Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on September 11, 2014

Messianic Rabbi Glenn David Blank will have no excuse if he's late for services once the Beit Simcha Synagogue is built on Grange Road in Lower Macungie. He plans to be living in an adjoining residential area that will include six apartments.

Like Blank, the other residents will be part of the Beit Simcha congregation and they will share some common areas for Bible studies, prayer meetings and other activities. They hope to build the synagogue and residences at 1111 Grange Road, near the Trexlertown Grange.

That's the idea behind concept plans that came before Lower Macungie Township Planning Commission Tuesday. The planners gave Blank some guidelines on what would be acceptable to the township on the almost 3 acres of land zoned medium density residential. The synagogue still has to go through the township's development process.

Currently, the Beit Simcha congregation of about 90 people meets at Wellspring Community Church on Schantz Road in Upper Macungie. They come from Jewish and gentile backgrounds, Blank said.

Messianic Jews believe Jesus, who they call Yeshua, was the Messiah. They celebrate Jewish holidays, including Passover and Yom Kipper, and hold Shabbat services and dinners and study religious texts from Jewish and Christian faiths.

Blank said the congregation hopes to be very involved in the broader community, ministering to the poor and offering activities for families.

"We want to be a bridge between different kinds of people," Blank said. "We want the facility to be used all the time."

The synagogue will have about 187 seats and include fellowship rooms, offices, restrooms, classrooms and other common areas. The Lower Macungie planners agreed that about 82 parking spaces would be enough because Beit Simcha has an agreement with the Trexlertown Grange to use the Grange's parking lot for overflow parking, Blank said.

The six attached apartments would be on two floors, with 3,500 square feet per floor. The average apartment size would be 1,200 square feet. They would share a common meeting room and perhaps a common kitchen, Blank said.

"We always had a vision for the community that it would be part and parcel of the synagogue," he said. "All the people living in the community house will be members of the congregation."

Originally posted here:

Messianic synagogue, apartments proposed in Lower Macungie

Category: Synagogue
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