Non-Jews Provide Key Community Support

They are security guards, schoolteachers, cooks and banquet
hall waiters. They are waitresses, agency and museum executives and
walkie-talkie-toting synagogue maintenance workers. There are hundreds of
non-Jewish support staff at synagogues and other Jewish institutions throughout
Southern California, and they are integral to the life of the Jewish
community.

“Amazing, amazing people,” said Conservative Rabbi Mark
Diamond, executive director of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California. “I
don’t think our Jewish institutions could function properly without the efforts
of our non-Jewish support staff and even sometimes senior staff.”

Here, then, are three representative profiles of the
commitment and professionalism of these vital people:

Louis Martinez, 67.

Employer: Sinai Temple, Westwood. Martinez has worked at Sinai
Temple for the past 20 years. He plans to retire this year for health reasons
on a synagogue pension.

Occupation: “Officially, I’m the superintendent and head
custodian. Normally, I’m an electrician, and I fix everything.”

Background: Martinez attends services at a Catholic church
with his wife. Their 19-year-old adopted daughter from Guatemala attends the University
of San Francisco. Martinez has lived for 20 years in an apartment on the temple
grounds.

“I know this building,” he said. “When I have to vote, my
voting place is here. When I knew someone passed away, I feel so sad. If you
know them from only one ‘hello’ every weekend, they are like a part of my
family.”

What He Will Miss Most in Leaving Sinai Temple: Rabbi David
Wolpe. Martinez records each of Wolpe’s Sabbath sermons. “I love him. For good
behavior and general things, you don’t have to be Jewish. His speeches are for
everybody.”

Marciel Cano, 43.

Employer: Valley Beth Shalom, Encino.

Occupation: Maintenance staff member/parking lot attendant.
Cano oversees the synagogue’s large parking lot, which serves the congregation
attending services and weekend events and the schoolchildren and teachers on
weekdays. He is usually the first person at the synagogue each morning.

“I open the temple every day,” Cano said. “I’m the first
person here every day. It’s hard to enforce [parking] rules when you see people
every day.”

Background: Cano, who was raised Catholic, is originally
from El Salvador, where he has an adult daughter. He is single and has worked
at Valley Beth Shalom for 13 years.

One of His Proudest Moments: Cano was one of six synagogue
workers who quickly moved seven Torahs to safety after a May 7 arson attack.

“[The Torah] is a very valuable part of the religion,” Cano
said. “We did it because we think it was the right thing at that moment. This
job is different from other jobs. You feel like part of the congregation.”

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Dorothy Mackendrick, 31.

Employer: Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles.

Occupation: Assistant education director. “I manage all of
the school programming for all of the kids who come through on field trips.”
she explained, “and I also manage the teacher professional development
program.”

Background: Mackendrick was raised Presbyterian in Michigan
and comes from a Swedish/German/English/Scottish family. She studied political
science at Wellesley and is married to a high school English teacher.
Mackendrick has worked at the Skirball since October 1994.

What She Loves About Her Job: “Because the mission of the
cultural center is based on the values of Judaism, including hospitality and
education and caring for the earth — sort of the whole idea of tikkun olam
[heal the world] — that is a way that I find myself really connecting,” she
said.

“Everybody’s background [at Skirball] is valued.”
Mackendrick continued. “Everything that we do is infused with Jewish values.
And so it depends on how you see what Judaism is. And I think that’s the most
important thing, finding those connections.” Â