B'nei Israel is a Liberal Jewish congregation here in Costa Rica.  Created in 1986, our purpose was to provide an option for non-Orthodox Jews, as well as to give their children the opportunity to learn and to grow as Jews.

    Back in 1987, Rabbi Randall Falk of Nashville,Tennessee visited us for the first time.  Rabbi Falk was affiliated with the World Union for Progressive Judaism.  At that time, we were barely ten families, most of us foreigners.  We were from Chile, Cuba, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Canada, the United States, France and Israel.  Back then, we called ourselves the International Jewish Community.  However, Rabbi Falk, with his foresight, suggested that we change our name to one that would denote more permanence and would allow us to become more established in this country… and so it was that Congregation B'nei Israel was born.  We were very few in number, but we represented a great variety of Jewish backgrounds.

    When we began, we had nothing; no Torah, no synagogue, no cemetery, no Hebrew school, no siddurim…nothing.  Little by little, we came to have all these things.  In our aaron hakodesh, we have a small souvenir Torah bought in Yad Vashem, another Torah that was a gift from a congregation in the United States, and a third Torah which was among those rescued after the Holocaust from what was then Czechoslovakia.  For several years, we rented a small house which now belongs to us.  We have plans to remodel this building and to turn it into a fine synagogue.  We have been able to bring rabbis from abroad to assist us in celebrating important holidays and events, and to solidify our base as a congregation. Our cemetery is a precious garden.  We not only have a sidur, we have a trilingual machzor… Hebrew, Spanish and English.

    Our Hebrew school is our pride and joy.  Each grade  receives Hebrew lessons as well as religious instruction.  There are more than forty youngsters, ranging from three years old to Bar or Bat Mitzvah age.  These youngsters come out well prepared, not just to lead a Shabbat service, but also to face life with a strong Jewish identity and with a knowledge of the values that go hand in hand with that identity.  With each young person who accepts his or her responsibilities as a Jew, we know we have fulfilled our mission.

    All of the foregoing implies a great physical and economic effort.  We have grown in number, but we are still small, barely seventy families.  Many have been temporary residents of Costa Rica  who have joined and participated with us, only to be transferred to other countries.  This situation, despite the loss in revenues, has given us the joy of having had these people as active members while they were with us, and now we count them among our many friends scattered around the world.  To see our membership grow, and grow through new members who reside permanently in Costa Rica, is one of our greatest challenges.

    Looking back on all our achievements, I know that we have been successful.  Starting with a tiny group of people with a strong sense of faith as Jews, but with a minimum of experience in religious matters and with a variety of backgrounds, we have become a congregation in which we know our duties, our obligations, and our rights as Liberal Jews who respect their traditions.

    We have been able to consolidate as a community.  We know what we want, and we stand prepared to work and to sacrifice to achieve our goals.  Our congregation has become a priority in many of our lives.   During this entire process, we have become one big family.  It is here that many of us have our best friends, and here we find the moral and spiritual support to live our lives.  There is a strong feeling of love and camaraderie that is very evident in our community, and I would say that this is our greatest source of strength.

    The future looks very bright for us.  There is a lot of work to be done:  our building, a higher degree of professionalism in our Hebrew school, improvements at our cemetery, the possibility of having our very own full-time rabbi some day, more materials in Spanish, more contact with other Liberal Jews in this region, and so much more.  We accept these challenges for the future with great confidence, and we'll meet them with love and with tenacity, with the support of each and every one of our members as well as that of our many friends abroad.