Members of the Tristate's only Humanistic Jewish congregation will celebrate the beginning of the Jewish new year this month in their first permanent new home.

        Clergy and members of Beth Adam — who had been attending services in rented spaces for 20 years — opened the doors Sunday to a $2.2 million, 12,000-square-foot synagogue in Symmes Township on Loveland-Madeira Road, just south of Interstate 275.

        After a morning service and dedication of the synagogue's religious school, about two dozen of the temple's 270 adult members gathered in the sanctuary to hear architect Paul Muller discuss the project.

        “It was a very delicate process and we made adjustments all the way through,” said Mr. Muller, a member of Cincinnati's Riverfront Advisers Commission.

        Mr. Muller was referring to design adjustments made in response to input from congregants and Rabbi Robert B. Barr, who founded Beth Adam in 1980.

        “We've always had to rely on other people's images of what we should be,” Rabbi Barr said. “He (Mr. Muller) was willing to go on this exploration with us to find out what we wanted to be.”

        Barbara Tobias of Wyoming, who has been a Beth Adam member for 13 years, said: “It's nice to finally have a place to call home. This (synagogue) is a validation of our congregation's ideas and philosophies.”

        Rabbi Barr and his congregation practice a Judaism similar in philosophy to Reform. Beth Adam members believe the practice of faith should reflect the modern world. For instance, instead of a traditional service, members have written new liturgy.

        That liturgy will be delivered in a new synagogue that combines modern design with elements of historic Jewish temples, such as an arc holding one of the synagogue's most prized possessions — its Torah. Beth Adam's Torah is a 160-year-old parchment scroll from Europe, upon which the first five books of the Bible have been handwritten, Rabbi Barr said.

        The arc is in a space built into a wall in the sanctuary facing the congregation, with an eternal flame flickering above it.

        By contrast, the sanctuary is covered by a series of highly modern overlapping ceiling ribbons.

        The improved acoustics should help Beth Adam members more clearly hear services focused on “human beings ... and how they can live together in harmony,” Rabbi Barr said.

        He said his temple's teachings could be viewed as a road map to racial solutions inCincinnati.

        “The fact is there are communities where people know how to live together in harmony,” he said. “Ultimately, the solution (in Cincinnati) is going to come as a result of human beings and communities working together and learning to trust one another.”

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