Campus Visioning Project

"The world we build tomorrow is born in the prayers we say today."
–Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

We are excited to announce the official kickoff of our comprehensive Campus Visioning Process! It has been two years since our sanctuary was attacked and only a few months since we renovated and opened our transitional worship space in Smith Auditorium. This beautiful, welcoming, and comfortable space gives us the time we need to envision and build the future of our congregation.

Over 60 years ago Congregation Beth Israel’s leaders designed a campus that was meant to grow with us as our community expanded. Now it is our turn to create the next chapter in CBI’s story, as we collectively envision spaces that will serve us now and in the coming decades.

Over the past several weeks CBI leadership has worked closely with Ben Heimsath, our partner and the Principal Architect of Heimsath Architects, to design a community vision process that ensures all voices are heard and included. Jessica Weaver of Weaver Philanthropic Strategies will support CBI as we begin this process. Jessica will work alongside Ben to conduct a financial feasibility study of the project and our congregational fundraising capacity. Together, Ben and Jess will help guide our vision for the future of our campus, develop a cost estimate, and a plan to raise those funds.

The Vision Planning committee includes seven members of Congregation Beth Israel who represent the diversity and breadth of our community. They include Past Presidents of the Board of Trustees, parent leaders in the cdc@cbi, current Board members, leaders in the fields of architecture, planning and design, and all-around mensches. I hope you will join us in thanking them for taking on this important work!

Committee Members

Laura Corman, Chair

Katie Cukerbaum

Ezra Kenigsberg

Jill May

Kimberlee Newmark

Adam Sadovsky

Wendy Todd

While the goal of the Vision Planning committee will be to complete the plan by mid-May, the committee will not rush things. If they determine that more time is needed to incorporate all voices, they will adjust the calendar.

If you have any questions, please contact Jake Cohen at jcohen@bethisrael.org or Laura Corman at cormanlw@gmail.com. We can’t wait to build a shared vision for our community together!