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Worth the wait! Kehillat Yaakov opening
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BY: Douglas J. Guth Senior Staff Reporter
After years of legal wrangling and construction delays, Congregation Kehillat Yaakov (Cedar Road Synagogue) will finally open its doors later this month.
The Orthodox congregation’s new home, located on Cedar Road between Richmond and Green Roads in Lyndhurst, will symbolically open on Sept. 14. That’s when its Torah scrolls will be ceremonially walked from its current building on Warrensville Center Road in Cleveland Heights.
The new 18,200-sq.-ft. shul will host its first Shabbat service the morning of Sept. 20. High Holiday services at the end of the month will be led by visiting Cantor Moshe Schulhoff.
Synagogue vice president Maury Simon says he’s been to the building site almost every day since its fall 2005 groundbreaking. Simon doesn’t want to revisit legal and construction issues the $5 million facility has faced since its inception.
“We are looking forward, not behind,” he maintains. “This is a magnificent site.”
The $5.2 million facility, designed by Bialosky + Partners Architects, is built with Jerusalem stone quarried from Haifa. The plot may seem small at less than an acre, but the shul’s three levels are spacious and constructed with large windows and skylights to take advantage of natural light.
The second level serves as a main entrance and features a 45-ft.-high sanctuary with seating for 240 people. Its Torah ark will have stained glass doors made in Israel. Adjacent to the sanctuary will be a memorial room commemorating members who have died. A small kitchen and Torah study room are also located on this level.
The main feature of the lower level is a social hall with room for 400 people. Near this space are separate meat and dairy kitchens. The synagogue’s third floor contains offices and classrooms.
Along with life cycle events and adult education services, Kehillat Yaakov will host three minyans a day, notes Rabbi Mordechai Mendelson.
The journey to opening the new synagogue has not been an easy one for Kehillat Yaakov. Obstacles included several years of fighting with the city of Lyndhurst for use of the land, followed by two years of intermittent construction delays.
In 2003, the former Warrensville Center Synagogue sued Lyndhurst for blocking construction of its new sanctuary on nearly one acre of land on Cedar Road just west of Legacy Village shopping center. In September 2001, the city had rejected the synagogue’s request for a conditional use permit, refusing to grant a variance to a zoning ordinance requiring a two-acre minimum for synagogues and churches.
The synagogue claimed the city’s refusal was discriminatory: Shul officials cited the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, which prohibits government from using zoning or land use regulations to bar religious institutions from building within a community.
After several attempts to meet the city’s guidelines, the shul eventually submitted a revised proposal for a smaller building and received approval from the city’s architectural and zoning boards.
Construction of the shul was delayed during the summer of 2006 as Israel’s war in Lebanon prevented the shipment of Jerusalem stone. Work slowed again when Israeli stained glass for the Torah ark and the windows of the synagogue’s sanctuary didn’t make it stateside on time.
Parking space was an issue as well, notes Simon. To help remedy this, the shul struck an agreement with a neighbor, the Church of the Good Shepherd, to share parking if necessary. Less parking will be needed, as many members can walk to shul.
Warrensville Center Synagogue was founded in 1959 by Holocaust survivors. Over the years, many of its members, most of whom are now elderly, have moved further east. They can no longer walk to the synagogue on Warrensville Center Road near Mayfield Road for Shabbat and other religious holidays.
Shul officials don’t miss the days of court hearings and long council meetings trying to hammer out permission for their new home. However, they believe the finished product was worth waiting for.
“We took our time to get (the synagogue) built right,” says Simon.
Joe Klein and his wife Bella have been a member of the congregation for nearly 50 years. Klein, 78, has served the synagogue “in nearly every capacity,” he says. Among the South Euclid resident’s credentials are two terms as congregation president.
Some members grew impatient as the shul endured delays, Klein admits. However, the Czechoslovakia-born Holocaust survivor finds it hard to complain. He still remembers synagogues being burned to the ground during the horrors of Nazi-era Eastern Europe.
“It’s a blessing to see a new synagogue go up,” remarks Klein. “The Jewish tradition will keep going forever.”
dguth@cjn.org
The Orthodox congregation’s new home, located on Cedar Road between Richmond and Green Roads in Lyndhurst, will symbolically open on Sept. 14. That’s when its Torah scrolls will be ceremonially walked from its current building on Warrensville Center Road in Cleveland Heights.
The new 18,200-sq.-ft. shul will host its first Shabbat service the morning of Sept. 20. High Holiday services at the end of the month will be led by visiting Cantor Moshe Schulhoff.
Synagogue vice president Maury Simon says he’s been to the building site almost every day since its fall 2005 groundbreaking. Simon doesn’t want to revisit legal and construction issues the $5 million facility has faced since its inception.
“We are looking forward, not behind,” he maintains. “This is a magnificent site.”
The $5.2 million facility, designed by Bialosky + Partners Architects, is built with Jerusalem stone quarried from Haifa. The plot may seem small at less than an acre, but the shul’s three levels are spacious and constructed with large windows and skylights to take advantage of natural light.
The second level serves as a main entrance and features a 45-ft.-high sanctuary with seating for 240 people. Its Torah ark will have stained glass doors made in Israel. Adjacent to the sanctuary will be a memorial room commemorating members who have died. A small kitchen and Torah study room are also located on this level.
The main feature of the lower level is a social hall with room for 400 people. Near this space are separate meat and dairy kitchens. The synagogue’s third floor contains offices and classrooms.
Along with life cycle events and adult education services, Kehillat Yaakov will host three minyans a day, notes Rabbi Mordechai Mendelson.
The journey to opening the new synagogue has not been an easy one for Kehillat Yaakov. Obstacles included several years of fighting with the city of Lyndhurst for use of the land, followed by two years of intermittent construction delays.
In 2003, the former Warrensville Center Synagogue sued Lyndhurst for blocking construction of its new sanctuary on nearly one acre of land on Cedar Road just west of Legacy Village shopping center. In September 2001, the city had rejected the synagogue’s request for a conditional use permit, refusing to grant a variance to a zoning ordinance requiring a two-acre minimum for synagogues and churches.
The synagogue claimed the city’s refusal was discriminatory: Shul officials cited the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, which prohibits government from using zoning or land use regulations to bar religious institutions from building within a community.
After several attempts to meet the city’s guidelines, the shul eventually submitted a revised proposal for a smaller building and received approval from the city’s architectural and zoning boards.
Construction of the shul was delayed during the summer of 2006 as Israel’s war in Lebanon prevented the shipment of Jerusalem stone. Work slowed again when Israeli stained glass for the Torah ark and the windows of the synagogue’s sanctuary didn’t make it stateside on time.
Parking space was an issue as well, notes Simon. To help remedy this, the shul struck an agreement with a neighbor, the Church of the Good Shepherd, to share parking if necessary. Less parking will be needed, as many members can walk to shul.
Warrensville Center Synagogue was founded in 1959 by Holocaust survivors. Over the years, many of its members, most of whom are now elderly, have moved further east. They can no longer walk to the synagogue on Warrensville Center Road near Mayfield Road for Shabbat and other religious holidays.
Shul officials don’t miss the days of court hearings and long council meetings trying to hammer out permission for their new home. However, they believe the finished product was worth waiting for.
“We took our time to get (the synagogue) built right,” says Simon.
Joe Klein and his wife Bella have been a member of the congregation for nearly 50 years. Klein, 78, has served the synagogue “in nearly every capacity,” he says. Among the South Euclid resident’s credentials are two terms as congregation president.
Some members grew impatient as the shul endured delays, Klein admits. However, the Czechoslovakia-born Holocaust survivor finds it hard to complain. He still remembers synagogues being burned to the ground during the horrors of Nazi-era Eastern Europe.
“It’s a blessing to see a new synagogue go up,” remarks Klein. “The Jewish tradition will keep going forever.”
dguth@cjn.org
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