Temple Emanuel is a

Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill#The Yorkshire Associati ...

synagogue in

Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. B ...

Location

It is located at 300 N Clark Drive in Beverly Hills, California.Official website: Homepage
/ref>Mathis Chazanov
Temple Emanuel Congregation Rejects Merger : Religion: Despite support by acting rabbi and board, members voted against joining Wilshire Boulevard Temple. Decision leaves a $2-million debt and squelches hopes of easy solution to finding a new rabbi.
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The Los Angeles Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'', December 09, 1993

History

The synagogue was founded in 1938.Marc Wanamaker, ''Beverly Hills:: 1930–2005'', Arcadia Publishing, 200

/ref>Official website: About Temple Emanuel
/ref> The first rabbi, Ernest Trattner, served until 1947, when he left amid dissension among the congregation, culminating in litigation. The current building, completed in 1953, was the first religious building designed by architect Sidney Eisenshtat, who went on to become a noted designer of synagogues and Jewish academic buildings. Built with red brick and concrete, it is considered an important example of modernist synagogue architecture."Temple Emanuel"

Los Angeles Conservancy The Los Angeles Conservancy is a historic preservation organization in Los Angeles, California. It works to document, rescue and revitalize historic buildings, places and neighborhoods in the city. The Conservancy is the largest membership based ...

(accessed 2014-10-06). Inside, the Belle Chapel presents a permanent memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.David M. Szonzyi, ''The Holocaust: An Annotated Bibliography and Resource Guide'', KTAV Publishing House, Inc., 1985, pp. 278-27

/ref> The sculpture inside the chapel was designed by Dr Eric May and donated by Nicolai Joffe. Isaiah Zeldin served as one of its rabbis from 1958 until he left to found

Stephen S. Wise Temple Stephen Wise Temple is a large Reform Jewish congregation in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1964 by the late Rabbi Isaiah Zeldin, with 35 families, the congregation grew rapidly. At various times in its histo ...

in Bel Air in 1964.Los Angeles

Jewish Virtual Library Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

Rabbi Zeldin was preceded by Bernard Harrison; after Rabbi Harrison's death, a chapel was dedicated in his honor. Edward Krawll was cantor for many years. Meanwhile, comedian

Groucho Marx Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (; October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, stage, film, radio, singer, television star and vaudeville performer. He is generally considered to have been a master of quick wit an ...

was a congregant. By 1993, the synagogue had a US$2-million debt. One of the proposed solutions was to merge with the

Wilshire Boulevard Temple Wilshire Boulevard Temple, known from 1862 to 1933 as Congregation B'nai B'rith, is the oldest Jewish congregation in Los Angeles, California. Wilshire Boulevard Temple's main building, with a sanctuary topped by a large Byzantine revival dome an ...

, a large Reform synagogue located at Western and Vermont avenues in

Koreatown A Koreatown (Korean: 코리아타운), also known as a Little Korea or Little Seoul, is a Korean-dominated ethnic enclave within a city or metropolitan area outside the Korean Peninsula. History Koreatowns as an East Asian ethnic enclave have ...

. However, Temple Emanuel's congregation narrowly voted to reject the merger, deciding that it would change the traditional culture of the synagogue too much. Finances were stabilized by donations, and a capital campaign eventually yielded some $10 million. The building underwent a substantial renovation in 2011, under the supervision of Rios Clementi Hale Studios.

At present

From 1994–2015,

Laura Geller Laura Geller (born 1950) is an American rabbi. She serves as the rabbi emerita of Temple Emanuel in Beverly Hills, California. Early life and education Geller was raised in Brookline, Massachusetts until she was 15, when her family moved to New ...

had served as senior rabbi. This made her the first female rabbi to lead a major metropolitan congregation. Rabbi Jonathan Aaron has served as senior rabbi since 2015. The clergy team who work alongside Rabbi Aaron are Rabbi Sarah Bassin (Associate Rabbi), Rabbi Adam Lutz (Assistant Rabbi/Director of Education), and Cantor Lizzie Weiss. In 2019, the School and community building, across the street, was sold to a developer. In 2021, the School and community building was demolished for a future apartment or Condominium project.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Emanuel (Beverly Hills, California) 1938 establishments in California Synagogues in Beverly Hills, California Reform synagogues in California Synagogues completed in 1953 Jewish organizations established in 1938