THE ME’ATA V’AD OLAM CAMPAIGN - Embracing our Future, Honoring our Past
EXCITING NEW FACILITIES
Over the last several years, our Board of Directors, Clay Kodesh, and staff identified a variety of challenges and opportunities our congregation faces as it continues to grow. Today, we look toward a horizon filled with promise, envisioning renovations and additions that honour our rich heritage while propelling us into a future filled with growth, learning, and connection.
Our plans include thoughtful renovations to our main building, creating spaces that are both welcoming and functional, and allowing us to host a wider array of programs and events that cater to the diverse needs of our congregation. From enhancing our educational spaces to ensuring our sanctuary reflects the warmth and openness at the heart of our community, every aspect of this project is designed with the goal of enriching our communal life.
Our commitment extends to ensuring our cemetery is a place of beauty, peace, and reflection. Plans for its expansion and beautification are a testament to our respect for the past and those who have laid the foundations of our vibrant community. It is a place where generations come together in memory and honour, a serene haven for reflection and remembrance.
WHY DO WE NEED NEW AND IMPROVED SPACES?
REIMAGINING AND REVITALIZING OUR MAIN BUILDING
Our vision for improvement is not just about repairs. It’s about reimagining our spaces to better serve our community.
For more than 35 years, the walls of Temple Sholom have embraced our celebrations, sorrows, prayers, and joys. They have witnessed the growth of our community, from a few hundred to over a thousand households, becoming a vibrant hub for spirituality, learning, and connection. Yet, as we have grown, so has the wear and tear on our beloved building, revealing the urgent need for enhancements that will carry us forward into the future.
Initial assessments have brought to light the challenges we face, such as energy inefficiencies, water damages, and accessibility barriers. Further, our community spaces—the social hall, bathrooms, sanctuary, and foyer—are in dire need of upgrades to meet the needs of our expanding congregation and to reflect the warmth and welcome that Temple Sholom stands for.
With nearly 1000 households now calling Temple Sholom their spiritual home, and our school tripled in size, the need for these improvements has never been more critical. Our main building:
- A warm and inviting foyer: Enhancing our lobby with soft seating and creating a lounge area for families to gather, connect, and enjoy the beauty of our community building.
- Improved Building Security Enhancements to the physical security around our building so members can continue to gather, worship, and learn in peace.
- A Reimagined Social Hall Transforming our social hall with innovative modular walls that can divide the space into three classrooms, creating versatile learning environments to better support our growing school.
- A Rejuvenated Sanctuary Space: Making thoughtful updates to the sanctuary to deepen the spiritual and visual focus, ensuring that the beauty of the space matches the profoundness of our prayers and gatherings.
- Welcoming and Accessible Bathrooms: Upgrading our facilities to be fully accessible, ensuring that everyone who comes to the synagogue feels welcomed and accommodated.
ENVISIONING THE FUTURE OF TEMPLE SHOLOM CEMETERY
This expansion is more than an infrastructure project. It’s our commitment to being there for every stage of life’s journey. As Vancouver’s largest and fastest-growing congregation in Western Canada, our commitment to blending Jewish tradition with contemporary life extends beyond the walls of our synagogue and into every moment of life’s cycle.
As our community continues to flourish, we are met with the profound responsibility of expanding our capacity to serve not only our members, but also the wider Vancouver Jewish community and beyond.
This mission brings us to a pivotal moment in the stewardship of our beautiful and egalitarian cemetery in White Rock, a place of peace, dignity, and tradition that has reached its capacity for service. The time has come to expand the Temple Sholom Cemetery into the serene beauty of the three remaining undeveloped acres, ensuring that we can continue to provide a dignified and meaningful final resting place. Together, let’s honour our past, cherish our present, and build a future where every member of the Lower Mainland’s Jewish community knows they will always have a place within the heart of Temple Sholom—both in life and in memory.
- Respectful Development: Designing and allocating plots within the three undeveloped acres that harmonize with the existing aesthetic, ensuring that every element reflects our community's values and respect for those who have passed.
- Infrastructure Enhancements: Completing the main road wrapping around the cemetery and creating necessary storage for chairs and funeral equipment, ensuring the dignity and smooth conduct of services.
- A Sacred Gathering Space: Constructing a permanent, waterproof pavilion for funeral services—a sanctuary for families to gather, remember, and celebrate the lives of their loved ones, regardless of weather conditions. We are undergoing a thoughtful redesign of the original concept that is more feasible and affordable.
- Memorial Groves: Establishing areas dedicated to memory and reflection, allowing families and individuals to connect with the beauty of nature and the eternal memory of their loved ones.
- Essential Facilities and Security: Adding accessible washroom facilities and ensuring enhanced security measures are in place to provide comfort and peace of mind for all who visit.
Visualize the Future of our Oak Street Building and our Cemetery
Planning With our Community in Mind
Construction of the new Temple Sholom Cemetery Pavilion is scheduled to begin in Fall 2025, with completion anticipated within approximately one year. The pavilion will accommodate up to 100 guests in a covered, secure structure featuring removable seating, suspended lighting, and radiant heaters for colder weather. Landscaping and essential civil works around the pavilion will be thoughtfully integrated, preserving tranquility and dignity, complemented by nearby washroom facilities and relocated storage areas, enhancing comfort and convenience for visitors and mourners alike.
Have Questions?
- When will the project start and when do you anticipate completion?
- Will the operation of the Temple or cemetery be impacted by the construction?
- Why has the Campaign goal moved from 7.5M to 8.5M?
- What if we don’t raise enough money to reach our goal?
As we said from the start, we will only build what we can afford and we will not spend more than what we have raised. We are quite confident that we will be able to ultimately raise enough money to fund the project. Every gift counts, large or small, they will help us reach our goal. The congregational gifts will be matched by a group of generous donors making the congregational gifts critical to the campaign.
- What is the finalized design of the Cemetery Pavilion?
Upcoming Events
Please look out for more information on the Congregational launch of the Capital Campaign! Any gift raised will be matched by a group of generous donors.
We Want to Hear From You!
If you would like to submit any questions or comments, or to discuss your gift to the Campaign, please reach out to:
Arlene Gladstone
Jonathan Becker
Cathy Lowenstein
Rabbi Dan Moskovitz
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