PJTC's Centennial Celebration
PJTC is a 475 family intergenerational congregation with a long history, and is one of the oldest in the area. In fact, we turned 100 years old as of January 2021! (See below for more on how we celebrated.) Over the many years, other congregations have merged with us, which has provided us with a diverse, rich and continually growing community. PJTC seeks to include and accept all those who wish to worship, study, or develop cultural or social ties to Judaism and we warmly welcome interfaith, LGBTQ and non-traditional families into our community. We spent 2021 doing what we do best—supporting our community and planning enriching ways to come together during the pandemic. Once it was safe to gather together in person again, we held numerous fun and exciting events to celebrate!
PJTC's 100th Birthday Party and Museum:
We had a flappin' good time as we time traveled back to the roaring 20s to celebrate PJTC's 100th birthday. We shared and learned about PJTC families' histories, compiled the conversations to be part of PJTC's Centennial Time Capsule. Party-goers enjoyed the Centennial museum, a scavenger hunt, inflatables, birthday cake, balloons, photo booth, and other family-friendly birthday-themed activities and memorabilia, with 20s costumes encouraged! PJTC's Centennial Museum was created by PJTC teens under the guidance of Betsy Kahn.
Centennial Shabbat:
On May 21 and 22, 2022, PJTC hosted a Centennial Shabbat celebration including a festive Friday night oneg and Saturday Shabbat kiddush luncheon. The weekend was filled with rest, love, and celebration of our past hundred years and our future. In addition to our traditional Shabbat happenings, PJTC was honored to receive numerous recognitions from the City of Pasadena and California's State Legislature.
Centennial Gala:
On August 21, congregants and donors enjoyed an elegant evening of cocktails, dinner, and dancing, to celebrate PJTC’s past and future!
Time Capsule:
After many months of preparation, including researching best practices, collecting items to archive, and finding the best location, PJTC dedicated a Centennial Time Capsule on November 12, 2022 at our New Member Havdalah Celebration. By doing this, we were able to combine our past with our future for one final Centennial celebration.
Our Centennial celebrations have now concluded. Thank you for 100 years--here's to 100 more!
Other Past Centennial Events:
Adult Programming: Held February 27, 2022 via ZOOM "Building Good Tents: Shaping the Relational Synagogue of the Future" with Ron Wolfson.
PJTC Is... Video Series
The staff, clergy and lay leadership of Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center are proud to commemorate our centennial anniversary. Over the past 100 years, PJTC has grown with its community to not only provide the Jewish spiritual nourishment it needed, but to also give our members caring support, educational opportunities, engaging activities, community connections and the comfort of knowing that we will continue on for generations to come.
We have come together to make it through the pandemic as a community, and needed wait a little to come together in person to honor our centennial anniversary with fun-filled and enriching programming in 2022. To salute the occasion, we have shared a series of videos the help our congregants express what PJTC means to them.
