By Helene Foster
What began as six families getting together to celebrate Shabbat on a Friday evening 25 years ago, has now grown into a vibrant Reform Jewish congregation right in the heart of Parkland. Congregation Kol Tikvah is now celebrating this milestone with a host of events for its members and the community at large. Some highlights include a “Rock Shabbat Under the Stars” at Pine Trails Amphitheater on Friday, October 16 and a “25th Anniversary Gala” with a special performance by Michael Israel, a multimedia entertainer on February 6.
Rabbi Bradd Boxman, the spiritual leader at Congregation Kol Tikvah for the past seven years, is enthusiastic about the anniversary as well as the next phase in the history of this growing synagogue.
“What drew me to Kol Tikvah at the beginning was the love and dedication of members for its well-being. That same love and dedication I found on the first day has been multiplied many times over by those who have been here for years and by those new members who have joined more recently,” he says.
Members like Lois Rubin, a former President of the Board of Trustees, and her family have been involved for most of its history. She remembers the very first Shabbat service held on June 7, 1991 at Country Hills Elementary School. “It poured that first night, somehow setting off the smoke alarms in the building. So, we had a few disruptions, but that was all part of the newness and adventure of it all. We met many people that night and decided that this was the place for our family. They had us at “shalom!”
Although Congregation Kol Tikvah is now located on a spacious campus situated on University Drive near the Parkland Library and City Hall, it has grown into that space through the years. In 1992, the congregation rented a storefront on Wiles Road in Coral Springs. Rubin recalls how members rolled up their sleeves and got to work to make the space suitable for worship and religious school.
“If it was going to work, everyone needed to get involved, and they did.” Rubin recalls. “We took a dream imagined by a few families and built it into a stable, connected and enduring Jewish community.
Four years later, this group of families held a capital campaign to purchase six acres of land on its current site. The first phase of building began in 2001, with the permanent sanctuary and social hall being dedicated in 2008. The campus now features a 24,000 square foot sanctuary and social hall with an exclusive caterer, Haute Cuisine of Parkland. Over 350 students are enrolled in the religious school and 135 children attend the Phylis J. Green Early Childhood Center. A very active Men’s Club and Sisterhood as well as six youth groups for children in pre-Kindergarten through high school offer a variety of social, educational, fundraising and community service programs.
Board of Trustees Secretary Bari Zahalsky and her family have been very involved over the years at the synagogue as well. “Being at Congregation Kol Tikvah is like being ‘home’ for my family. My children want to be there, love spending time there and feel safe there. We’ve made lifelong friends that are our family!”
Rabbi Boxman sums up the important role that Congregation Kol Tikvah plays in the Jewish community. “I believe that the heart of the Jewish experience is community. The programs, services and the activities are secondary to the relationships formed between its members. My goal is to help deepen those relationships and expand them to include those Jews in our community who are unaffiliated and not yet connected to our Kol Tikvah family.”
For more information about Congregation Kol Tikvah and a full list of upcoming 25th Anniversary events, please visit www.koltikvah.net or call 954-346-7878.
