By early 1981, it was clear that if we were to be taken seriously by the community we would need to find a rabbi, offer High Holiday Services, and start a religious school. When I called Joseph Asher, he informed me that his son had just decided to pursue a pulpit and might be interested in our position. We met with Rabbi Raphael Asher and offered him $1,000 to be our part-time rabbi through High Holidays in September of 1981. To say the least, that turned out to be a shrewd investment. We reached out to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and found Aviva Katzman, who became our first cantorial soloist. We borrowed books from Temple Isaiah and 300 people worshipped at our free Rosh Hashanah services, held at the Jewish Community Center on Creekside Drive.

In the meantime, we found teachers for the new school and recruited a large group of students to attend. Even when planned classroom space fell through at the last minute, a community member from another congregation was there to lend us rooms we could use. Thanks to the commitment and generosity of the community, it all came together.

Congregation B’nai Tikvah has been blessed since its inception in 1981 by the fact that the right people with great ideas and energy stepped up when the need arose. We have somehow remained the small friendly synagogue in Walnut Creek interested in creating a community for all people, young and old, single and married, Jews by chance and Jews by choice, the entire fabric of K’lal Yisrael.

Congregation B’nai Tikvah is here to stay. Our youth have gone on to become cantors, to attend Rabbinical School, to become religious school teachers and youth group advisors. They have become b’nai mitzvah, gotten married, and sadly had funerals in our sanctuary. Our dream has become a reality and with all of your help it has been one of the greatest accomplishments of my life.