Our Community Welcomes You!

Temple Beth Israel welcomes all visitors, including potential members, to explore what we have to offer as a community. We invite you to visit us and get a taste of the TBI experience.

You are welcome to attend any of our Shabbat services, community functions, and other events featured on our calendar. It’s a great way to find out who we are and discover more about us.

If you find that our community is welcoming, inspiring, and just “feels right,” please consider becoming a member. TBI welcomes Jewish and interfaith families of all configurations, as well as Jewish individuals, to join our membership and support Lane County's primary Jewish institution. We sincerely believe that TBI is a special place to belong and hope you will feel that way also.

We welcome people of all financial means. We do not discriminate on the basis of age, gender, sexual orientation, or any other protected class. Learn more in our Statements of Values.

Want to become a member or chat about next steps? We'd love to connect!

We’re happy to answer any questions you have about TBI or our Jewish community in general. And we won’t pressure you to join!

Please fill out our Membership Inquiry Form or call our Executive Director, Ron Evans, at 541-485-7218. Someone from our office will be in touch with you soon.

Our Shared Commitment: TBI's Membership Model

Our membership model eliminates mandatory dues as a barrier to synagogue affiliation, provides transparency, and better aligns TBI’s finances with our values. This "Shared Commitment" model has been adopted by many Reconstructionist and other synagogues throughout the United States in response to changing social and financial realities.

More about Our Shared Commitment

This membership model eliminates mandatory dues as a barrier to synagogue affiliation, provides transparency, and better aligns TBI’s finances with our values. It has been adopted by many Reconstructionist and other synagogues throughout the United States in response to changing social and financial realities.

Each member household is asked to determine for itself the annual membership contribution it will make, based on the member household’s circumstances and TBI’s needs. It is up to you to determine how much you should contribute to be a member.

To help members determine their contribution, we provide projected expenses for the upcoming year and the sustaining amount. The sustaining amount is the average amount that, if every member household contributed, would fully fund TBI operations for the year.

We invite everyone to give as generously as possible within their means. We encourage households that gave more than the sustaining amount last year to please do so again this year. This will help offset the contributions that are lower. We know many do not have the capacity to give at these levels. For those who would prefer to calculate their commitment based on income, we recommend a guideline of 1.5% to 3% of gross income.

Temple Beth Israel wishes to be a community where all are welcome and all contributions are valued. Together we can lovingly support and sustain our TBI home without charging dues. Thanks to your support this will be achievable.

If you have any questions about this model or your membership, please email Ron Evans, Executive Director, and we will be happy to speak with you.

TBI is committed to providing a warm spiritual home for everyone in our community. We thank you for enabling us to make this happen with Our Shared Commitment.

Please note: Religious school registration and class assignments will be issued only to those members who have satisfied all prior years’ obligations.

Become a TBI Member!

New Member FAQs

Reconstructionism

Ritual Questions

TBI Kitchen and Food

Children

Seniors

Social and Community Life

Membership

Organization and Governance

Reconstructionist Judaism is a progressive, contemporary approach to Jewish life which integrates a deep respect for traditional Judaism with the insights and ideas of contemporary social, intellectual and spiritual life.

For Reconstructionists, Judaism is more than Jewish religion; Judaism is the entire cultural legacy of the Jewish people. Religion is central; Jewish spiritual insights and religious teachings give meaning and purpose to our lives. Yet our creativity as expressed through art, music and drama, languages and literature, and our relationship with the land of Israel itself are also integral parts of Jewish culture. Each of these aspects provides a gateway into the Jewish experience that can enrich and inspire us.

More about Reconstructionism at:

The Jewish Reconstructionist Movement
About.com: Branches of Judaism: Reconstructionism
Or pick up a JRF brochure at our office

A Reconstructionist Federation member community makes a commitment to the following:

Egalitarianism
Democratic, participatory decision making
Support for the existence of the state of Israel
Ongoing Jewish education according to, but not limited by, the JRF Education Guidelines
Freedom of Rabbinic Expression
Agreement with the policies of JRF and the values of Reconstructionist Judaism

In joining the Jewish Reconstructionist Movement, a community agrees to follow the procedures of JRF, to support and participate in the activities of the Reconstructionist movement, including, but not limited to, the Annual Appeals and biennial conventions.

Each community is responsible for paying dues to the Federation at a rate of $80 per household, with up to 15% of membership at half-dues in order to accommodate for member households in financial hardship. Other arrangements are negotiated directly with JRF Outreach Director and committee. Dues do not cover the full cost of training rabbis, producing prayer books and publications, rabbinic placement, consultation fees, education curricula, etc., yet these and all JRF services are a benefit of membership and our understanding of shared commitment to sustaining and growing contemporary Jewish life as part of the Jewish people’s present and future.

The Reconstructionist movement offers us, in return, prayerbooks and other printed resources that reflect our values. They have led workshops for us on improving leadership skills and doing our fundraising according to our values and goals. Once a year they sponsor a movement-wide meeting; in 2005, that meeting was in Portland, and our rabbis and members participated in a variety of ways. They offer a summer camp, well-trained and inspiring rabbis, and ongoing resources for Leadership and Governance, Money and Congregational Life, Inreach, Outreach, Membership and Programming, and Jewish Values-based decision making in Congregational Life.

Our Community Welcomes You!

Our Shared Commitment: TBI's Membership Model

More about Our Shared Commitment

New Member FAQs

What is Reconstructionism?

What is our relationship with the Reconstructionist movement, in terms of obligations to them and services available from them?

Our Community Welcomes You!

​Our Shared Commitment: TBI's Membership Model

More about Our Shared Commitment

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New Member FAQs

What is Reconstructionism?

What is our relationship with the Reconstructionist movement, in terms of obligations to them and services available from them?

Our Shared Commitment: TBI's Membership Model