Kids & Family
Beth Am Congregation Relocating to Temple Beth-El
The Buffalo Grove congregation will now offer worship services at the Northbrook temple.
“How could we not help out another group when they asked for help?” Beth-El's executive director told the Northbrook Star after Beth Am asked the Northbrook temple to use its facilities.
Patch previously reported that Beth Am led services out of its Buffalo Grove location for 13 years, but is moving because of a decline in funds and membership.
“We find ourselves with the demographics not in our favor, the economy not in our favor and we live in an era in which more than 40% of liberal Jewish families choose to not affiliate with a congregation,” Beth Am's Rabbi Lisa Sari Bellows wrote in a newsletter article titled “Moving Not Closing” that is posted online. “We are, of course, not alone in this struggle. There is not a congregation in the Chicagoland area who is not facing hardships.”
“Guided by our own research, number crunching, debate and discussion, leadership and staff have come to know that we cannot change the facts or reality — as much as we would like to or have tried to do over the last several years. So with strength and courage, the heart-wrenching decision to put our building on the market for sale was made,” she wrote.
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