West Valley Synagogues to Launch New Supplemental School for Teens

Two West San Fernando Valley synagogues are opening a new tuition-based Jewish supplemental school for teens in grades 8-12.

The clergy and educators at Shomrei Torah Synagogue (STS) and Temple Aliyah are the driving forces behind the new Jewish Teens Learning Center (JLTC). Erica Katsel, a non-profit professional and lay leader at the synagogues, helped envision the JTLC, an innovative, experiential program for post-b’nai mitzvah engagement – one open to any Jewish teenager throughout the San Fernando Valley.

STS and Temple Aliyah want JLTC to provide an affordable and easily accessible Jewish education for non-day-school students throughout their teenage years. Families do not need to be members of STS or Temple Aliyah to send their child to JLTC.

The new school will offer two programs – the JTeen Learning Seminar, for eighth graders, and Chadash Teen Leadership Program, for 9th-12th graders. Each includes a variety of engaging learning opportunities, featuring diverse guest speakers, roundtable discussions on contemporary issues and leadership training in a dynamic social environment. 

Eighth-graders enrolled in the JTeen Learning Seminar will be coming together for two-hour seminars held every Sunday during the 2022-23 school year. Students explore topics including Jewish history in America; Jewish civic responsibility; Jewish values; environmentalism; combating anti-Semitism; Israel history and culture; and relationships.

The 9-12th graders taking the Chadash Teen Leadership Program will convene for four three-hour sessions, one each quarter, during the upcoming year. The topics are: “Relationships 101,” “History of Jewish Life in America/Intersection of Jewish Values and Politics,” “Jewish Activism: Combating Bigotry and Antisemitism” and “Israel and You.” Along with the mandatory sessions, there will be optional activities for enrollees. 

The curriculum is designed to appeal to Jews from all the major denominations, according to STS.

Classes are slated to begin either in mid-to-late September or immediately following the High Holy Days and will likely be held at STS in West Hills or Temple Aliyah in Woodland Hills. As of press time, the school’s leadership was still finalizing plans.

The launching of the school is an attempt to fill a void in supplemental education caused by the recent closure of L.A. Hebrew High School (LAHHS). In a May 2022 letter addressed to LAHHS donors, alumni and friends, LAHHS Head of School Amittai Benami and Board President Dan Schechter announced the iconic supplemental school was closing down after more than 70 years of serving the community. The two cited decreasing enrollment, declining donor gifts, a change in LAUSD policies regarding the recognition of courses and credits from tuition-based supplemental schools and sociological changes to the L.A. Jewish community landscape as reasons for the closure.

Gil Graff, executive director of Builders of Jewish Education (BJE), attributed the announcement by LAHHS to the evolution of how Jewish families access Jewish education in Los Angeles. When LAHHS was established in Boyle Heights in 1949, there were no Jewish high schools in Los Angeles. Today, however, with the “emergence of the phenomenon of Los Angeles Jewish high schools,” including Milken Community School and de Toledo High School, there is less of a need for an institution such as LAHHS, Graff, a former associate principal of LAHHS, said. 

Incidentally, Rabbi Richard Camras of STS and Rabbi Stewart Vogel of Temple Aliyah, two of the clergy behind JTLC, are both graduates of L.A. Hebrew High School. Vogel was a student of Graff’s in the mid-1970s. They are, in fact, just two of the many LAHHS alumni who went on to significant Jewish leadership roles — others include Craig Taubman and State Senator Ben Allen.

“Its impact over 70 plus years of service to the community was quite powerful,” Graff said of LAHHS.

Meanwhile, the BJE executive director said it was heartening to see those “who enjoyed what at a certain time was the framework for Jewish education” creating new avenues for teen Jewish learning.

“Heaven knows the teen years are important years in the life of a young person and shape who that person is and how he or she views himself and the world, and to have important Jewish experiences in high school years is something those congregations [STS and Aliyah] understand.” – Gil Graff

“It is wonderful, I’m delighted,” Graff said upon hearing the news about JLTC. “Heaven knows the teen years are important years in the life of a young person and shape who that person is and how he or she views himself and the world, and to have important Jewish experiences in high school years is something those congregations [STS and Aliyah] understand.“

Those interested in enrolling in JLTC or in obtaining additional information about the school may contact the STS office at (818) 854-7650 or ctassa@stsonline.org.