Monroe synagogues merge into Beit Kulanu after Torah procession

Seven Torahs were carried from Monroe to Florida on June 20 as Monroe Temple Beth-El and Temple Beth Shalom made their merger official, forming a single congregation called Beit Kulanu. The Hebrew name means a house for all of us.

The evening began at Monroe Temple Beth-El on North Main Street with Havdalah and a deconsecration service led by Rabbi Roger Lerner, marking the final use of the building before the transfer. Congregants then processed with the Torahs to Temple Beth Shalom at 13 Roosevelt Ave. in Florida, where Rabbi Rebecca Pomerantz Shinder welcomed the procession and led a service filled with prayers and blessings over the scrolls and the people gathered there. The new name was revealed later at a celebratory dinner, with presidents and co-presidents from both congregations taking part.

Temple Beth Shalom scheduled informational sessions for Sept. 15 and Sept. 19, 2024, and a congregational vote for Sept. 23, 2024, after leadership began discussing the deal by that fall. A June 2023 Temple Beth Shalom newsletter described Monroe’s Jewish population as becoming increasingly Orthodox, Monroe Temple’s membership as having fallen substantially and rising expenses as threatening its stability.

Monroe Temple Beth-El traces back to the Monroe Jewish Council, formed on Oct. 12, 1944 by 75 Jews, and adopted the name Monroe Temple of Liberal Judaism, Temple Beth-El, in February 1953. Its current building was dedicated in 1956. Temple Beth Shalom began as the Florida Hebrew Community Center in 1947, and Rabbi Shinder has led it since July 2005. Rabbi Lerner joined Monroe Temple Beth-El on July 1, 2019 and is now moving to a new congregation in Missouri.

The combined operation will keep Rabbi Shinder as Beit Kulanu’s spiritual leader and preserve the religious school Beit Sefer, which Temple Beth Shalom’s 2024 education page listed as having the highest registration of any Reform or Conservative religious school in Orange County. Its 2026 education page lists Beit Sefer as the combined school of Monroe Temple Beth-El and Temple Beth Shalom.