Members of the Beth Evergreen synagogue all speak of it in similar tones: With a mix of joy and reverence, and a touch of seeming awe that they have found and become part of such a place.
“This is special,” said board member Mike Schneider. “It’s the vibe, the warmth and friendliness, the musical Shabbats.”
“For me, there’s a freedom in the spiritual connection,” said Beth Evergreen’s director of operations Sarah Hess. “I feel like I can go directly to my relationship with God here in a way I’ve been searching for my whole life.”
“I like the service, I love the rabbi, I love the whole thing,” said Joanne Greenberg, one of Beth Evergreen’s founders. “I had no idea what it would come to be, but it hasn’t disappointed. A lot of us had escaped from rigid Judaism back east, and this is easier but not wimpy. We still practice a lot of the things that are more conventional, but we’re liberal in our doing.”
Beth Evergreen celebrated its 50th year in early September.
The synagogue is strong and vibrant, say both its members and its 19-year Rabbi Benjamin “Jamie” Arnold. That’s due in part to challenges in the global Jewish community that have bonded the local congregation more tightly, but also to more elusive qualities unique to the Colorado foothills site.
Beth Evergreen is the only synagogue between Morrison and Vail, and consequently draws a wide variety of people. While Jewish people in Denver may be able to choose among synagogues with unique ideologies, Beth Evergreen’s congregants include a mix of conservative, reform and interfaith families.
“We’re sort of a one-shul town,” Arnold said. “So we may have a larger diversity of political and religious ways of thinking, and be more spiritually than ideologically driven.
“Here, people are not just coming because of their belief system, but simply to be connected to Jewish culture and community.”
It’s what the synagogue’s founders had in mind.
Congregation Beth Evergreen launched in 1974 after New York transplant Bernie Goldman put a small article in the Canyon Courier, seeking other area Jews with which to celebrate the high holidays. But in those early days, foothills area Jews weren’t sure they’d have enough support for a building.
“There was a sense among the founders was that if you came to live in Evergreen and you were Jewish, you did so to get away from organized religion,” Arnold said. “There was a question if there would be an interest in a synagogue.”
Greenberg, now 91, said the early days were rough and often uncertain.
“We started out with no rabbi, no building and none of us knew what the hell we were doing,” said Greenburg, 91. “We had some moments where we thought we were done.”
Helping continue and further refine Beth Evergreen’s unique culture drew Arnold to the synagogue, and what’s kept him there for nearly two decades.
“Part of the joy for me of serving the community has been trying to keep that spirt of innovation and independence alive, of setting aside some of the trappings of organized religion and being a laboratory for spiritual expression and connection that draws on the best of the past and traditional practice while actively being engaged in evolving the next generation of Jewish community,” he said.
The Rochester, New York native fell in love with Colorado on a high school ski trip and vowed then to someday live there. That dream came true in 2005, when he became Beth Evergreen’s first full-time rabbi. At the time, the synagogue had about 100 families and had just finished its sanctuary overlooking Elk Meadow.
Arnold was drawn to all those elements, but sold on the people on Beth Evergreen’s search committee. One of his earliest meetings with some of them took place on a Loveland ski lift.
“It was just the openness to innovation and creativity, the connection to the land and nature,” he said. “They described themselves as a congregation united more by geography than ideology at the time. That’s probably not as much the case now, but that appealed to me.”
In the three years after his arrival, Beth Evergreen’s congregation almost doubled in size. It has hovered at around 200 families since then. In the past year, almost 40 new households have joined, which Arnold attributes in large part to the Israel-Hamas war and a post-pandemic desire for community.
“I think Oct. 7 and the ongoing war in Israel really was a trigger point for a lot of Jewish families and individuals,” he said, referring to the 2023 Hamas terrorist attack. “You don’t realize how important something is until it has the threat of going away. We certainly also have some individuals who’ve felt the rise in anti-Semitism that has been occurring.”
While those tragedies have bonded the congregation more tightly, they’ve also required Beth Evergreen to invest in heightened security measures.
“We spent tens of thousands of dollars this year on providing armed, professional security at every gathering that has more than 10 people,” Arnold said. “That’s been a substantial budgetary shift. That was not something we ever had to worry about before.”
Security and global issues aside, Arnold’s primary focus is on creating joyful, meaningful ways for his congregants to gather. Unlike many Christian churches, Jewish congregants are not obligated to attend weekly sabbath services. A synagogue is viewed more as a gathering place, and at Beth Evergreen, people gather in havurah — small groups sharing communal experiences.
“We have a huge array of ways people can gather intentionally,” Arnold said. “We have a hiking havurah, a biking havurah. We have a needlework group that draws members drawing from local community, and a mahjong group.”
Every third Friday, Beth Evergreen hosts a musical service in its outdoor amphitheater, adapting liturgy to popular music. It recently hosted a John Denver musical service, as well as a Grateful Dead and Billy Joel shabbat. The synagogue has an in-house band that produces “some pretty robust music,” Arnold said.
“It can be hopefully engaging and meaningful for a diverse group, whether you’re someone who prays or celebrates shabbat or just one who enjoys good music and likes to be with people,” he said. “I’m just looking for new ways around which people can meaningfully gather.”
The amphitheater was built during the pandemic to help continue services and has since been used by the larger Evergreen community for theater productions, weddings and other events. It served its original purpose well; in contrast to many other synagogues, Beth Evergreen saw only a small drop in its membership during the pandemic.
Arnold regularly reaches out to other congregations, both in the Jewish community and beyond.
During the pandemic, he helped coordinate a Rosh Hashana celebration with four other congregations at Lair of the Bear park. In 2023, Beth Evergreen hosted a song-writing workshop for those specializing in Reconstructionist Judaism, which drew musicians from across the country.
Beth Evergreen also hosts a weekly musar, a Jewish spiritual practice that offers instructions on living a meaningful and ethical life. It includes attendees from local Episcopal, Methodist and other churches who study specific character traits.
Before Arnold’s 2005 arrival, Beth Evergreen formed an interfaith clergy group that continues to meet. That group helped create a 2008 affordable housing initiative that eventually led to the creation of the Evergreen Christian Church (Echo) overnight shelter.
“I think in general we have had an outsized impact on both the Evergreen community, not just the Jewish community,” Arnold said.
Arnold still loves skiing, and does so regularly. It dovetails with his love for his mountain community, which he intends to call home for a long time to come.
“It’s becoming more and more rare for clergy to be in a place as long as I have, but as long as the congregation and the rabbi are content, we can stay in one place for as long as we like,” Arnold said.
“I have what we call an Evergreen contract,” he added with a grin. “I plan to stay here until retirement.”