Our New Home
We are thrilled to have moved into our beautiful new home in late May of 2026.
A New Home on Bell Road
In 2021, Temple Chai’s board and members made the difficult brave decision to sell the congregation’s longtime home on Marilyn Road in Phoenix to create a new, modern, and secure facility that would serve future generations of the congregation.
With Rabbi Segal’s arrival in 2022, the congregation joined together to support a shared vision of a home that was modern yet warm and inviting; thoughtfully crafted for flexible and multifunctional space that encourages prayer, relationships, and learning; honors nature and brings the outdoors inside; and ensures our safety with state-of-the-art security while continuing to welcome all who seek community.
In 2023, Temple Chai launched a capital campaign to fund this vision. With the generous support of our community, we selected Jones Studio Inc. as our architect and Robert E. Porter Construction Company Inc. to build it. We broke ground with great joy in April of 2025, and we will dance our Torah Scrolls into our new building at the end of May, 2026.
Our New Home:
Many Layers of Meaning
Our New Home:
Many Layers of Meaning
The Vision
The Vision
Our new campus is organized around joy and relationship: the easy movement between indoor and outdoor activity, structures and gardens held together by landscape as much as by walls. Flexibility is built into its bones to remain adaptable as the years pass; spaces that open to one another and to the courtyards, to unify the congregation’s full and diverse community.
Our tradition teaches that a synagogue must embody three core aspects:Beit K’nesset (a house of gathering), Beit Midrash (a house of study), and Beit T’filah (a house of prayer). We are thrilled that our new building welcomes the community to engage in these three poignant purposes and more.
The Shape
The Shape
The Shape
The shape and the angles of our building are meaningful. The building is a simple plan with two volumes rotated away from each other by twelve degrees, connecting back to the unity of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. That angled space become our lobby atrium, a place to mix and enjoy each other’s company.
On that basis, the plan for our campus is organized around the idea of a deconstructed Magen David, Jewish Star. The shards of the star are expressed in the language of the architecture throughout our campus; keep your eye open for the diagonal angles of the triangle throughout our space.
Security and Welcome
Security and Welcome
Security and Welcome
Due to the real concerns about safety for the Jewish community in our day and age, our architects at Jones Studio promised from the outset that our campus would be incredibly secure, and at the same time, they would not compromise on the values of welcome and inclusion. Our perimeter walls are designed as welcoming gardens first, inviting in everyone who wishes to be present in community and incorporating the beauty of our natural Arizona landscape.(A fun fact: our perimeter walls begin at 8 feet and angle up to 12 feet, in yet another nod to the 12 tribes of Israel.)
With the support of a security grant from the Center for Jewish Philanthropy (CJP), our campus incorporates multiple layers of security while remaining warm, welcoming, and accessible to our community.
Mezuzot
Mezuzot
Mezuzot
The unique Mezuzot adorning our main entrance, sanctuary entrance, and ECC were custom designed by local artist Sue Goldsand, who also designed the “Weaving Shalom” glass art piece celebrating our Shalom Center’s caring work, which has long adorned our walls. Goldsand worked with a group of Temple Chai members to vision these pieces to mark the entrances into our congregational gathering, worship, and learning spaces.
Mi Cha Mocha Café
Mi Cha Mocha Café
Mi Cha Mocha Café
We hope that you will relax and enjoy a cup of coffee in our café, playfully named after one of the prayers of our shabbat and daily worship services. Offering a gathering place, warm beverages, and high-speed wifi, this space is a daily hub of schmoozing, relaxation, and activity.
Beit Midrash
Beit Midrash
Another very special space in our new building is our Beit Midrash.The words Beit Midrash mean “House of Study,” and this intimate space will serve as a classroom for study groups, a meeting room to serve the needs of our community, and an intimate worship space for small minyan services. It is home to the ark from the Small Sanctuary (or “barn”) on Marilyn Road.The Ner Tamid (Eternal Light) above the ark in the Beit Midrash is evocative of an infinity symbol, reminding us of God’s eternality and unending care for us.
Our Sanctuary
Our Sanctuary
The sanctuary entry portal features dramatic wood and lighting, highlighting the beautiful Twelve Tribes metalwork that adorned the main sanctuary ark in our longtime home on Marilyn Road.
As one enters the sanctuary, the naturally finished wood beams above draw inspiration from the Sukkah, the temporary shelters built during the holiday of Sukkot each year as reminders of the temporary shelters of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness and of the preciousness and fragility of life. The white fabric draped between the beams is a multilayer symbol, evoking the feeling of a tallit enfolding us, the fabric of a chuppah above us, or the Tent of Meeting in which the Israelites sought God during their wilderness journey. Our sanctuary is indeed our Tent of Meeting and our Sukkat Shalom, our shelter of peace and wholeness.
Along the Sanctuary’s north angled wall is a sequence of seven slot windows. This sequence tells the story of the 7 days of creation. The first holds the stained glass mosaics that were donated to Temple Chai by our first 75 founding families and which were a beloved feature of our original “Small Sanctuary” on Marilyn Rd. In this sanctuary, they have been set in custom-crafted wood frames in the first featured slot window, representing the first day, when God said, “Y’hi Or, let there be light.” Each successive window marks a day, the intervals between them traced by linear accent lighting across seven faceted planes. The memorial garden placed directly east of the final window closes the sequence where creation ends and the gift of the garden begins: “Adonai God planted a garden in Eden, in the east” (Genesis) 2:8.
The Ark
The Ark
Our most sacred possessions, our Torah Scrolls are housed in our beautiful new ark. The ark is more than a vessel for our Torah Scrolls. It is a sacred focal point for memory, learning, community, and the passing of Torah from generation to generation. With assistance from Jones Studio, a group of members joined together with the clergy team in designing our ark. The core of the ark is a marriage of the Magen David (Jewish star) with a prism. Three pillars highlight the Hebrew word Emet, Truth, whose letters (Aleph, Mem, and Tav) are the first, middle, and final words of the Hebrew alphabet. With our tradition and our Jewish values at the center (symbolized by the Magen David), we are reminded that new layers of truth (Emet) are uncovered as we view any teaching or topic from a new angle, as a prism reveals new aspects and colors of light. Like a prism revealing many colors within a single beam of light, our community is enriched by the many voices and perspectives that come together as one. The three pillars at the center are themselves symbolic: They remind us of the three siblings, Moses, Miriam & Aaron, who led the Israelites through their varied gifts; and we are reminded of the Midrash (parable) that teaches when Moses (center pillar) raised his hands to assist in the miracle of the parting of the sea, Miriam and Aaron (the outer pillars) held Moses’s hands aloft.
Ner Tamid (Eternal Light)
Ner Tamid (Eternal Light)
Above the Ark is a downward angled skylight with a custom cast glass Ner Tamid, Eternal Light. This is a one-of-a-kind installation created by local class artist at World Glass Designs. This piece is inspired by God leading the Israelites through the wilderness with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21), reminding them of God’s continued care and guidance through their journey. The Ner Tamid is kindled by both sunlight and hidden light fixtures, as the light of God’s presence is never extinguished.
Hebrew Lettering
Our ark doors feature three Hebrew letters, Aleph, Mem, and Tav which make up the word “Emet,” Truth.
Inside the ark, above we find an excerpt from Micah 6:8: Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.