The Jewish High Holy Days that begin tonight also mark a growth period for Palm Beach County’s Jewish community.
Synagogues, day schools and social-service agencies are expanding to accommodate more Jewish families moving into the county.
Among the examples of recent growth: — Two Reform Jewish synagogues in Boca Raton are renovating: Temple Beth El is getting ready to build an addition to its school. The synagogue also has created a group to plan and offer more activities for single Jewish adults.
Meanwhile, Congregation B’nai Israel is getting ready to build a new kitchen. Donations are being accepted. For more information about the project, call 561-241-8118.
— A Reform synagogue in Delray Beach is expanding:
Temple Sinai is getting ready to expand its religious school.
— A Jewish Renewal synagogue in Boca Raton is opening:
Temple Gan Eden will celebrate its first High Holy Days services at the South County Civic Center in Delray Beach.
Growth is occurring in north county, too.
Jewish Residential and Family Service in West Palm Beach has announced it has raised enough money to build a group home for developmentally disabled adults.
Representatives of the social-service agency, which is affiliated with the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County, gathered last week to celebrate the beginning of construction.
There is a growing need for such homes, said Sharon Geltner, a spokeswoman for the agency.
“Many of the developmentally disabled are in their 40s and 50s, and still live with their ailing senior citizen parents, who lack the energy and finances to properly care for and supervise them,” Geltner said. “This home will be a beautiful place to live – nothing institutional about it.”
Earlier this year, the Jewish Association for Residential Care, part of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, opened its fourth such facility in Boca Raton.
Palm Beach County remains one of the fastest growing Jewish communities in the United States. New figures show the county is home to more than 150,000 Jews, and South Florida is home to more than 530,000 Jews.
Not counting the part-time residents, there are about 650,000 Jews living in Florida, about 4.5 percent of the state’s population.
Those figures come from the new American Jewish Yearbook, published by the American Jewish Committee. The committee is based in New York, but operates a regional office in Boca Raton.
Ira Sheskin, a geographer at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, contributed to the report.
During a recent interview, Sheskin noted the growth in Florida’s Jewish community, especially in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
“Jews are still geographically clustered [in South Florida),” he said.
News reports of the book were published in anticipation of the Jewish High Holy Days, which begin tonight with Rosh Hashana and end on Oct. 11 with Yom Kippur.
The High Holy Days are the most important time of year for Jews.
Tradition holds that Jews must ask one another, then God, for forgiveness for the sins they have committed during the past year. Only then can they celebrate rosh hashana, which means “new year” in Hebrew.
Jews also call this time of year “The Days of Awe.”
With that in mind, an Orthodox Jewish synagogue in Boca Raton is sponsoring two lectures next week, and urging Jewish families: “Get ready for an awesome time.”
The lectures are at Boca Raton Synagogue:
— Monday: “Teshuvah in the Bible.”Nahum Sarna, a professor of Judaic studies at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, will discuss the concept of teshuvah or “repentance.”
— Tuesday: “Our Role in the Spiritual Development of Our Family.”Rabbi Perry Tirschwell, principal of the new Yeshiva High School of Broward & Palm Beach Counties, will speak.
“These lectures are designed to prepare Jewish people, with varying degrees of knowledge, for the [Jewish new year),” said Larry Heyman, a spokesman for the synagogue.
Both lectures, which are open to the public, will begin at 8 p.m. at the synagogue, 7900 Montoya Circle, south of Boca Del Mar Drive, west of Powerline Road, Boca Raton.
For more information about the lectures, call 561-394-5732.
Many synagogues and Jewish day schools last week helped students prepare for the holidays.
Students at Temple Beth El’s religious school visited the bakery of a supermarket to learn how challah bread is made.
Challah loaves traditionally are baked in round shapes for the holidays as a symbol of the continuing presence of God and the cyclical nature of life.
Meanwhile, students at Donna Klein Jewish Academy west of Boca Raton learned how a ram’s horn is fashioned into a shofar.
The shofar traditionally is blown at the beginning of the holidays as a call to worship, and at the end of the holidays as a reminder to study, learn and follow God’s teachings in the Torah.
