‘The best little schul in Texas’
Temple Beth Tikvah strives to be a home for anyone in search of Jewish community
The possibility of her Jewish descent always intrigued Denise Gabino, but it wasn’t until later in life that she had the opportunity to solve the puzzle.
“I knew that I had Jewish family history, but it was not talked about,” she said. “I can’t explain it, but I was always drawn to Judaism. I realized it’s a part of me.”
In 2015, after retiring, the Bay Area resident enrolled in Ancestry.com and had her DNA tested. Soon her strong Eastern European and Sephardic Jewish roots came into focus.
Gabino dug deeper and learned about a great-grandfather in the Holocaust and a great aunt who was arrested on Kristallnacht at age 16 and later was liberated from a concentration camp.
Finding out about her relatives and learning more about her own identity was deeply satisfying. “I found something I’d been looking for all my life,” she said. “It’s a blessing that I’m grateful for.”
Still, she wanted to find a spiritual home. While she was raised as a Catholic, she was ready to delve into worshiping at a Jewish synagogue, one that would accept her regardless of her upbringing and interfaith marriage, and one that would nourish her curiosity and transformation into Judaism.
Gabino turned to Temple Beth Tikvah, a Reform Jewish congregation serving Clear Lake and the Bay Area.
“Rabbi Deborah was very welcoming,” Gabino said. “She really seemed interested in talking to me. The more I was drawn there, the more I felt a part of the temple.”
Beth Tikvah translates to “house of hope,” and the temple was built to be inclusive, regardless of age, marital status, sexual orientation or religion. Members are welcome whether they are Jewish by birth or by choice, and interfaith families also are invited to attend.
Rabbi Deborah Schloss explained that embracing individuals of all backgrounds is a key tenant at the temple.
“Jews have been discriminated against for so long,” she said. “We want to make sure that people know they’re welcome here. That’s very important to me. It’s important that everyone feels at home when they walk through the doors of Temple Beth Tikvah.”
She hopes the synagogue will become a home for anyone in search of an open Jewish community.
The synagogue offers a range of programs and activities for members of all ages. The sanctuary is open for Friday night services for those interested in Jewish prayer. The first Friday night Shabbat of the month includes a potluck dinner. On the second Friday, a musical service is celebrated.
The temple hosts all of the Jewish holidays as well as major life events for its members.
Religious school is offered for kindergarten through seventh grade on Sunday mornings, complete with Hebrew studies. There also are preschool classes once a month, a bar and bat mitzvah program, events for teenagers throughout the year and adult education sessions.
Members also may join the temple’s sisterhood, men’s club and book club.
Schloss is preparing to take members of her congregation on a third trip to Israel. Last year, she led them on a voyage to Central and Eastern Europe.
“It’s very meaningful to travel with your congregation,” she said. “Being able to connect with people outside of where you live is interesting. It’s a unique experience.”
Connecting with neighbors also is essential, Schloss said. For example, the temple has developed a close relationship with the Clear Lake Islamic Center.
“We’ve had a number of get-togethers over the years,” Schloss said. “We’ve been to their mosque, and they’ve been to our synagogue. We support each other as much as we can.”
It all circles back to supporting diversity and fostering inclusivity.
“When you get to know people one-on-one, you see there are more similarities than differences,” Schloss said.
She was drawn to lead a smaller congregation, one where she could form strong connections to each member. She enjoys organizing trips to plays or the Jewish Book and Art Festival at the Jewish Community Center in Houston and getting their feedback on subjects for adult education opportunities.
“I’m driven by what my congregation wants to learn about and what they want to do,” Schloss said.
She is inspired by the temple’s can-do attitude.
“When you’re a small community, people realize that each person makes a difference,” she said. ‘They’re all integral to who we are as a community. Our community wouldn’t be the same if even one member were not there.”
Beth Tikvah will celebrate its 25th anniversary next year.
The temple was conceived by two families — Michele and Clay Moliver and Lisa and Gary Hurwitz — who joined around a kitchen table in 1994 with a shared vision of starting a Clear Lake-area Reform Jewish congregation.
Clay Moliver moved to Clear Lake in 1992. He was raised in Reform Judaism, while his wife was in Conservative Judaism. They had two children, who were 3 and 5 years old at the time and wanted to find a temple with a welcoming vibe.
When they couldn’t find one, they decided to create their own. “I put an ad in the paper, and probably 30 people showed up in my living room and said ‘We’re in,’ ” Moliver recalled.
The two couples found a rabbi willing to serve the congregation and a place where they could hold their first services, and they borrowed a Torah from a congregation in Houston. A core group of seven families began holding services in the cafeteria of Brookwood Elementary School.
“Within a few years, we had a Hebrew school, we joined the union, and we’ve been in business ever since,” Moliver said.
The first reform temple serving the area between Galveston and Houston was born, with Rabbi Benno Wallach at the helm.
In 1997, Rabbi Martin Levy took the helm, handing over the reins to Rabbi Daniel Plotkin in 2002, followed by Rabbis Seth Stander and Marcy Greene.
From the beginning, Moliver said inclusion was at the temple’s heart.
“There were a lot of mixed marriages, a lot of families who were uncomfortable in a Conservative setting,” he said. “We did a lot of mitzvah by virtue of opening this temple. As long as they were raising Jewish kids and kept a Jewish home, we thought, the more, the merrier. They didn’t have to convert to come.”
The dedication of the temple’s current building was held in May 2001.
Moliver’s brother in New Jersey found a large stained glass window in an attic of an automotive shop near his home in New Jersey.
“We brought it over to La Porte to a lady who had a stained glass studio,” Moliver said. “When it was all in pieces, Ike hit, and the roof caved in on the shop. Not one piece was hit. Everything was destroyed except our stained glass.”
Around the same time, a local woman donated three more stained glass windows that she kept in her attic for 25 years.
“She said that it was time they had a home,” Moliver recalled. “She took them down from the rafters, and they were in perfect condition. In a few weeks, the house was taken out by Ike.”
The temple also persevered despite the odds, he said.
“People said it couldn’t be done,” he said. “It’s a very special place. We like to say it’s the best little schul in Texas.”
Schloss came to Beth Tikvah in 2009. A native of Connecticut, she received her rabbinical ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1996 and holds a double master’s degree in Jewish Communal Service and Public Administration from Hebrew Union College and the University of Southern California.
She attended Brandeis University for her undergraduate degree, majoring in psychology with a minor in legal studies.
Schloss has led congregations across the country. She currently also serves as a clinical chaplain at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center.
Stuart Eisen currently serves as president of the congregation. He has lived in Pasadena for 20 years and has served on the temple’s board for the past 17 years.
He was raised in the Orthodox tradition, while his wife is a Reform Jew. They found Beth Tikvah to be an ideal solution, appealing to both philosophically.
“We’re small, with about 70 families,” Eisen said. “A majority of the families are interfaith marriages. That sets us apart. Our nonJewish members are just as involved as our Jewish members. Everyone is welcome, and everyone pitches in.”
It’s been that way since the beginning, Eisen added.
“We’re small enough to still be a family,” he said. “It’s a wonderful place. Everyone is so nice. We’re a small Jewish community, in a large metropolitan area. We’ve got to stick together when we can.”
That spirit of togetherness and camaraderie shines, Gabino said.
“The thing that continues to draw me is the people and the sincerity of their faith,” she said. “It’s ordinary people like me. They’re just trying to make it in the world. And their faith is the way they make it through.”
The temple invites her to be herself, to incorporate her traditions into new Jewish rituals.
“It’s great,” Gabino said. “The people are so for real. I found the place where I belong.”