Rabbis of LA | Rabbi Stewart Vogel: Serving Multiple Generations

A few weeks ago, grateful members of the temple honored Rabbi Vogel on the occasion of his 30th anniversary of leading the Conservative congregation on a hill in West Hills.

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Ari L. Noonan

March 29, 2023

Rabbi Stewart Vogel

When Stewart Vogel was looking to lead his first congregation after becoming a rabbi, he had specific goals. “I wanted to go to a place where I could stay for a long time, where I could know people, know the community members themselves in a larger context. I wanted to be there for multiple generations, celebrating with the children and grandchildren.”

Thirty years later, his wish has been granted. A few weeks ago, grateful members of the temple honored Rabbi Vogel on the occasion of his 30th anniversary of leading the Conservative congregation on a hill in West Hills.

Who is surprised? Aliyah has only changed rabbis once in the last 55 years, when Vogel succeeded Rabbi Melvin Goldstine in 1993.

It’s kept the rabbi close to home. The Tarzana native who graduated from Taft High School lives 10 miles from where he grew up.

He has had opportunities to change addresses over the years. “But I never seriously considered any offers,” the rabbi said. At the age of 63, how many career men or women can echo Vogel’s sentiments?

“I lov-v-v-e being a rabbi,” he says, “because of the relationships you develop, the way you are able to share sacred moments with people. The longer you are able to share that, the more meaningful they become.

“Now I am going to second-generation weddings. I did their parents. Now I get to do their children. There is nothing better than that.“

“Now I am going to second-generation weddings. I did their parents. Now I get to do their children. There is nothing better than that. B’nai mitzvah, the same.” More succinctly, “In terms of those relationships, I am living the dream.”

In the early 1990s, when Vogel was in his early 30s, he sensed that Temple Aliyah was fertile ground for experiencing what community could feel like.

His arrival aimed at developing a relationship and trust after a quarter-century of Rabbi Goldstine. “It’s like a marriage – it takes time to develop trust.” Both parties must open their hearts to trusting the other. Otherwise, pain and disappointment often follow, the rabbi said. “Over time, we have recognized each other.”

Rabbi Vogel’s initial optimism was rewarded when Aliyah “grew tremendously,” from around 400 families to more than 900 – although Aliyah, like other communities, is dealing with what many synagogues are facing — declining membership.

Instead of claiming credit, he takes a step sideways and says “we grew together.” Vogel’s plan was for Aliyah to continue to evolve into a community with relationships with synagogues around them, that it wasn’t isolated.

When your neighborhood is around the corner from the western end of Ventura Boulevard, isolation can happen.

Verbally and otherwise, the rabbi’s optimism never loses its glow. “We don’t talk about failure,” he said. “No such thing. You figure out what is going to work. We have given ourselves that permission. Seldom do we make grand changes. Instead we say, ‘why don’t we experiment and see how it goes?’”

Lauding “the great longevity we have had in so many areas,” Vogel notes naturally there have been many staff challenges across almost 360 months at Aliyah.

Before joining Temple Aliyah, Vogel was mentored for five years by the legendary Rabbi Harold Schulweis at Valley Beth Shalom, who taught him the pathways for life.

Vogel says he learned humility from Schulweis. “He never knew he was Rabbi Harold Schulweis … One Monday morning I came into the office when he was just hanging up the phone,” Vogel said. “He looked disgusted. When I asked, he said ‘Somebody just called me from New York about my Shabbat morning sermon.’ He said ‘How did they hear about it?’ This was in the 1980s, before social media — I said ‘You are Rabbi Harold Schulweis.’ He didn’t understand that. Great sense of humility.”

To hear Vogel tell it, Schulweis taught him how to be a successful rabbi by example. While many leaders seek to surround themselves with the best personnel, the difference-makers are trusting them and elevating them. “Rabbi Schulweis was wonderful at giving credit and sharing the space,” not coincidentally traits for which Rabbi Vogel is known.

Perhaps the humility he learned from Harold Schulweis is Rabbi Vogel’s most valuable gift.

“I am convinced my sermons will not change – in significant ways – what people are thinking, especially on the challenging issues of relationships,” he says. “In a sermon, I don’t think, with logic, you can convince someone over a matter that is very personal, something of the heart.”

Another lesson was sharing the spotlight, accepting that the pulpit was wide enough for multiple personalities. “The bigger and better they were, the better the community was for it,” Vogel believes.

And he learns from the community as well. On his first day at Aliyah, he made a pledge not to interfere with experts and avenues of congregational business. “Over time, we have grown together,” said the rabbi.

Crucially, he “doesn’t deal with politics. They don’t exist in our congregation. Through the model of Hillel and Shammai, we have learned how to have respectful dialogue. We have learned you can disagree with somebody and to still respect the person.” But in the last several years, politics has seeped into the Temple, as they have for much of the world.

Rabbi Vogel, though, has planted his feet.

“I have done everything I can to say we are not going to talk politics from the bimah. We are going to create a synagogue where people of all political stripes are welcome.”

While Vogel has taken hits from both sides, he remains committed to perhaps his most fundamental principle: “My job as a rabbi is to hold the Jewish people together in difficult moments.”