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Friday May 18, 2001

Berkeley shul lands home of its own in old liquor store

JOE ESKENAZI
Bulletin Staff

Despite the joking suggestions of its members, Berkeley's Congregation Netivot Shalom is not going to change its name to B'nai Vodka.

And Rabbi Stuart Kelman is not going to be reciting the Kiddush over a case of Miller High Life any time soon.

That being said, the 12-year-old Conservative congregation has finally found a permanent site -- on the University Avenue property formerly housing one of Berkeley's most infamous liquor stores.

"We've been looking for about six or seven years, but this is Berkeley. There is just simply no property," said Kelman, who has served the congregation since its inception. "In fact, this is the first time a serious piece of property within our means has been available anywhere near where the majority of our congregation lives."

Adhering to the law of supply and demand, the site that took Netivot Shalom years to find did not come cheap. The price tag for the property alone was $2.2 million, and, according to Kelman, at least another $2 million to $3 million in "rehab" is required.

The congregation was able to amass enough pledges to close on the property, however, and has kicked off a capital campaign designed to "turn that site into Congregation Netivot Shalom," said Debby Graudenz, president of the 360-household congregation. The capital campaign committee aims to raise $4.2 million via five-year pledges.

"It's faith-based fund-raising," said committee member David Levine with a laugh, "but it's not a leap of faith."

With Netivot Shalom closing escrow earlier this month on the abandoned Jay Vee Liquors building and its 23,000-square-foot lot, the cramped congregation may finally have the room to breathe a bit. It has been renting office space in North Berkeley and holding services and events at the Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center.

"The space we rent for Shabbaton from the JCC, on a regular Shabbat, when it's not yom tovim [holidays] or a bar or bat mitzvah, it's pretty full," said Graudenz. "As soon as something special is going on, it becomes standing room only. We are very quickly outgrowing the spaces we lease."

Board members hope the congregation will be holding services in the new site by 2003.

Nearby residents and merchants have responded enthusiastically to news that a synagogue will be replacing a liquor store well-known to U.C. Berkeley -- and, for that matter Berkeley High School -- students, according to Graudenz.

The neighbors "are extremely pleased. The comments have been 100 percent positive," she said. "We've set up a special information voicemail line on our shul phone. We clear that message line once a day and it's nothing but positive comments. People welcome us to the neighborhood and say they know we'll have a great impact on it. It's very positive, very heart-warming."

Transforming the abandoned hull of a liquor store into a multipurpose shul will be neither quick nor easy. The congregation hopes to add a second floor to the existing 8,000-square-foot structure, augmenting the interior to roughly 10,000 square feet.

Every step of the process will have to be documented meticulously with the city of Berkeley -- and congregants admit they have been keeping a wary eye on the continuing expansion saga of fellow Berkeley Congregation Beth El. Yet the congregations' situations are not synonymous, Netivot Shalom members hasten to add.

"If you look at the two sites, Beth El has property in a piece of parkland, a residential area," said Levine. "We hope the neighbors welcome someone who wants to turn an abandoned liquor store into a nice facility that would have an impact in the neighborhood."

Besides, adds Kelman, "The time has come for us to have a home of our own. It's about time after 12 years, right?"

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