Jubilee-by-the-sea: Carmel congregation celebrates 50 years as ''little outpost''

Rabbi Bruce Greenbaum of Congregation Beth Israel remembers the first time he led Havdallah services on Carmel Beach when he was new to the community.

It was a total washout.

"At 7 we built a campfire," he recalls of that end-of-Shabbat ceremony some 10 years ago. "By 7:30 we were running to get away from the incoming tide, and watched our campfire float away."

That didn't stop him from making the seaside Havdallah a regular event ever since — though he now checks the tide charts beforehand. Greenbaum cites the seaside service as an example of the rich spiritual and communal life congregation members have long enjoyed.

This is Beth Israel's 50th year, and for months members, administrators, clergy and temple leaders have been looking back on a half-century of building the Monterey County community.

Celebrating the jubilee has been fun for them. A new mosaic, created by congregants with the help of artist Ilio de Filipis, was installed earlier this month. The de riguer jubilee dinner-dance was a sellout.

But most importantly, says board president Ann Packer, "we restored two of our torahs. Scribe Neil Yerman came in and did restoration, but he left a few letters blank."

That was to give congregants the opportunity to fill in a few letters themselves, under Yerman's supervision. Once the restorations were done, the congregation family turned out June 13 for a siyyum, the traditional celebration of completion of a major work or study.

"We unrolled the Torah through the sanctuary," adds Packer. "Congregants held it while we did readings from the Torah."

It was a joyous moment for the congregation whose genesis was a baby shower.

In 1954, members of a local Jewish women's club ran into each other at a friend's baby shower and decided they needed a more formalized Jewish presence. They joined forces with a Jewish men's club, and the Monterey Peninsula Jewish Community was born. Six years later, the congregation affiliated with the Reform movement and became Congregation Beth Israel.

Over the years, Beth Israel became known for its communitywide celebrations of Jewish culture, in particular the Jewish Food Festival it hosts every year.

"It's one of the greatest things we do," says Greenbaum of the 17-year-old tradition, held every August. "We turn our back yard into old New York."

Congregant volunteers dress in period costumes (a la Lower East Side) to serve pastrami, corned beef, blintzes, kugel and authentic New York cheesecake. A klezmer band plays and a mock Jewish wedding takes place under the chuppah. Every year, thousands attend.

The rabbi attributes the event's success to congregants' innovative spirit. "Anyone who wants to make a difference is welcome to," he says. "You have an idea, try it out."

Lester Tockerman, a synagogue member since 1975, is one of those congregants ever ready to help out with ideas.

Among his responsibilities is IHelp (the Interfaith Homeless Emergency Lodging Program), a network of local churches and synagogues that houses and feeds 24 homeless men year-round. He chairs the IHelp committee.

"The first Sunday of the month, we open our doors," says Tockerman. "We put bedrolls in the social hall, and serve them dinner. Last time we served New York steak, a 24-pound baron of beef, meatballs, chicken, fresh veggies and salads."

Instead of ordering out, all the food for IIHelp is prepared by members' sons and daughters. "Now we have the kids provide dinners and talk to guys," says Tockerman.

"We still have that mom-and-pop approach," notes Greenbaum. "Although we have affluent members, most would just as soon put in their energy and presence as give money. So we're always doing food drives, clothing drives, we're partners with Mazon, and every Yom Kippur we collect a ton of food for the Monterey County Food Bank."

That kind of community involvement is what attracted Packer to the synagogue 18 years ago. "When we joined, it was at the time we finished the new temple at Carmel Valley," says Packer. "My first memory is the Torah walk in 1987. We walked the Torah from the old temple to the new. I was impressed with the spirit and excitement."

As the jubilee celebrations wind down, Congregation Beth Israel will soon return to normal. But for active congregants like Packer, normal is a beautiful thing.

"We're a little outpost of Judaism," she says. "Being a Reform temple, we're all things to all people, and that's the challenge: incorporating people's traditions and lifestyles, and still make it home. It's remarkable that we've been thriving 50 years in little Carmel Valley."