On June 12, Temple Brith Achim will hold an installation ceremony for its new spiritual leader, Cantor Tifani Coyot. But really, the occasion will mark the start of the new era that the King of Prussia synagogue has been preparing for since 2023, when its previous spiritual leader, Rabbi Eric Lazar, left after 20 years.
Since then, the synagogue has raised over $400,000 during a capital campaign, overhauled its website and newsletter, installed a youth lounge, relaunched a youth group, opened a preschool with the Kaiserman JCC and hired Coyot. The cantor was brought on after almost two years of congregational conversations and deliberative searching, a process that an interim rabbi, Chana Leslie Glazer, helped along.
But now, Cantor Coyot is here. Actually, she’s been here for almost a year. And in that time, she has brought energy.
“There’s so much going on, whether I actually experience it or I read about it in a newsletter or an email,” said Steve Kantrowitz, a member of TBA since 1983 and a former synagogue president.
In the year since Coyot started, TBA has continued the growth process that began before her arrival. A press release about her installation detailed the changes: “TBA has launched a new youth choir called Shir Squad, a bereavement support group, a Sunday adult education program that engages parents, interfaith collaboration with Valley Forge Presbyterian Church and Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, and a ShabbaTone and Once Upon a Shabbat series that has drawn hundreds of people into the sanctuary.”
The congregation, which had about 160 member families before Coyot’s arrival, has also grown, according to the release. New members include families who had lapsed before but have now returned, and new families who had never belonged to a synagogue. The religious school has also grown 25% during the 2025-26 school year.
The TBA kids’ choir sings the national anthems at the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia’s Yom HaShoah commemoration in April 2026. (Courtesy of Temple Brith Achim)
In December, TBA, Radnor Parks & Recreation and the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia teamed up to bring a Chanukah festival to Radnor for the first time. While planning the event and spreading the word, Coyot realized the extent to which the KOP area had a large population of Jewish residents and Jewish-owned businesses. It just hadn’t been organized on a consistent basis before, as TBA was really the only Jewish institution in the area.
“A lot of businesses are owned by Jews here in Radnor, and we didn’t even know it. A lot of people came forward wanting to be part of it,” the cantor told Philadelphia Jewish Exponent at the time, adding she hoped to make the Chanukah festival an annual event.
“I can’t believe the amount of things that we’ve accomplished this year. It’s astonishing,” she said currently.
But Coyot and her congregation believe this is only the beginning. As the email stated, they are embarking on another capital campaign, this one to transform the sanctuary and social hall’s audio-visual systems. The fundraising campaign has a goal of raising $65,000 for new speakers in both spaces, a centralized touchscreen control system for operating microphones and “zone-specific audio,” wireless microphones, in-ear monitors and video-display monitors. TBA aims to use those monitors to make “every word of every service visible and accessible to every person in the room,” the email said.
Coyot explained that, due to COVID closures and the ensuing transition process, TBA has a long list of facility upgrades to make in the coming years. She estimated that the sound system, for example, is more than 20 years old. But the cantor is confident that the congregation can raise the money.
After all, she feels the same energy that Kantrowitz mentioned. Five hundred people came out to the Chanukah festival in December; the cantor expected more like 200. Several other events over the past year have drawn over 100 participants. Coyot is trying to tap into this energy as she seeks funds for the sanctuary and social hall. She’s reaching out to congregants, as well as colleagues, friends and family members.
“I wake up on many days invigorated and excited and deeply fulfilled,” she said.