Our Environment

Our ner tamid, our eternal light, is powered by the sun. Created in 1935, this historic ner tamid is another way we honor our past and our environment, incorporating already existing art with a renewed vision and purpose. Read more about our ner tamid. 

Our yahrzeit wall uses natural stones as markers of remembrance rather than electric lights. The use of natural stone has symbolic meaning, mimicking the custom of placing stones on a gravestone when visiting a gravesite, but also speaks to our commitment to sustainability. Read more about our yahrzeit memorial wall. 

The almond blossom, a symbol of creation, expresses our gratitude and appreciation for the natural world in which we live. Read more about Jubilee, our almond blossom sculpture.

The rain gardens in our parking lot are swales planted with a specific combination of water-loving plants. During storms, rainwater is collected in these swales. The plants help to filter the water before it is returned to the ground, and the swales are designed to quickly drain back into the ground. These rain gardens also help to filter the water from storms to clean it and contribute to a more pleasant, attractive, and healthy ecosystem.

After years of hard work and support from TBE’s Green Team, TBE added solar panels in December 2016! See our solar production here.

Our donor wall is made of repurposed items from our old building. Look closely for the mesh ark curtain and arms from the menorah that graced the exterior of the old building. Read more about our donor recognition display. 

In our efforts to keep our carbon footprint as low as possible, we installed energy efficient kitchen appliances. Our bathrooms are outfitted with water efficient toilets and energy efficient hand dryers. Light sensors are used in every room. We selected environmentally friendly flooring materials and the sky lights enable us to minimize the use of electric lighting during the day.

Our glass walls bring the glory of seasonal transformation inside for us to experience and appreciate daily.

The warmth and simplicity of our wood walls, flooring, and colors serve to blur the boundaries dividing inside from outside.

The glass walls afford us an expansive view of the beautiful natural setting of our makom, blurring the boundary between inside and out, flooding our space with natural light.

As we go through the seasons of life, we experience the fullness of life together surrounded by views of our natural setting.

During construction, the contractor implemented a plan to minimize the amount of waste that would go to landfills. Asphalt, brick, and concrete were separated out to be ground up and turned into gravel by a recycling facility. These and other efforts during construction minimized the total amount of waste produced and allowed us to recycle the largest extent of the waste produced possible.