Temple Adat Elohim celebrates 40 years

LEADERS- From left, Cantor David Shukiar, Rabbi Ted Riter and Rabbi Rebecca Dubowe. Rabbi Ted Riter knows the significance of Temple Adat Elohim's 40th anniversary.

After their escape from slavery in Egypt more than 3,000 years ago, Jews wandered the desert for 40 years before landing in Israel.

"I don't want to say we were wandering for 40 years in the Conejo Valley," Riter said, "but we're looking at the Promised Land, to use a biblical metaphor. It's really an exciting time to be here."

The first Reform temple established in Thousand Oaks, Adat Elohim will celebrate its 40th year in the community with a service honoring the original founding families this Fri., June 6 in the sanctuary at 2420 E. Hillcrest Drive.

Robin Hirsch, a member of the synagogue since 1986, spent the past year writing a 51-page history of Adat Elohim. Past president Ken Bock and fellow member Bob Grossmann also worked diligently on the project, which involved collecting photographs and interviewing congregants. The temple's history will be available online and updated when necessary.

Hirsch, 57, who works as a television cameraman, relished listening to the personal stories other members shared with him.

"I have tremendous appreciation for the people who've come and paved the way. I thought it was important for them to tell their story in their own words," said Hirsch, a New England transplant who's lived in Westlake Village for more than 20 years. "It's a wonderful story."

Before Adat Elohim was established, the nearest Reform temple was Temple Beth Torah in Ventura, which took two hours roundtrip by car in 1967.

Tired of traveling, six Jewish families, including Audrey and Bernie Benesch, the temple's longest-standing active members, and Esdra and Ed Pauley, met on May 7, 1967 to discuss starting a Reform congregation in the city where they lived. Ed Pauley, who was the temple's first president, passed away a few months after Hirsch interviewed him for the history project.

The families looked through the phone book for Jewishsounding names, trying to attract members. At a public meeting on Aug. 22 that year at the Conejo Community Center, 16 families signed up to form Adat Elohim's first congregation. Today, more than 650 families are affiliated with the synagogue.

Peggy Frank, 53, has been a member of Adat Elohim for five years, and the youngest of her four daughters, Taylor Lyle, 11, already has her bat mitzvah date set: Jan. 30, 2010. Frank was married to Barry Florence last year at the synagogue.

"They showed me that I could have a home outside of my home," said Frank, who lives in Westlake Village. "I think the temple is really very progressive and yet it really holds on to tradition."

From 1967 to 1972, Adat Elohim's services were split between the rustic setting of Hidden Trails in Thousand Oaks and Pauley's home. When Hidden Trails was used by summer campers, Friday night services were held in the Pauleys' backyard.

In 1972, Adat Elohim moved to the Covenant House in Thousand Oaks, sharing the space with a Methodist church and a Lutheran church.

In September 1979, the temple moved to Hillcrest Drive. And in 1980, congregants purchased the adjacent land and donated it to the temple. After years of wandering from location to location, Adat Elohim finally had a permanent home when the sanctuary was completed in 1997.

"I've been reading it and rereading it and editing the history," said temple administrator Aliza Goland. "I think that some of my favorite things I loved go way back to the beginning, because it talks about the spirit of adventure and the tenacity of this group of people who were determined to create this wonderful community. . . . We're still here and we're still going strong."

The synagogue experienced its greatest growth from 1999 to 2002, when it doubled in size under the guidance of Rabbi Alan Greenbaum, the temple's spiritual leader from 1984 to 2005.

Riter joined the synagogue from Temple Solel in the San Diego area when Greenbaum retired. He hopes to see Adat Elohim continue to thrive.

"It's been a wonderful 40-year journey," said the rabbi. "A vibrant, strong congregation really came out of nothing. We grew into the community and now we're looking at the next 40 years, really the next 100 years."