Congregation has raised more than $12 million to pay for construction and ongoing operating costs
Congregation Beth Shalom has exceeded its initial $12 million fundraising goal to pay for a planned sanctuary, despite a pause on the fundraiser caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Beth Shalom, at 14200 Lamar Ave. in Overland Park, has raised another $600,000 toward an additional $800,000 fundraising goal to cover operating costs for the sanctuary in perpetuity, said Ron Coppaken, chair of the congregation’s fundraising committee.
The additional money is needed because the pandemic caused prices for steel, lumber and other building materials to increase by as much as 25%.
The $12 million fundraiser started in mid-2019, Coppaken said. When Beth Shalom paused its fundraiser in March 2020 on the advice of consultants because of the pandemic, he “wouldn’t have believed we would be where we are today.”
Beth Shalom plans to have a groundbreaking ceremony for the sanctuary soon after Thanksgiving, start construction in the spring of 2022 and finish it about a year later, said Jason Krakow, the congregation’s president. The building never had a sanctuary, but the congregation always planned to build one, Krakow said.
“In many ways, a sanctuary is what makes a synagogue building a synagogue building,” he said. “We have functioned beautifully as a community, certainly, finding ways to connect and have sacred activities in our existing space. But dedicating a specific place to those kinds of sacred activities is really what we’ve aspired to do.”
The Lamar building opened in 2006 to house the congregation’s preschool, religious school and administrative offices, The Chronicle reported in early 2017. The congregation continued to hold Shabbat services in the chapel and sanctuary at its Wornall Road location in Kansas City, Missouri.
The Wornall building started deteriorating, though, and became too expensive to maintain. Beth Shalom moved all the synagogue’s functions to the Lamar building in July 2011. It sold the Wornall building in 2013, and the building was later razed.
Beth Shalom started analyzing the need for a sanctuary at least as long ago as 2013. Krakow said having a space designed for ritual activities would “elevate those ritual activities.”
“Being in an inspiring place allows an individual to both feel connected to those around them in a unique way but at the same time allows them to get a little lost in their own spiritual thoughts, wanderings, and be surrounded and supported by a community that’s doing the same thing,” he said.
That the congregation exceeded its $12 goal demonstrated its commitment to its community and its patience with the process, especially during the pandemic’s disruption, Krakow said.
Beth Shalom will continue to hold services in Goldsmith Hall during construction and have its library minyan and instrumental services in a separate prayer space.
According to Beth Shalom’s website, the sanctuary, lobby and restroom will contain 11,525 square feet. The sanctuary normally will seat 466 comprising 164 balcony seats, 192 pew seats and 110 central chairs. Moveable seating will be near the bimah and reader’s table. During the High Holidays, the sanctuary will have seating for 519.
Architecture firm Preston Scott Cohen Inc., based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is the project’s design architect. BNIM of Kansas City, Missouri, is the local architect of record, licensed in Kansas, said Gina Kaiser, chair of Beth Shalom’s sacred space steering committee.
The website says the sanctuary will have “echoes of Jerusalem, the spiritual heart of the Jewish people.” The interior’s wood tone accents will suggest Eastern European wooden synagogues from the towns of Beth Shalom’s founders. “The windows open to the natural views of our native Kansas. Plans include using natural light and sustainable materials which reflect the Jewish values of conservation.”
Congregation Beth Shalom was founded in 1915. Its roots trace to some of the region’s earliest Jewish settlers, who founded the Orthodox congregation Keneseth Israel in 1902 at 1425 Locust St. in Kansas City, Missouri.
The congregations merged in 1924. The congregation moved to a new synagogue building at 3400 Paseo Blvd. in Kansas City in 1927. It had a religious school building built in the early 1960s at 95th Street and Wornall Road in Kansas City and a sanctuary built there in 1971.
Beth Shalom Rabbi David Glickman discussed the Lamar building’s planned sanctuary during a congregational Zoom event last fall. He said the congregation was celebrating its work of the prior seven and a half years toward building a sanctuary.
“God creates a world so that human beings can be placed in the Garden of Eden,” Rabbi Glickman said. “And our ancestors created a tabernacle, a sanctuary, a mishkan when they were traveling in the wilderness so that we could create a space for God to dwell amongst us.”
Rabbi Glickman said artwork from Nelson-Atkins Museum could be displayed in a mall or warehouse, the Kansas City Symphony could perform in a gymnasium, and the Kansas City Chiefs could play on any high school football field in the city.
“But these gems of Kansas City know that the space where the experience happens uplifts the experience itself.”
