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Helen Michaels, right, Cantor Ivor Lichterman, holding a piece of paper, and Congregation B’nai Israel hosts an open house celebrating the opening of their Library Lounge and the CBI Sacred Garden on Sunday in Sylvania, Ohio.
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Congregation B’nai Israel celebrates garden, library

THE BLADE/JETTA FRASER

Congregation B’nai Israel celebrates garden, library

For members of Sylvania’s Congregation B’nai Israel, the dedication of two projects on Sunday represented more than just the paint, soil, and months of planning that went into them.

They each symbolized the temple’s resilience during the pandemic and, in the case of a thriving native plant garden, its commitment to stewarding the environment.

Besides the garden, B’nai Israel celebrated the completion of a new adult library, a place for rest and study attached to its sanctuary.

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“This congregation has been a hotbed of activity for months and months, this entire summer,” Cantor Ivor Lichterman, the congregation’s spiritual leader, said.

Jaden Jefferson, 12, films Cantor Ivor Lichterman of B’nai Israel in Sylvania. This is Jefferson's first in a series of videos touring regional houses of worship that represent world religions.
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He cited Jewish scripture during the garden dedication with this message: “Man is just like the tree of the field. Just as we take care of each other, so it is we need to take care of our trees, our earth, and our environment with nurturing respect.”

After a year of planning, including Zoom meetings and socially distanced in‑person preparation, the congregation officially unveiled a garden with a familiar shape: A shofar, the twisted horn of a ram or other kosher animal that’s used in ceremonies at the High Holy Days, the period spanning the Jewish New Year and a day of atonement.

“[The shofar] signifies both the need to wake up to the call to repentance and the spiritual return to God. And therefore in this context it serves as a reminder, a spiritual awakening to care for our planet,” Helen Michaels, the congregant who spearheaded the garden project and teaches teaches botany and restoration ecology at Bowling Green State University, said.

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The garden was made possible thanks to the National Wildlife Federation’s Sacred Grounds program, which has helped 18 houses of worship in northwest Ohio tap their properties as hosts for native gardens that support the local ecosystem.

The garden itself, which features plants such as swamp milkweed that attract monarch butterflies and hummingbirds, is hardy and basically self‑sufficient, Ms. Michaels said.

“Native plans make chemicals because they have a long history of evolution with things that want to eat them, and so they don’t require a lot of care,” Ms. Michaels said. “We watered pretty heavily this year and we fertilized, but we’re not going to do anymore afterwards. They’re on their own.”

The library had a different sort of genesis.

The space used to be a nursery and children’s play area. But after the 2018 mass shooting at the Tree of Life temple in Pittsburgh, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security told the congregation that it wasn’t a safe use of the space in the event of an attack, Cathy Sperling, the volunteer librarian, said.

So they adapted, repurposing the room into a space with books and comfortable furniture for the congregation’s 270 member families.

“It was empty for a while and then we decided it was silly, why should it be empty? Let’s use it,” she said.

First Published August 22, 2021, 9:37 p.m.

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Helen Michaels, right, Cantor Ivor Lichterman, holding a piece of paper, and Congregation B’nai Israel hosts an open house celebrating the opening of their Library Lounge and the CBI Sacred Garden on Sunday in Sylvania, Ohio.  (THE BLADE/JETTA FRASER)  Buy Image
Dr. Corey Russell, D.P.M., president of the congregation, left, Cathy Sperling, volunteer librarian and Cantor Ivor Lichterman.  (THE BLADE/JETTA FRASER)  Buy Image
Cantor Ivor Lichterman places the Mezuzah on the doorway as part of the dedication and celebration as Congregation B’nai Israel hosts an open house for the opening of their Library Lounge and the CBI Sacred Garden on Sunday in Sylvania, Ohio.  (THE BLADE/JETTA FRASER)  Buy Image
Helen Michaels, of Congregation B’nai Israel, at the opening of the Congregation’s Sacred Garden on August Sunday in Sylvania, Ohio.  (THE BLADE/JETTA FRASER)  Buy Image
Cantor Ivor Lichterman, left, leading members of Congregation B’nai Israel in prayer as the congregation hosts an open house celebrating the opening of their Library Lounge and the CBI Sacred Garden on Sunday in Sylvania, Ohio.  (THE BLADE/JETTA FRASER)  Buy Image
Helen Michaels, right, Cantor Ivor Lichterman, holding a piece of paper, and Dr. Corey Russell, D.P.M., president of Congregation B’nai Israel, left, as the congregation hosts an open house celebrating the opening of their Library Lounge and the CBI Sacred Garden on Sunday in Sylvania, Ohio.  (THE BLADE/JETTA FRASER)  Buy Image
Jessica Wilbarger, left, and Marilyn DuFour (cq), of Sacred Grounds Team Toledo, at Congregation B’nai Israel’s celebration of the opening of their Sacred Garden on Sunday in Sylvania, Ohio.  (THE BLADE/JETTA FRASER)  Buy Image
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