Help Us Build The Selma Temple's Future

Temple Mishkan Israel was initially established to meet the needs of its community - at the time, that was Selma's bourgeoning Jewish community. Since the 1970’s however, Selma's Jewish population has dwindled. At the same time, the city has suffered the impacts of systemic disinvestment, leaving it short on robust, community-facing educational and cultural resources.

While recent economic development efforts in the city have yielded modest progress, there is more work to be done to ensure that city residents have equitable access to high-quality educational and cultural programming and facilities. A restored and re-enlivened Temple Mishkan Israel can help fill this critical gap for Selma residents.

The Selma Temple is focused on merging the congregation's past with the present needs of its home city. Join us.

To realize our ambitious vision, we are fundraising against two critical efforts:

First Effort

Restore & Revitalize

Second Effort

Reconnect & Reuse

First Effort

Restore & Revitalize

Protect and preserve the historic Temple structure – including restoration of the original stained-glass windows and other architectural features, updates to critical electric, waterproofing, and mechanical systems, and ADA-accessibility updates.

The result will be a multi-faceted Temple Mishkan Israel that is stabilized, updated, and primed for diverse, community-centered future use:

  • The temple’s sanctuary will be preserved in its present format, to be used as a Jewish place of worship and space for special events and Jewish high holidays. 

  • Space within the temple facilities will be designated to house artifacts from Selma’s Jewish community, honoring and protecting the story of Jewish Selma and its historic impact on the city – and highlighting the ways that knowledge of Jewish Selma can lead to broader cultural and historical understanding.

  • A renovated Community Room and updated classrooms will provide space for Selma City Schools, and neighboring school systems, to utilize the temple as a venue for field trips and other special educational initiatives.

  • The Temple will be appropriately outfitted to serve as a community center, playing host to future interactive programming that could include musical performances, cultural presentations, and lectures.

The Selma Temple is committed to the use of local labor for building and restoration efforts as a means of further supporting the Selma economy.

 

Second Effort

Reconnect & Reuse

Alongside and following the stabilization of the building, Selma Temple efforts and resources will shift to launch and sustain programming efforts, connect with community, and ensure future operations. A priority of this effort will be to identify an on-the-ground community leader who will serve as The Selma Temple’s first Executive Director. With support from The Selma Temple’s board members, the Executive Director will focus initially on fostering connections and conversations with Selmians across the community, which will shape the direction and composition of The Selma Temple’s eventual programmatic offerings. With this valuable input, The Selma Temple will be equipped to:

  • Provide equitable access to needed, and wanted, educational and cultural resources and programming

  • Focus on complementing and amplifying current community-facing work, particularly work being done by persons of color

  • Provide an inclusive space for all Selmians to collaborate and learn

Check back here for updates as we accomplish our early milestones, continue to develop our roadmap, and grow our organization.

How You Can Help

With your support, The Selma Temple will be poised to preserve the meaningful history of Jewish Selma while providing all Selmians with access to a powerful cultural and educational resource – a renewed Temple Mishkan Israel.

Contributing to the betterment of the world can start here – in Selma.