Our Inclusive Community

Our Journey to a More “Belonging” Community  
“Behold how good and pleasant it is for all to dwell together in unity” Psalm 133  

At Makom Solel Lakeside, we pride ourselves on being a welcoming congregation. 
We are intentional about creating a "belonging" community across the areas of interfaith, LGTBQIA+, racial/ethnic diversity, disability and age. We truly want our makom to be a place where all can dwell together in unity including during worship, Adult Education, Lev Learning, Tikkun Olam and with our infrastructure/building. 

Makom Solel Lakeside represents our spiritual home. Makom (pronounced with a short a “ah” and a long o “oh” and an emphasis on the second syllable) means place—a place where God’s spirit prevails. Makom first appears in The Torah in the story of creation. God gathers all of the water together so that the dry land, the Makom, may appear. It describes the coming together of different sources to create one place, one future, one spiritual home.

Makom is an aspirational name as our community works together to build our place in the world. We build a place filled with spirit, with learning, with justice, with vision and with love. We are stronger together. We have many paths to meaningful Judaism to walk together. Makom is a word filled with holiness.

Finally, our name is historical. Solel and Lakeside remain important even as we look forward to where we are going. In the creation story, the Makom does not just appear, it is the bringing together of what was already there, already existing in different forms and locations. Our separate communities have served us well and our 120 years of history deserve to be preserved and the best of our past carried forward. We carry a great spirit and energy with us into the future.