Congregation Adat Yeshurun will relocate from relatively tiny, leased quarters to a 
beautiful new home, ten times as large, in the hills of La Jolla on Sunday, Aug. 19th .
Joyous congregants will depart on foot from the residence of Rabbi Jeff Wohlgelernter at 
10 a.m. and carry Torahs up La Jolla Scenic Drive North to the 15,000-square-foot 
complex.   

Wohlgelernter, who walks at a determined clip, normally can cover the distance in 4 1/2 
minutes, but the actual procession is expected to take considerably longer than that.  And 
why not?  It has been 14 years since Wohlgelernter and a handful of families began the 
Orthodox congregation.  Over the course of the walk, members of Adat Yeshurun, which 
now numbers 230 family units, will have the opportunity to savor  how far their 
congregation has come.

The rabbi provided HERITAGE and a congregant, Dr. Barry Kassar, a preview tour of  
Adat Yeshurun's new building last week.  Most of the structure already was in place.  
However, carpeting, a new coat of paint, and some of the windows remained to be 
installed by the Kvaas Construction Company before such furnishings as the walnut Aron 
Kodesh and reader's table-both made by hand by the rabbi's late father, David-could 
be moved into their places in the sanctuary.

From the street, one is impressed by the sleek curve of Adat Yeshurun's roof line and by 
a large Torrey Pine tree, to the right of the sanctuary building, which dominates a 
courtyard connecting the shul to its school building and offices.

The Torrey Pine is a protected species. In carefully building around the mammoth tree, 
the synagogue not only showed great respect for the environment but provided itself with 
a place for meetings, outdoor weddings and kiddushes.

Without the Aron Kodesh (Holy Ark) to draw a visitor's eye, the sanctuary's all-wood 
ceiling commanded immediate attention.  Made from Douglas fir, the ceiling is 
reminiscent of the storied ceiling in the Hotel del Coronado's fabled Crown room.

The main space in front of the Aron Kodesh will be the men's section, capable of seating 
220 persons  theater style, but expected to be configured normally with tables for 150 
persons who will both pray and study.   To the left, and above the men's section is the 
women's gallery which will have seats for 180.   A slatted mehitza will be angled in such 
a way that it will provide everyone in the women's section a clear line of sight to the 
bima, Wohlgelernter said.

When not in use, the bima can be rolled under the elevated women's section, thereby 
enabling the sanctuary to be converted into a room for wedding receptions and other 
simchas.

To the right of the men's section, and just a few steps higher, is an area for holding a 
kiddush, or other small ceremony.   There is a similar area behind the men's section, 
which can be used for a variety of purposes.  Rolling bookshelves will partition these 
areas from the men's section - giving the synagogue the look and feel of the study house 
it is intended to be.  

For High Holidays, the bookshelves may be rolled away, creating a far larger space for 
worship.   The auxiliary area behind the men's section would be divided into 
supplemental men's and women's sections, and the kiddush area also would become a 
men's section.

Connected to the kiddush area is a kosher kitchen, and a few steps away, outside the 
sanctuary building, is a "vessel mikvah" for the ritual immersion of  dishes, glasses, pots, 
pans and other eating utensils.

To the right of the kiddush area will be large glass doors leading to the Torrey Pine-
dominated courtyard, and to the congregation's offices and classrooms.  

After conducting us through the courtyard area, Rabbi Wohlgelernter took us back in 
front of the synagogue, and then down a private pathway to the left of the sanctuary 
building.  This is the entry to the regular mikvah, for congregants observing the laws of 
family purity.  Although there will be special hours for men, most of the mikvah's usage 
is expected to be by female members of the congregation.

The mikvah not only includes a pool fed by rainwater (mixed with city water) for 
immersion, but also preparation rooms where the women may first take a regular bath or 
shower to clean their skin of any impurities before entering the ritual bath.   There also is 
an area for the mikvah attendant to station herself throughout the day.

"It is a very exciting realization of a dream to have our own facility," Kassar said.  "It is a 
carefully designed facility that meets everyone's needs and stays within the guidelines of 
the rabbi's desire to have a halachically kosher place. ... It is so exciting to be part of a 
new shul, not a new congregation, but a new shul."

Wohlgelernter said he too was excited about the move.  "This will allow us to do the 
things that we want and need to do but in a much more terrific way," he said.  "You need 
to feel like you are settled somewhere, that you are not temporary, and not just a little 
makeshift thing.  When you really have a home and a place to spread out, you can do all 
the programs and the things you want to do."

The design by architect Mark Steele is simple, functional, and beautiful. 

Wohlgelernter instructed:  "You take a Torah scroll and put a beautiful mantle on it.  
Why not just a shmata (old rag)?  The answer is because everything about the Torah has 
to be beautiful, and the building it is in, that has to be beautiful too."