A Brief History

Documented by Karen Blickstein for the TKE Board Retreat
September 7, 2003

Updated March 17, 2006

In 1982, the dream of a Reform congregation in Cobb County was born when seven families got together and imagined what would eventually become Temple Kol Emeth. No one imagined that Cobb County, which had the reputation of not being the best place for Jews to live, could support a second congregation, in addition to Etz Chaim.

For the first few years, services were held every other week in a room at the Cobb American Bank on Roswell Road, led by a student rabbi. As the congregation grew, services were held in several different churches in the area, and TKE members began to think of themselves as the “wandering Jews” of Cobb County. 

By 1986, Kol Emeth’s membership had grown to 70 families, with 45 children in our religious school. Jack Adelman became our 3rd president, and served for three years. Under his leadership, Rabbi Steven Lebow was hired to be TKE’s first full-time rabbi. Blake Singer became our cantorial soloist, adding his musical magic to our services.  

In 1987, TKE’s first constitution and by-laws were written, and a search began for land that would eventually be the site of Temple Kol Emeth. By that year, membership had grown to 120 families.

By 1988, land had been purchased at the corner of Sewell Mill and Old Canton Roads. The TKE Land Fund started when about 10 congregants pooled resources to come up with a down payment for the land. It was then that the board decided to move forward with plans to construct the new building. Former TKE president and long-time board member Michele Coffsky recalls:

“Against the advice of UAHC we decided to build our own temple. The UAHC told us we didn't have enough members and we would fall on our faces. Nonetheless, we had our own vision and were determined to succeed. We did intensive growth and income projections, got our first construction loan and began to build.

“Craig Aronoff was a strength, crunching numbers and providing enthusiasm and support. We decided it could be done! We knew if we built it, they would come...!

“Bill Lerner chaired our first capital drive and David Kimmel was a dynamo on the construction end. I had a lot of career experience in construction accounting and break even analysis. Bernice Lacefield was great with spreadsheets and projections. Tony Mills was our legal counsel, and waded through all the paperwork.”
 

By 1990, TKE membership had grown to over 150 families, and there were about 100 children in the religious school. Jane Miller (now Aronoff) was now TKE’s president. When the new JCC opened on Post Oak Tritt, TKE was able to hold services in the JCC and use a small house on that property for office space. Congregants were excited to be worshipping in a Jewish environment, yet were still appreciative of the banks and churches who previously housed us.

Construction began on the new building that same year, and with a new building on the horizon, TKE membership grew rapidly. The road to our own building was not an easy one. As Michele Coffsky tells it:

“After construction began, our building site and construction equipment were destroyed and defamed. It was horrific. Swastikas were everywhere, even on the stop signs. I will never forget the sight of it. We cleaned up and began, again.”

In December 1991, Temple Kol Emeth moved into its first building, which included a sanctuary, 10-12 classrooms, an office, a study for the rabbi (now the TKE Library and chapel), a small kitchen and a tiny gift shop. Onegs were held in the lobby, and everyone knew everyone else, simply because we were elbow to elbow. By the time the building opened, membership had grown to 200 families. Michele Coffsky remembers that “it was a very special day in my life when we moved from JCC to our own building. We walked from the JCC to TKE carrying our Torahs.”

By 1992, the congregation had grown to 250 families and was already beginning to outgrow its new facilities. Michele Baylis (now Coffsky) became our next president. High Holiday services were held at the Transfiguration Church, because our new building was too small to accommodate the growing congregation and to include non-members who wanted to attend. Our Temple staff had grown dramatically. Sandra Bemis became our full-time receptionist, while Sharon Klein became a part-time assistant for Rabbi Lebow.

By 1993, our first full-time Religious School Director, Susan Grossman, was hired. Rabbi Lebow also recognized the need for TKE to have a full-time ordained cantor. Rabbi Lebow went out and raised the money and resources to support having a student cantor from Hebrew Union College come to TKE once or twice a month. He hoped that by the time that student cantor was graduated, TKE would be able to afford a full-time cantor. After looking at several student videotapes, we invited a third-year cantorial student named Steven Weiss to join us one weekend a month. During that same time period, we broadened our programs to include adult education, a singles group, and a variety of important social action programs.

By 1994, TKE had outgrown its new facilities, and began renting classroom space at Dodgen Middle School to accommodate the 200 students in our religious school. Rabbi Lebow took on the Cobb County Commissioners that year. He was the first clergyman in the metro area to speak out publicly against the recently passed anti- gay resolution. He solicited and got support from 37 other members of the clergy, and organized a protest rally on the Marietta Square, which was attended by many TKE members.

In the fall of 1994, under the leadership of our new president, Alan Freedman, the board struggled with the need to expand TKE’s facilities. We required a much larger sanctuary, additional classrooms and office space, a board room, a bigger kitchen, and a much-needed social hall. The biggest concern for the board was how we would pay for this building.

By mid-1995, TKE membership had grown to 348 families. That year, after numerous meetings with architects, construction companies, and banks, the board launched a new capital campaign at the Kol Nidre service. By the end of Yom Kippur services, $1.7 million had been pledged, more than enough to demonstrate our financial commitment to the banks.

That same year, we hired our first full-time Administrative Director, Elise Kurian, to manage TKE’s day-to-day operations. Another important event that occurred in 1995 was the placement of a plaque on an office building in Marietta on the site where Jewish businessman Leo Frank had been lynched in 1915. Temple Kol Emeth Social Action Chair, Joel Handelman organized this event which included a variety of prominent speakers, including Rabbi Lebow.

In the spring of 1996, we broke ground for the new building. By fall, David Strauss had become our new president, and played a critical role in managing our dealings with Wachovia Bank, Beers Construction, and our architect, Marty Greenberg. Spurred by the vision of a bigger and better facility, TKE membership climbed to 389 families by mid-year.

Another milestone was reached that year when Steven Weiss became our full-time cantor. Cantor Weiss could have little imagined the important role he was to play in overseeing the day-to- day details of the construction of the new building.

That same year, a committee headed by Stacy Wypyski proposed a plan for TKE to have its own pre-school. After the board approved the seed money, the preschool opened its doors for the fall term and, under the leadership of its full time director, Janet Melnick, grew rapidly.

By June 1997, TKE membership had grown to 460 families, and our new facility was completed in July. In September, the new building was dedicated with a weekend of gala events, highlighted by a formal congregational dinner and a concert by Peter Yarrow. For the first time in Temple Kol Emeth history, we had the capacity to hold High Holiday services in our own sanctuary!

Even with all the new classrooms, we realized that we still needed to rent space at Dodgen to accommodate the now nearly 600 students in our religious school. A decision was made to build a separate classroom building. Fortunately, TKE was able to refinance our mortgage at a lower rate so that the monthly payment increased by less than $10. And Cheryl Erikson was hired that year as our part- time bookkeeper that year, to help meet the demands of our growing congregation.

By 1998, TKE membership had soared to 645 families, a 40% increase spurred by the opening of our new building! Mel Abramovitz became our new president, and the board focused on absorbing the growth. A new constitution was approved. The board recognized the need to relieve some of the expanded work load that this larger congregation put on Rabbi Lebow. Their solution was to hire an assistant rabbi. In July, we welcomed Rabbi Andy Vogel to our family.

The new school building opened that fall with 600 students, and 73 children were already enrolled in our pre-school. Two more staff positions were added to support the school and the office.  

By 1999, TKE membership had jumped to 738, adding nearly 100 new families. Religious school enrollment climbed to 650 students, and there were 85 preschool children. And the first bid was made on some land adjacent to our temple property.  

In 2000, TKE membership rose to 822 families, and Bob Ganz became our president that year. Lynn Serle became our new Religious School Director that year, with 670 children enrolled in our religious school. Our preschool enrollment grew to 105. Danny Berke became our new Director of Youth and Family Services.  

By 2001, TKE membership had grown to 851 families. There were nearly 700 students enrolled in our religious school, and pre- school enrollment was at 85 children. Rabbi Richard Baroff joined our congregation that year as Associate Rabbi, coming to us from Temple Beth David on the other side of Atlanta.

That year, Rabbi Lebow made headlines once again. After Rabbi Lebow was invited to be the keynote speaker for the Walton High School Baccalaureat event, Pastor Randy Mikler of Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church, which was to have hosted the ceremony, announced that he would not allow Rabbi Lebow to speak from his pulpit. The Walton committee quickly switched locations. CNN got involved and the incident made national news. All of this eventually led to a quiet resolution signifying mutual respect between Rabbi Lebow and Pastor Mikler. The agreement was sealed when the two congregations joined together to build a Habitat for Humanity house.  

In 2002, Richard Brenner became our 10th president. That fall, TKE opened the Doc Lebow Youth and Conference Center, which soon became home to a wide range of TKE meetings and activities. Membership was at 870 families, and religious school enrollment was at 700. Renae Belcher joined the TKE family as our new Pre-School Director.  Sadly, TKE lost a dear friend and one of its longest-serving staff members with the death of Sandra Bemis late that fall.

That same fall, as Temple Kol Emeth looked forward to celebrating its 20th Anniversary, a series of town hall meetings, open to all congregants, were held for the purpose of planning our future. A total of 90 congregants, including many board members, generated hundreds of wonderful ideas, many of which were immediately implemented. A follow-up town hall meeting was held in February 2003, allowing even more congregants to participate in generating implementation plans for these great ideas.

One important project that resulted from these meetings was the plan to create a Children’s Memorial Garden to honor the memories of TKE children who had died in recent years. The garden was funded by donations from the congregation, and by fundraising activities such as the sale of bricks.

An important need that surfaced from these meetings was that of increasing the number of volunteers as well as participation at TKE events. Hal Schlenger was appointed to the role of “Volunteer Culture Conductor.”

Then in early 2003, Cantor Steven Weiss resigned after admitting to misappropriating synagogue funds, however, we were quickly reminded that every cloud does indeed have a silver lining. TKE was blessed by the serendipitous arrival of Rabbi Aviva Bass from Australia.  Rabbi Bass’ beautiful voice at our religious services soothed us during our days of grieving.  

By early spring of 2003, TKE began searching for both a new cantor and a new religious school director. These searches led to the hiring of Cantor Ellen Stettner and Religious School Director Dr. Sandy Andron.  In May, we celebrated TKE’s 20th Anniversary with a fantastic Barbecue and Concert, held on the front lawn of the Doc Lebow Center. The well-attended event was hosted by members of our Sisterhood and Brotherhood, and all profits were donated to the Children’s Memorial Garden.  

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