Membership
Welcome! We’re glad you’re here!
If you are exploring congregational websites to find the right temple for you, we would love to have you become a part of our family. Thank you for finding us! Send any questions to our Membership Committee at Membership@templeisraelalameda.org.
We invite you to join our Temple family by completing our New Member Form. To celebrate our 101st anniversary, you may join Temple Israel for only $101!
We have been in Alameda since 1920 and have been the home base for Jewish and Interfaith families ever since. There is a place for you at Temple Israel! We offer fun and informative programming for our youngest members to our oldest that go beyond religious school on Sundays and Shabbat Services on Friday nights. Check us out! As you’ve guessed it, everything is online during the pandemic.
Benefits of Joining Temple Israel
Being a part of a congregation has many benefits you may not have realized. Here are some examples:
- Make lifelong friends who celebrate the same holidays as you.
- Personal connection to Jewish clergy and friends who will be there for you during illnesses, lifecycle celebrations, and the loss of a loved one.
- Scholarship potential and/or reduced tuition for your children to attend Camp Newman (or another URJ Jewish summer camp).
- A community to volunteer with on Social Justice issues.
- A place to say the Mourners Kaddish to remember loved ones.
- Attend High Holy Days services in our sanctuary, not a rented banquet room.
- Access to Jewish learning including Tot Shabbats, Religious and Hebrew School for children, weekly Torah Study, Lifelong Learning (aka, adult education), and family/parent educational offerings.
- Social and cultural events such as concerts, performances, and dinners (currently held online or hybrid per Alameda County health guidelines).
- Helping to ensure a Jewish presence in Alameda and the East Bay. Strength in numbers!
Make Temple Israel Your Congregation
Send any questions to our Membership Committee at Membership@templeisraelalameda.org.
President's Greeting, July 2021
Dear Congregation:
We are so glad that you are with us and I do not take that for granted. When we closed the building over a year ago, I wondered how we could possibly hold our congregation together with no sanctuary to go to and no classrooms for the school. What I learned was that Temple Israel is far more than a building and that closing the doors was not closing the Temple. We went virtual with our school and services and you showed up. We held classes, events, and even fundraisers on Zoom and you attended. We did lose rent income and could not do a planned gala fundraiser however due to your generosity and a PPP loan we survived the year with the budget in the black.
At the end of May the school held two sessions in person in our newly paved courtyard. Wow, what a treat to see old friends in three dimensions and the kids, they have grown so much. Cantor Brian has built a wonderful school community and it was good to see them all at our building once again.
I have long believed that a congregation is like a family in that it is a group of individuals that you did not choose and yet you are connected. As Jews we are connected through thousands of years of shared history, through life-cycle and holiday events that we have attended together, and through the knowledge that however long we are apart, we will take up again right where we left off. As we open for services at our building, I am so looking forward to seeing each of you, if only to exchange an elbow bump.
This year we will be holding High Holy Day Services in “hybrid” mode. They will be live for some congregants and on Zoom for the rest. You may be asking who gets to attend in person. Individuals must be fully vaccinated, and priority will be given to those for whom Zoom is a difficult obstacle. For security reasons families will need to preregister to receive the Zoom link. Also, we still require that families be current members to receive their HHD “tickets”, so please renew today. It is now very easy on our website to renew your Membership dues, see below to do so.
Welcome Home. We have left a light (the ner tamid) on for you. May we all gather around that light, and with joy, prayer, and song, fan that flame into the bright light that is Temple Israel.
L’shalom,
Eric Strimling
President, Board of Directors
2021/2022 Membership Renewal
Membership Dues
- Sustaining: $261 per month or $3132 per year
- Reduced: $135 per month or $1620 per year
Note: Families with children attending Beit Bina are required to be members. Tuition grants are available as needed, please contact Cantor Brian to learn more.
Enhanced Dues
Our community has a dedicated staff and an aging building to support. Only through Enhanced Dues, generous donations, and the support of the Temple Israel Foundation are we able to generate the funds necessary to operate. If your means allow, please consider an annual gift.
- Chesed – Kindness $10,800 and above
- Shalom – Peace $7,200 and above
- Tzedakah – Righteousness $3,600 and above
Capital Campaign/Building Fund
Each new member family is expected to contribute a minimum of $1100 towards our building fund, generally paid over a 4-year period ($275 per year), which goes towards the upkeep and improvements to our building and facilities.
Form Instructions
If you are not logged into your Membership Account via our Website and do not have a payment method set-up within your portal, you will be required to provide credit card information below.
If you are logged into your Membership Portal and have established online payment methods you will have the option of applying your membership and capital/building campaign contributions here.
If you do have trouble, please contact Deb Balot at Treasurer@TempleIsraelAlameda.org.
Thank you.