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Back From the Brink

It could happen to any congregation: A popular rabbi leaves, taking with him or her 100 or more member households. A natural disaster occurs, plunging members into the financial depths and causing a lengthy halt to donations or even dues.
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June 8, 2000

It could happen to any congregation: A popular rabbi leaves, taking with him or her 100 or more member households. A natural disaster occurs, plunging members into the financial depths and causing a lengthy halt to donations or even dues. Or a synagogue, anticipating a period of growth, finds itself in over its head with an expanded, expensive facility.

But when a congregation gets hit with two or three of these scenarios, along with the usual funding problems faced by any synagogue, it can spell disaster – which is nearly what happened to Temple Solael and Shomrei Torah, the two most prominent synagogues in West Hills. Fortunately, both synagogues are working out creative solutions to keep their congregations alive.

Of the two, Temple Solael came the closest to bankruptcy and dissolution. The 1990s saw the temple struggle through the loss of two rabbis and the ensuing battle of internal politics each time. Then came the 1994 Northridge earthquake, which affected both the facility and many members personally. Then the temple lost nearly 50 percent of the total membership while trying to maintain the same budget that had served the congregation at its peak.

Rabbi Ron Herstik, who was hired to lead Temple Solael less than four years ago, said he had no idea what he was walking into.

“When I was negotiating to come here in April of ’96 I was told that Solael had more than 300 families,” Herstik said. “By the time I came on board in August they had only 240. Now there’s a normal attrition of about 10 to 15 percent when going through a transition, but the loss of that many caused a terrible hemorrhaging of the congregation. On top of that, there had been no similar reduction in overhead, so we were looking at a budget of $900,000 for only 240 families.”

The combined troubles led Herstik and Solael’s leadership to seek out a merger with another Reform congregation. They were rejected by a number of parties but drew interest from Temple Judea. Located in Tarzana, Judea faced the opposite problem: a skyrocketing membership that was causing it to outgrow its present facility, along with a geographic shift of families commuting in from further west. After lengthy negotiations, the merger finally got the green light the last week of May.

The new congregation, to be known as Temple Judea/Tarzana Campus at the location on Lindley Avenue and Temple Judea/West at the Solael site on Valley Circle Boulevard, will employ three rabbis: Herstik, Judea’s senior rabbi, Donald Goor, and new hire Daniel Moskovitz, who has served as education director at Judea and at Kol Tikvah in Woodland Hills.

According to Goor, both sites will be full-service synagogues, including an early childhood education department, religious school, Shabbat and holiday services, and adult education classes. The congregation will have one board of directors with representatives from both sites.

“The merger has benefits on two levels, one practical and one philosophical,” said Goor. “On a practical level is the pure convenience of it. It will enable our members in the West Valley to have a synagogue close to their home and give us the room to offer more to our congregation by giving us both the space and the staff. On a philosophical level, we’re at a time when it is important to look at how to open doors to the Jewish community. With two staffs and two sites, we can begin to look at new ways to open those doors.”Michael Robbins is chair of the merger committee overseeing the transition from two synagogue families to one. Ironically, he and his family were once members of Temple Solael and left about six years ago to join Temple Judea, where he now serves as vice president of the finance committee.

“What I like about Judea is it is a very large congregation, the third largest in Los Angeles for the Reform movement with one of the largest Hebrew schools in the United States. It is a big place, but it really doesn’t feel that way. It has been very personal for us, and that has increased our commitment and our involvement,” Robbins said, adding that he and his wife had not been as involved at Solael, despite its small size.

While Solael sought help from outside the synagogue to resolve its weighty financial problems, Shomrei Torah looked within to bail itself out. The 600-member congregation was itself the child of a merger in 1994 between Congregation Beth Kodesh, led by Rabbi Eli Schochet, and Temple Beth Ami, led by Rabbi David Vorspan.

Beth Kodesh had long owned the property on Valley Circle Boulevard, a prime piece of real estate, and shortly after the merger began building a $5 million facility with a beautiful sanctuary built in an acoustically perfect semicircle, two social halls and stained-glass windows throughout; an elaborate kosher kitchen and office for Michael Cohen’s famous Majestic Catering; a two-story school building with two play yards; and a large parking lot. It was the synagogue the congregation had always dreamed of, but over the years the dream turned into a nightmare of mounting debt as the time to make the final, enormous balloon payment drew near.

Part of the problem lay in a decision that looked like a good idea at the time: In an effort to attract more members, the congregation had never required contributions to its building fund. This family-friendly solution ensured that the principal on the building loan remained untouched. The situation was also not helped by the departure last year of Vorspan, who left along with many former Beth Ami members after Schochet stepped down as senior rabbi and a new leader, Rabbi Richard Camras, was brought in to take his place. Although new members soon flowed in to make up the difference and the operational budget remained sound, Camras and the temple board still faced the challenge of dealing with the loan on the building.

In a remarkable display of unity, the congregation decided to buy out the loan themselves. Financial secretary Leah Kuluva and her husband, Neil, both longtime members of the congregation, proposed at a meeting this past spring that 100 families or individuals each loan the synagogue $50,000, to be paid back in seven years’ time with interest. At press time, the congregation had reached the 40 percent mark toward its goal of $5 million.

Kuluva said she was amazed by the response.”People we never expected to stood up and volunteered. Some people who could not give $50,000 formed their own groups so they could be part of saving the synagogue,” she said. “The support ran across the gamut – young, old, people who are involved and people we never see. There was no commonality except that they wanted to see Shomrei Torah succeed.”

In addition, a majority of the congregation voted to institute a mandatory assessment, with each family contributing an amount between $50 and $100 each month. Members can reduce their contribution by bringing in new members, who in turn will benefit from a discounted building fund schedule similar to those of neighboring synagogues.

“It’s a win-win situation for everybody,” said Camras. “The synagogue is in a position of strength for the first time in over a year, and with Cantor Joel Fox coming on full-time and the increased enrollment in our school, I am confident we will continue to grow in membership.”Kuluva shared in the rabbi’s optimism.

“We have a young and vibrant rabbi we hope will bring in all kinds of new and innovative programs, building upon our already successful programs with his own style. We just need some time,” Kuluva said. “Hopefully in seven years we will be in a better place and be the talk of the Valley.”

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