WILSHIRE SPECIAL SUMMER ISSUE BOULEVARD TEMPLE BULLETIN Volume 101, Number 6 • June/July 2014 The Future According to Rabbi Leder itting in his office and sipping a It should be as eye-opening as a museum, as educational as a Slate-afternoon cappuccino, Rabbi great course, as moving as a great drama, and as peaceful as Leder outlines his current forecast for the ocean.” the future. The health and longevity of As for architecture, Rabbi Leder remains intensely Wilshire Boulevard Temple boil down committed to the completion of the Glazer Campus, which to three essential components in his will once again undergo construction beginning in July for the view: children, architecture, and the new Karsh Family Social Service Center and the renovation congregation’s soul. of the two school buildings. As a reminder to stay focused, “It’s very important that we he keeps a model of the aforementioned campus prominently Rabbi Steven Z. Leder inspire the next generation of Jews displayed on his coffee table. The model also serves to remind because by reaching the children, we him of “a dream that is coming true through the efforts of reach their parents,” he says. “So the success of our schools is thousands of people”—our congregation. critical to the congregation’s mission, and they need to be not “In my view, architecture is a form of spirituality,” Rabbi just good, but excellent.” Leder says, asserting that a well-designed building or place can Excellence is a recurring theme for Rabbi Leder. There actually move people and generate a sense of awe, excitement, is no room for middle ground. Calling himself a “blue-collar or peacefulness. “So the next big thing is to ensure that we rabbi,” Rabbi Leder describes his congregational role as the have two awesome campuses.” “quality control manager for three factories that make Jews.” With that in mind, the rabbi has begun to think not The “factories” are, of course, the Glazer Campus, the Irmas only about the final event center building for the Glazer Campus, and the Wilshire Boulevard Temple Camps in Campus, but also about a campaign to refurbish the Irmas Malibu. “My job is to make sure that whatever we do, we do Campus, which opened in 1998 and now is bursting at the it at the highest level,” he says. “I never want to think of the seams with the success of the Mann Family Early Childhood Temple as second-rate to anything else that I enjoy in L.A. Center and Brawerman Elementary School West, as well as continued on page 2 Save these dates SUMMER Experience IFTAR WOMEN’S HIGH HOLY DAYS THE Ramadan break-fast TORAH STUDY 5775 2014 Thursday, July 10 Starting Friday, July 11 Glazer Campus Irmas Campus see page 10 7:00 p.m. 12:30 p.m. Torah Portion Torah Online: wbtla.org/torahonline Counting as Jews The Book of Numbers ew—not a Jew?” is a game most of us play. We read about what counts. Its first order of business is a census. The ancient “Jsomeone in the news, we meet someone at a party, we sit Israelites are told, “Lift up your heads” and be counted as Jews. next to someone at the movies—we toss out a Yiddish word or Each tribe, each clan, each family, each person counted. two, and we wonder, “Jew—not a Jew?” None of us want to return to biblical times or start It used to be easier to play, but after so many generations dressing in black coats and fur hats, wigs and long skirts. But in America with shortened noses and shortened names, must the alternative be to disappear? Modern, progressive, secularism, humanism, rationalism, pragmatism, atheism, and serious Jews can claim the middle ground between Chasidism less anti-Semitism—the game has gotten tougher. Have we and secularism, between fanaticism and denial. blended in so well we might just disappear? The path will be different for every Jew. But let’s be sure Fact: Eighty-five percent of Jews in Los Angeles don’t our children raise their children as Jews. Let’s fill our homes belong to any sort of Jewish institution. with Jewish books. Visit Israel. Study Torah. Give to Jewish Fact: More than half of us choose a non-Jewish spouse, institutions with the same passion and the same dollars we give and 75 percent of those who do not marry a Jew also do not to the museum, the hospital, the university, and the symphony. raise Jewish children. Those who do raise their children as Jews Let’s heed the ancient commandment, lift up our heads and are heroes to me and heroes to God, but 75 percent do not. be counted, so that “Jew—not a Jew?” is a question that never Given that American Jews are having only 1.4 children per need be asked about us. couple, it’s clear the math is not in our favor. Rabbi Steven Z. Leder This summer we read a book of the Torah called Numbers in English because so much of it concerns who and The Future According to Rabbi Leder (cont.) the burgeoning Religious School. without children and empty “Once we finish the master plan nesters can reach out to help for the Glazer Campus, we need the less fortunate. to focus on the Irmas Campus and “I can’t fully articulate improve that facility,” he says. The the certainty I have about sports field, administrative offices, the abilities and potential of and other spaces are in need of our congregation,” he says renovation, and more parking is in a voice brimming with urgently needed. optimism. “I mean it when I say that we have the talent and Finally, Rabbi Leder feels especially passionate about resources to build an unprecedented community in L.A. promoting a culture of volunteerism at the Temple and “I don’t have any ambition outside of Wilshire motivating congregants to be “producers rather than Boulevard Temple,” Rabbi Leder continues. He considers consumers of Jewish life.” This is how he describes the soul his career at the Temple to be his “other marriage,” alongside of the congregation. “Even if we help a million people a year his 29-year marriage to Betsy. “My job is right here and my at the Karsh Center, I will consider that project a failure if golden years are now,” he says, observing that he’s 54 and we don’t also activate a thousand of our members to help that his father, now 81, has Alzheimer’s. “I recognize that out there,” he says. “I want the Glazer Campus to be a place I’m in a blessed period of my life and all I want to do, in where you will pull into the parking garage, drop off your addition to taking care of people, is make sure that I help child at school, then go into the Karsh Center and help leave behind a powerful, inspiring institution.” other people; a place where thousands of young adults Susan Josephs 2 Glazer and Mann Early Childhood Centers Moving Forward Mazal tov to our graduating Kadima classes! We are so proud of you all and excited to send you forth on your continuing journey. Come back and visit us often—you will always be part of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple family! Transitional Kindergarten Alonim Eshel Harim Kochavim Shamayim 3 Brawerman Elementary School Be an Active Blessing Seated (left to right): Jake Schroeder, Evan Eshel, Maddie Stein, Camryn Edwards, Chloe Rose Sesar, Sydney Small, Jakob Adler, Chloe Eshel Standing: First Row (left to right) Theo Goldstine, Arianna Miller, Wolf Benderson, Cate Stein, Ashira Weinreich, Yasmeen Ohebsion, Talia Glazer, Willow Battista, Emma DuFine, Noah Holiber, Otis Gordon, Tali Meisel, Zach Weiss, Lauren Silver, Berkeley Goldschmidt, Jonathan Green, Lev Ricanati Standing: Second Row (left to right): Ethan Berks, Lucy Rockmore, Olivia Shrager, Gabriela Becher, Abe Kaye, Daniella Levy, Jonah Neustadt, Alex Daum, Jessica Lewin, Andrew Lee, Lily Bragin, Kasey Stein, Lindsey Rosenfeld n Thursday, June 12, 2014, 38 Grade 6 students The Class of 2014 will attend secondary schools Owill stand before family and friends at Brawerman that include Archer School for Girls, Brentwood School, Elementary School’s graduation ceremony and share their Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences, El Rodeo School, reflections on this year’s school theme: “Blessings.” At the Hawthorne School, Harvard-Westlake School, John Adams ceremony, Nadine Breuer, Head of School, will share her Middle School, Lincoln Middle School, Marlborough School, thoughts on this theme, and we pass them along to you here: Milken Community Middle School, Oakwood School, Palms “You have learned to chant blessings and prayers during Middle School, and Windward School. Mazal tov!! your years at Brawerman. You know what the words mean and how they connect us all to the larger Jewish community. You understand that you have blessings, good things in We also congratulate the Brawerman Elementary School Class of 2008 alumni. They will attend the following your lives, for which to be grateful—family, friends, and colleges and universities: Brandeis University, Cal Poly opportunity. You recognize the blessings of having teachers San Luis Obispo, Carnegie Mellon University, Chapman who care, a Jewish tradition to help you walk through the ups University, Duke University, Emerson College, Hofstra University, Lafayette College, New York University, and downs of life, and a community that is family for us. University of California, Berkeley, University of California, “We hope you have also come to understand that Davis, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Miami, blessings are not just to be had or spoken but lived—that you University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin-Madison, have the ability to be an active blessing in the world.