 were in the final year; thus leaving 20 journeys for the 38 years of desert wandering. Congregation Emek Beracha also has wandered for 38 years in Palo Alto , from humble beginnings in 1966 as a struggling Shabbat morning minyan on the Stanford campus to the recently completed ownership of our own shul facility.
And these are the journeys of the Children of Israel in Palo Alto ….
1. 1966 - 1970: Stanford University – In the Beginning….
Our first home - The Clubhouse in the Old Union at Stanford University
|
In the summer of 1966, several graduate students and visiting faculty arrived at Stanford University in search of an observant Jewish community. Finding none, they somehow managed to find each other, and joined with some members of the community to establish a Shabbat-morning service – under the auspices of Stanford Hillel - in the 2 nd floor auditorium of the Old Student Union building at Stanford. A dozen or so Birnbaum siddurim and Hertz chumashim were obtained from a local congregation, a Sefer Torah was on loan from a shul in transition in New York, a portable ark showed up, and a roll-up mechitza was constructed. All these were stored in a room in the side of the Auditorium, and each Shabbat morning, were brought out, along with chairs and a reading table, to turn this large, cold room into a small, warm Beit Knesset. This was the origin of the “Stanford Hillel Orthodox Minyan”
Since the list of potential attendees hovered around 12 names, calls were made each week on Thursday night to ensure a minyan that coming Shabbat. Of course, visiting family and guests were very welcome. And we rarely missed getting a minyan – although occasionally the tzenter (tenth man) did not arrive until Torah-reading time.
When Chagim fell out on the weekend, we met at our usual place for morning services. But if there was a weekday conflict, other Stanford auditoria and classrooms were temporarily converted into a shul. We sometimes met in private homes for a weekday minyan to commemorate a yahrzeit .
In June, 1970, a number of key participants graduated or completed sabbaticals, and the organized group dissolved for lack of a critical mass.
2 . 1970 - 1975: Homeless in Palo Alto
During the following five years, sporadic attempts were made to maintain a weekly minyan, with varying success. A new group of students, graduate and undergrad, and Israelis eventually coalesced to hold services that moved among various homes and the University campus. Ultimately, Palo Alto homeowners (“baalei battim”) formed the third leg of this unorganized organization. Kiddush improved from Stella D'oro assortment cookies to home-cooked kugel and Duncan Hines cakes, which attracted additional participants.
3. 1975 - 1977: Palo Alto Square (The Bank Minyan)
On Saturday mornings, we entered these doors at the
rear of the Fidelity Savings and Loan branch in Palo Alto Square
for Shabbat services
|
By 1975, a new group of families had arrived in Palo Alto , many attracted by the growing computer and semiconductor industries. Along with Stanford students and faculty, they re-established a core group ready to revive a consistent weekly orthodox Shabbat service. But now that families were spread out across Palo Alto , going back to Stanford was problematic. So where could a free (both available and at no cost) space be found?
In Palo Alto Square (a financial center at the corner of Page Mill Road and El Camino Real), a savings and loan office had a small community room that they were willing to make available to small groups. They were already letting a church group use it on Sunday mornings, so we became the Saturday morning “tenant”. The many visitors who passed through Palo Alto in those years - and there were many as there are today – carried the story of a minyan meeting in a bank around the world, to the point where the “Bank Minyan” became an internationally-recognized institution.
The community room was small indeed. After a week or two, we started to overflow into the rear lobby area of the bank. Gradually, as our participation grew, we expanded into the whole bank lobby. We set up the bank's chairs, rolled out our mechitza, set up the ark on a low table the bank used to display brochures, read the Torah on another bank table. On a rotating basis, members performed all the leadership roles – leading services, reading Torah and even delivering a short D'var Torah (the 10-minute rule for the D'var Torah was strictly enforced). A class on Rashi's commentary on the weekly Parsha started a half-hour before davening, and continued virtually uninterrupted for over 25 years.
Davening was often interrupted by ringing telephones – although we never answered the phones, it's safe to say it was not people wanting to know what time services were, but rather that some people did not know that the bank was closed on Saturday! Every once in a while, a bank customer showed up in person at the door, wanting to do business. Some waved deposit envelopes presumably with cash or checks, and – despite our trying to wave them off – even tried to push the envelopes under the door - a missed fundraising opportunity?
We became very familiar with every new savings plan the bank was promoting, as the advertising posters that were part of the shul décor changed. And each year, right after Thanksgiving, a decorated green tree appeared in a spot right next to where the Shaliach Tzibur stood .
On weekday holidays, we scurried around for space. Sometimes, the Palo Alto Square management was able to find us a vacant office (on a low floor) that we could use for a couple of days. Other times, we took advantage of the Bay Area weather and transformed into an open-air shul in the backyards of various members. What did the neighbors think?
4. 1977 - 1979 West Bank and East Bank
“East Bank” that we used for kiddush – even though this Bank was open for business on Saturdays
|
By 1977, we were bigger and attracting more short-term and long-term visitors, and the bank lobby was getting really tight, especially the little community room that we were using for the weekly kiddush. What to do
There was another bank in Palo Alto Square , a few hundred feet from “our” bank that had a very large room in the back of the teller area that was not used very much. It was really perfect for us as a kiddush room. But there was one potential problem – this bank was open on Shabbat. After some consultation and agreeing on ground rules, the bank management said “no problem” – after we were finished with our davening, we went over to the second bank, walked right through the lobby, waved at the tellers, and had our kiddush there.
So we had two banks – the “west bank” where we davened and the “east bank” where we had kiddush. After the davening was finished , we put away all our stuff in the “west bank”, locked the door, and walked over to the east bank and enjoyed kiddush. This worked great – except for one week when one of our members couldn't be found after kiddush. Had she started home early by herself? Just to make sure, we checked the “west bank” and were surprised and relieved to find her there. It turned out that she had been using the “facilities” when the door was locked, and was a “prisoner” in the bank for about a half-hour. Needless to say, from then on, we carefully checked the restrooms before locking the west bank.
5. 1979 - 1980 850 Hansen Way (A very temporary home of our own)
No – we didn't own (or even use) this building.
It was constructed after we left the ramshackle structure it replaced.
|
In 1979, a short-term opportunity arose for us to move out of the bank for about a year. An small, old building was being demolished and the owners agreed to allow us to use it until the plans for their new building were approved. So we gave up the bank for a while (with the understanding that we would be back). There was quite a bit more space in this building, but it was a lot of smallish rooms, with no heating or air-conditioning. It was another unusual housing arrangement but we were used to those, and this one was ours to use exclusively.
Alas, the owners finally did get approval for their new building, and we were given notice to leave. So after a brief period of “independence”, it was back to Palo Alto Square and the Bank. It was as if we never left. But the “banks” arrangement was becoming very crowded and a bit awkward. It was time to grow up and become a “real shul”.
6. 1981 - 1982 2905 El Camino (We become official and rent our own place)
2905 El Camino Real – first home of the newly-incorporated
Palo Alto Orthodox Minyan; it still houses an auto repair facility.
|
So we incorporated as the “Palo Alto Orthodox Minyan” – now we had a Board of Directors, meetings and budgets to deal with for the first time. Over the coming years, there was a lot of fond nostalgia for the “good old days” of no expenses and no bureaucracy.
And we rented our own space for the first time. It fronted on El Camino Real, right across the street from Palo Alto Square . No more setting up chairs and rolling out the mechitza each Shabbat morning, and no more “Shabbat morning only” restrictions. The office chairs that were bought for seating in 1981 became a hallmark of our shul until this day. We immediately expanded our services to include Friday nights and all holidays, and an occasional class.
Prior to our arrival, the entire facility had been an auto repair shop. But business was a bit slow, so the owner contracted his business to the rear of the building, and we rented the front. While our space was nice, there were two environmental issues – a pervading gasoline odor, and the hammering and banging from the rear of the building when repair work was done on Saturday mornings. So it wasn't long before we were looking to move.
7. 1982 –1995 453 Sherman Avenue (More space – and no gasoline odor)
453 Sherman Avenue – PAOM home for 13 years, which now houses medical offices – from treating the soul to healing the body.
|
A large one- story office building on Sherman Avenue right off El Camino became available when the Social Security office that had been there for many years was closed. The entire building was vacant, and the owner was interested in getting tenants. No gasoline smells and no hammering noises – but it was considerably more expensive.
We went for it, and became the first tenants of the building. While we could have had any part of the vacant building, for security reasons we rented a windowless portion of the rear of the building, and set up shul. We had a sanctuary, and a combined library/playroom/kiddush space. The lease included a series of renewals that would cover 12 years – that seemed like forever to us at the time.
For many years after we moved in, the building was mostly vacant except for us. For several of those years, we expanded to include an adjoining space that reached to the front of the building. The new space was a combined entry and social hall that housed the kiddush. This was luxury – but unaffordable, particularly as higher rents were driven by an economic recovery in the late 1980s. So we contracted back to our original space.
These were the years of setting roots and growth. “The Minyan” became well known and began to take a role in the broader Jewish community. We enjoyed the presence of Israeli Shlichim who came to teach at the South Peninsula Hebrew Day School , and lived in our community. Later, we recruited Rabbi Yitzchok Young as our first (albeit part-time) Rabbi, who stayed for two years before he and his family left the area.
From our early days, the weekly kiddush was an important social event – catching up with friends to the accompaniment of soda and Entenmanns. But a health-conscious group proposed that we eliminate the sweets and focus on veggies – it was the “cookie versus carrot” debate. In the end, we compromised and offered a dual track.
We also continued to expand our services. For a number of years, we had a fairly reliable Monday and Thursday morning minyan, but we thought it would be impossible to sustain a daily minyan. But circumstances showed us differently. Within a couple of days of each other, the fathers of two of our members passed away. So we needed to have both morning and evening minyanim in two homes at the same time! With careful planning and fabulous cooperation, we didn't miss one minyan. And after this one daily morning minyan seemed like a snap – and so it happened that the daily minyan was established.
We also started become “techno-wise” with tapes on Gemara, parsha and other topics – leading to a sponsored lecture on “How to learn to love your fellow man by listening to Daf Yomi tapes.”
During this time, we were privileged to have the visits of many extremely distinguished rabbinic leaders, including Rabbi Mordecahai Eliyahu, the Rishon L'tziyon (Sephardic Chief Rabbi) of Israel , along with the Rabanit and members of their family; Rabbi Sirat, Chief Rabbi of France, and Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Chief Rabbi of Efrat , Israel . Rabbi Maurice Lamm, of Los Angeles , taught and advised us over these years as well.
These leaders consistently advised us of the need for us to have our own Rabbi, and by the early 1990s, this message was getting through to the community. We began two searches simultaneously – one for a Rabbi, and one for a less expensive location so that we could afford the Rabbi.
8. 1995 – 2004 260 Sheridan Avenue (Down to the Basement)
“Go through the arch under the 260, take the stairway on the left down a level to the basement, go to the left and you're there”.
|
The Spring of 1995 brought the hiring of Rabbi Yitzchok Feldman and our descent to the “lower level” (aka basement) of 260 Sheridan Avenue . A week after we moved in, a worker in the building set off the sprinkler system, leading to a waterlogged carpet in most of the shul – a wet welcome to our new home.
Rabbi and Ellen Feldman and family (a smaller version of the current one) arrived in the summer of 1995. And shortly thereafter, the dot.com boom began. Perhaps Rabbi Feldman – and not Al Gore – was the father of the Internet. We were right there with the Internet, being among the first shuls to have a domain and a website, which made it even easier for visitors and potential new members to find us.
As expected, Rabbi Feldman immediately put a lot of his energy into teaching, both at the shul and at Stanford, where his late-Thursday night class remains a big hit.
To signify our growing up from a “Minyan” to a full-service shul, the community voted in 1998 to legally change its name to Congregation Emek Beracha, although the sentiment was to retain Palo Alto Orthodox Minyan on our letterhead to provide continuity in name recognition.
In the same time period, the City of Palo Alto “ in decision making process” sunk to a new low in its handling of the application to build an Eruv. To show that its disfunctionality was not reserved just for Jewish issues, the City Council soon made national and international news over “don't look at me that way” exchanges among Council members.
With Rabbi Feldman's encouragement and support, the Jewish Study Network of six Rabbinic families arrived in 2001, bringing a lot more Jewish learning and substantially adding to the already large number of good kosher cooks in the community.
For many years, the dream of owning a facility waxed and waned. In a show of optimism, a Building Fund had been established in the 1970s – with $250; property was cheaper then! In the late 1990s, a more serious and sustained effort was undertaken. A substantial sum of money was raised, but an appropriate building was not found. Finally, in late-2003, the former Blockbuster video rental building at 4102 El Camino Real came on the market. We made an offer to buy it, and in late-December, we reached a deal with the owners. Many barriers needed to be overcome – raising the rest of the down payment, obtaining a loan, getting the City of Palo Alto use permit. With lots of community support, all were accomplished!
9. 2004 and beyond 4102 El Camino Real (Our New Permanent Home!)
New Home of Congregation Emek Beracha –
A “Blockbuster” of a facility – and we own it!
|
As this is written, the renovation of the new building is underway, with occupancy planned for September 2004.
What will the next 38 years hold for Congregation Emek Beracha? Stay tuned for the next installment.
|