“Not your Bubbe’s Shul.”
That’s how Congregation Beth Evergreen in Evergreen, Colorado, describes itself on its website homepage.
The slogan describing their location goes a step further: “Where the deer and the antelope pray.”
“One memorable Rosh Hashanah, there was a bull elk right outside the sanctuary,” Rabbi Jamie Arnold recalls. “He started bugling and it became the highlight of the service because it sounded just like a shofar.”
Wildlife visits Congregation Beth Evergreen
This beloved spiritual home in the mountain community commemorated its 50th anniversary in early September during a “Shabbaton Weekend Celebration.” The three-day event included a Shabbat dinner and Kabbalat Shabbat service with song, dance, and storytelling, as well as a Shabbat Torah Service, a family carnival, and an outdoor concert with a live klezmer band in the newly built amphitheater. And there were stories—so many stories.
The occasion may have been official, but the mood was festive and true to the spirit of the pioneering founders of the congregation who, decades ago, moved to an area where there was no formal Jewish community and no synagogue.
“They came here despite that fact—or maybe because of it,” Rabbi Arnold says. “They were drawn to the beauty of the mountains before they were drawn to the synagogue, and to this day, the mountains are at the heart of our primary spiritual practice. Our ancestors did animal sacrifices, their successors did prayer, and we hike.”
‘Mountain Jew minhag and a hamish feel’
Rabbi Arnold grew up in Rochester, New York, a location his parents chose so the family could both ski and sail within driving distance. For his high school graduation, his parents gave him and his brother a ski trip to Steamboat Springs. He came home and told his parents that he would eventually live in Colorado, so it was no surprise when, in July 2005, he moved from Temple Sinai in Amherst, New York, one of the oldest Reconstructionist congregations in the country, to the newest at Congregation Beth Evergreen.
He arrived at a congregation that had spent its first decade meeting in people’s homes and when it outgrew the homes, in rented space. By 2003, the congregation’s founders had built Congregation Beth Evergreen, adjacent to the open space of Elk Mountain Park and at the foot of Bergen Peak, with a window-filled main floor that brings the outdoors inside and offers frequent wildlife sightings.
Rabbi Jamie Arnold celebrated his 50th birthday at Congregation Beth Evergreen
With Rabbi Arnold as their first full-time rabbi, the congregation grew quickly from 120 families to 200. The majority came from the Evergreen and Conifer area with some coming from Pine, Georgetown, and Idaho Springs. But over time, the geographic demographic has changed.
“Half of our congregation now live ‘downhill’ in Lakewood, Golden, and Denver, and many come here rather than going to the east side of Denver because it is a pretty drive,” says Rabbi Arnold. “Our board president drives here from Castle Rock!”
“We are incredibly proud of our congregation’s rich history and the positive impact we have made on our community,” says Kathleen “Kat” Connelly, President of the Board. “Our 50th anniversary is a testament to the enduring spirit of our members and our shared commitment to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for all.”
Rabbi Arnold describes the environment at Congregation Beth Evergreen as “mountain Jew minhag” with no high couture or three-piece suits. Instead, people come in sandals and hiking shoes. He brings what he calls an “egalitarian reconstructionist approach, with the rabbi as a facilitator of community engagement, learning, and spiritual growth.” He is particularly proud of his themed music services which incorporate popular music—Grateful Dead, the Beatles, Carole King, Norah Jones, James Taylor—into Jewish liturgy.
“That informality creates a hamish feel in all our gatherings,” he says. “Many people who have come here from the East where formality and solemnity were the dominant feeling in worship find we have a much more playful, joyful vibe.”
That was the tone of the multi-day 50th anniversary celebration which honored the past, celebrated the present, and envisioned the future. Many founding members returned to Evergreen to see the fulfillment of their vision and to light a Yizkor candle for Jewish pioneers who created a spiritual home in the mountains five decades ago.
‘More than just a synagogue’
At the heart of the success of Congregation Beth Evergreen is Rabbi Arnold. In 2025, he will begin his twentieth year of scholarship, music, wisdom, classes on Mussar (ethical-spiritual discipline), tradition, and communal life. Rabbi Arnold is the kind of rabbi who, when asked to officiate at the 50th anniversary renewal of vows for his parents Ellen and Dick Arnold, required that they go through the same training he offers newlyweds. “I think he heard things he was not sure he wanted to know,” says Ellen.
During COVID, Congregation Beth Evergreen built an outdoor amphitheater modeled after Red Rocks to make the congregation a hub and host of art and culture, including spiritual music and theater. The congregation also shares its space with other congregations in need of a physical home, paying back the gift it was given when it was seeking a place to worship before it had a building.
Rabbi Arnold is passionate about interfaith cooperation and dialogue, as evidenced by his leadership of the Evergreen Interfaith Group. He is past President of The Interfaith Alliance of Colorado. Congregation Beth Evergreen has also been active in addressing the need for affordable housing and housing for the unhoused, partnering with other nonprofits and religious organizations to form EChO, which offers emergency overnight shelter from mid-October to May. It was the only shelter operating during COVID in Jefferson County.
With 50 years of history, Congregation Beth Evergreen is now looking ahead to the next 50 years. Rabbi Arnold would like to continue growing interfaith collaboration. The congregation already partners with African American churches in Denver. A Gospel choir sings, and a bishop speaks on Friday nights, and Rabbi Arnold speaks on Sunday mornings.
“I would like to build on this platform, and be a bridge builder within the Jewish community,” Rabbi Arnold says. “In the next 50 years, I would like us to have an identity that is more than just a synagogue, integrating all aspects of the community into what is truly a Jewish Community Center.”
Meanwhile, the congregation will settle for an identity best expressed by its president, Kat Connelly. Congregation Beth Evergreen is, she says, “The happiest place on earth.”