When Beryl Weiner moved to Jackson in 1995, there may not have been a local bar or bat mitzvah – the Jewish coming-of-age ceremony – for more than a decade, he said.
On an August Friday, the co-founder of the Jackson Hole Jewish Community looked out at a group of more than 200 dancing, chatting and eating to celebrate the opening of a permanent home for the growing community.
“There are people who are actually living here,” Weiner said. “Young people having kids here, growing up here, getting educated here, becoming part of the community, not just as vacationers, but as full-fledged members of this community.”
Until now, the organization – Jackson’s largest organized Jewish faith group – has rented office space in the Centennial Building and at St. John’s Episcopal Church. It raised about $6 million to purchase and renovate the building that once housed offices for Vertical Harvest, an engineering firm and others since the 1970s.
The Cache Street synagogue will be a place for ceremonies and celebrations of all types.
“It is the first space the nonprofit has owned,” said Executive Director Mary Grossman.
Department of Homeland Security grants helped fund extra security measures such as bulletproof glass and security cameras, Grossman said. Security has long been a concern, she said, but became a top priority following the shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue that killed 11.
“In the last couple of years, it seems like we’ve needed to step it up a notch,” Grossman said.
Following several years of permitting and construction, Rabbi Josh Kleyman hung a mezuzah on the synagogue’s front door.
Affixing the small scroll fulfills a biblical commandment. The handmade work is also a reminder of God's presence and protection for the faith.
But should the mezuzah be hung on its side or standing up? It’s a classic rabbinic debate, explained Kleyman. In a traditional symbol of compromise, he held it at an angle and offered up a lesson.
“There will be moments in this shul where we will disagree,” he said. But when members see the scroll at an angle, it is a reminder for a commitment to peace within the home.
“We can and should disagree and be in loving community and gosh, isn't that what the world needs right now?” he said.
