UPDATE on Partners:
New Dollars/New Partners Success Story
Just a block away from Philadelphia’s
beautiful Rittenhouse Square, Temple Beth
Zion-Beth Israel (BZBI) has been a fixture
of Center City since 1954. The original
synagogue, Temple Beth Zion, held its
first services in 1946. After acquiring a
breathtaking neo-Gothic former church
at the corner of 18th and Spruce Streets, it
merged in 1964 with one of Philadelphia’s
oldest synagogues, Temple Beth Israel, which
was founded in 1840. Today, BZBI is a vibrant
congregation of about 600 households
that practices Conservative Judaism with
egalitarian worship.
Over the last decade, leaders of Beth ZionBeth Israel were increasingly aware of
their historic building’s structural needs;
however, the congregation was just meeting
its annual budget requirements and there
was little financial leeway to make necessary
improvements. Executive Director Donna
Rosenthal explains, “You just push off
maintenance. But at a certain point, you
realize that this is going to be a problem.”
That point came in late 2005, when the air
conditioning units serving the sanctuary and
the social hall began to leak condensate water.
Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel in Philadelphia, PA, is housed in a neo-Gothic
The congregation had already discovered
former church.
heavy water damage after plaster fell from
Nevertheless, the story was far from over. After
the sanctuary ceiling earlier that year, so when the
formulating an architectural master plan, the
leak forced an air conditioning shutdown during High
congregational leadership realized that it needed at
Holiday services – when the synagogue was filled with
least an additional $5 million to meet their building’s
its largest annual crowd – “it was a ‘last straw’ moment
needs. The master plan identified several unanticipated
for us,” says Rosenthal. Along with water damage from
yet critical projects, such as installing a new fire alarm
faulty gutters and the resulting rotting roof timbers,
the building faced a serious threat from its failing roof, system, bringing the electrical wiring up to code, and
putting the finishing touches on the building’s waterwhich demanded immediate attention.
management system.
Fortunately, the congregation was in the midst of a
To supplement their own fundraising efforts, BZBI
successful capital campaign. Guided by a professional
applied for and was ultimately awarded a $35,000 grant
feasibility study, the congregation had set a goal of $5
from Partners for Sacred Places, on the condition that
million, conducted its fundraising largely internally,
it would participate in an upcoming New Dollars/New
and raised $4.8 million by 2007.
Partners for Your Sacred Place training session. From
5 • Sacred Places • www.sacredplaces.org • Summer 2012