Temple B'nai Torah To Move To Bellevue

Members of Temple B'nai Torah, a Reform congregation that began in 1969 on Mercer Island, last week took the first step toward moving their synagogue to Bellevue within four to five years.

The congregation voted to buy three acres in the Crossroads area on Northeast Fourth Street and 157th Avenue Northeast, site of the Jewish Day School.

The group eventually will sell the heavily wooded 9.5-acre property it bought in 1970 in the Salem Woods section of Mercer Island. The site probably has 12 buildable lots, a congregation spokeswoman estimated, allowing for open space around the stream and on the steepest slopes.

Restricted access limits expansion on the Mercer Island property, said Pam Waechter, outgoing president of the congregation. The synagogue, located at 6195 S.E. 61st Street, can be reached only from 92nd Avenue Southeast, a two-lane residential street that dead-ends at a short segment of Southeast 61st.

Waechter said the synagogue has been receiving complaints from the neighborhood about the traffic. ``If I lived there, I'd probably complain too,'' she said.

When the first synagogue was built in 1973 the rabbi, Jacob Singer, told city officials the congregation would remain small, with no more than 100 families. The sanctuary was destroyed by arson fire in 1977, and the present building completed in 1979.

From the outset, siting the synagogue invoked differing philosophies among the congregation. ``Some wanted to locate in the business center, where people could see it,'' said Singer. But he drew inspiration from the forest, describing it as ``a giant, green cathedral,'' and hid the synagogue in the woods. Singer died in 1982, about a year after relinquishing the leadership of B'nai Torah.

In 1985 when Rabbi James Morel arrived, the membership stood at 125 families. Like Singer before him, Morel had been assistant rabbi at Temple DeHirsch Sinai in Seattle, and like Singer, came to Mercer Island with an established following.

``Rabbi Morel is like a magnet attracting people,'' said Waechter. ``He's a warm, caring, spiritual person. We didn't feel we could keep people out.''

Today, she said, the congregation numbers 450 families. The new president, Barby Cohen, said the congregation is ``looking forward to continued growth, and we have to expand our quarters.

``We are a synagogue that serves the whole Seattle area.''

Today, only about 25 percent of the members live on Mercer Island, according to Waechter;20 percent are from Seattle, and the rest are Eastside residents.

The vote was 74 percent for moving to Bellevue, she said, ``and we consider that a real mandate.''