Temple Beth El opens new play area

By Cindy Schneider Temple Beth El

Temple Beth El celebrated its new fenced-in children’s play area on May 9 with a Lag B’Omer picnic and a retirement commemoration honoring Sheryl Block and Paula Linn.

Block is retiring after 35 years of service to the temple, and Linn has directed its religious school for the past year. The main event of the day was the opening dedica- tion of 18 panels of the fence adorned with artwork created by religious school children, teachers and parents, Jewish Family Service, the Jewish Day School, the JCC, the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley, and temple board members, staff and sisterhood. Each panel of the fence represents a middah (value). The selected middot are written in both Hebrew and English.

The design process began in March with community artist Ellen Alt inspiring the group with creative ways to express the middot. In April the group revisited the drawings they made on large paper templates. The drawings were traced onto contact paper in wild and wonderful colors. The contact paper was then pasted onto a panel of outdoor vinyl. Finally, the 18 pieces of art were hung inside the fenced area, and the entire project came to life.

Temple Beth El thanks everyone who contributed to this group effort. It was a creative learning opportunity that allowed participants to have fun.