New Home for the New Year : Jewish Congregation That Shared Quarters With Christian Church Gets Its Own Temple

In a trek rich with biblical imagery, about 100 members of a Jewish congregation marched five miles Sunday to their new synagogue in Irvine, a walk that also brought to a close the congregation’s unusual 16-year marriage with a Presbyterian parish in Newport Beach.

On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, members of Congregation Shir Ha-Ma’alot took turns carrying three 15-pound scrolls containing the Torah--the first five books of the Bible--at the end of an emotional farewell to the St. Mark Presbyterian Church congregation.

Since 1978, the two houses of worship had shared a sanctuary as part of a novel venture in religious tolerance.

The church on Mar Vista Drive had no permanent religious symbols. The ark containing the sacred Torah scrolls moved on wheels, and a cross was mounted on the back for when it was turned around for Sunday services. A favorite story at the church tells of a former pastor’s daughter who once pointed to Rabbi Bernard King and exclaimed: “That’s my rabbi!”

“We’ve left a very holy place to go to a very holy place,” King said Sunday. “I’m overwhelmed with the emotions.”

Sunday’s move into a former health club--whose racquetball courts will be turned into classrooms--was spurred by the Jewish congregation’s need for a preschool to attract young families, and to shore up sagging membership.

It is the first time that the quarter-century-old congregation will have its own home. The temple shared buildings with two different Christian churches in Orange County for nine years before joining with St. Mark to build the sanctuary.

Synagogue leaders say the move to Irvine was a natural one, for that city is quickly becoming a center for a growing number of Jews.

“Irvine is the fastest-growing Jewish population in Orange County. More and more of our membership is coming from Irvine,” said Rabbi King as he and members of the 250-family congregation hiked to the new synagogue.

The congregation talked about getting its own home about four years ago, and began searching in earnest in 1992.

Though officials and members of both churches warmly described their longtime joint arrangement as a success, the strains of sharing the same sanctuary and classrooms became too much. The joint preschool was nondenominational, and arranging Jewish classes on Sundays clashed with church services and Sunday school for the Presbyterian congregation.

“It’s like two families sharing a house,” said the Rev. Gary Collins.

Collins said he is not sure what effect the temple’s departure might have on parishioners who were drawn to the church by the idea of having Jews and Christians under the same roof, even if they did gather on different days of the week.

“It was a very large part of our identity,” Collins said. “We have no idea if more folks would come, or fewer.”

The new quarters have room for a sanctuary, a preschool and recreation. Officials are already organizing a temple basketball league to make use of the court already in the building.

King, who had promoted the idea of sharing quarters to emphasize worshipers over the buildings that house them, acknowledged feeling sadness even as he led his flock to a fresh start.

But the overall mood along the hike was buoyant. Parents pushed strollers along the bike path, and children pulled wagons. King and others joked about parting the San Diego Creek channel’s slow-moving waters in the style of Moses. Lloyd Sellinger, who had led the search committee, worried about the temple’s sluggish air-conditioning system and then suggested a joke T-shirt celebrating a steamy Rosh Hashanah. The Jewish New Year begins at sundown Monday.

“Maybe we won’t have as beautiful a sanctuary, but at least it will be our own, “ said Sellinger.

Cheers erupted as the sweat-flecked group approached the front doors of the boxy gray building at the edge of the Rancho San Joaquin Golf Course.

King offered a blessing and affixed next to the door the traditional mezuza , a rolled parchment in a case containing a prayer to remind Jews of their obligation to God. Inside, the Torah scrolls were placed inside the ark--now without its cross--and the congregation stood and sang a brief prayer.

Sellinger still wasn’t satisfied with the air conditioning, but he looked content to stand back while the others explored their new temple.

“We did it,” he said quietly. “We did it.”