Temple Attendance Drops as People Dodge Spraying

Malathion spraying in the East Valley on the Jewish Sabbath cut attendance at Friday night services by as much as half and forced synagogues to shorten services so members could return home before the application began, rabbis said Saturday.

“Just a trickle showed up,” said Cantor Walter Flexo of the Valley Beth Israel in Sun Valley.

Despite rabbis’ pleas Friday to postpone the malathion application, the Department of Food and Agriculture went ahead with spraying, but started it an hour later.

“It was decided it would not be detrimental to the program to extend it another hour to give people a chance to get off the streets,” said Fred Meyer, deputy director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Medfly Project.

Councilman Joel Wachs, who represents the area, joined the rabbis at a Friday news conference in North Hollywood. Wachs said the refusal to cancel the spraying was particularly insensitive because religious tradition calls on Jews to walk to services.

“Thus, every Friday, thousands of men, women and children throughout the area will be faced with the choice of either exposing themselves to direct malathion spraying or being unable to practice their religion,” Wachs said.

Spokeswoman Natalie Bosecker from the Department of Food and Agriculture said spraying will begin at 10 p.m. whenever it is scheduled for Fridays. The Jewish Sabbath begins at sunset on Fridays and ends at sundown Saturday.

Rabbis fear Friday sprayings will cause a replay of what happened this weekend. About 250,000 Jews live in the San Fernando Valley, according to the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles. Friday’s spraying covered a 47-square-mile area of Studio City, Sylmar, Panorama City, North Hollywood and Sun Valley.

At the Valley Beth Israel, only about 40 of the usual 85 worshipers showed up for the service, which the rabbi changed to reflect how “disgraceful” he thought the spraying was, Flexo said.

“We were rushing through the service with the idea in mind of not relaxing and enjoying a religious service--but to get home quick,” he said.

Flexo said the attendance at Saturday morning’s service also was low, which is unusual because the synagogue’s members, most of whom are elderly, usually come out in good weather.

Rabbi Meier Schimmel of Congregation Beth Meier in Studio City called the low attendance “heartbreaking.”

No children attended, he said, and the worshipers were impatient to get home. “There was tension.”

Rabbi Moshe Rothblum of Adat Ari El in North Hollywood called the later start for the spraying an improvement but said, “The only problem is there are times when services don’t end that early.”

The decision to push back Friday’s malathion application by one hour has sparked a campaign by one anti-spraying activist to bring religious leaders into the fight.

“You start getting religious people involved, and suddenly, things get a little more powerful,” said Susan Spector, a founder of Mothers and Others Opposed to Malathion Spraying in North Hollywood.

“They have clout. People respect their opinions,” Spector said. “The clergy generally are supposed to look out and take care of those who don’t have, the homeless and the poor. I would like the clergy and the rabbis to stand side by side, saying ‘Stop this.’ Gov. George Deukmejian is not listening to anyone else, maybe he’ll listen to God’s people.”

Spector called the 10 p.m. Friday sprayings a way for the government to appease the public and discourage phone calls protesting the malathion program.