Temple Buildings Give Way to New : Religion: An expanded school will replace Adat Ari El structures, Judaism’s oldest in the Valley.

Wrecking crews were demolishing the oldest synagogue offices and classrooms in the San Fernando Valley--built in 1949--when the synagogue’s rabbi reluctantly walked over Monday to point out some of its history.

“I’ve been staying away; it’s very depressing to see this,” Rabbi Moshe Rothblum of Temple Adat Ari El said as he watched workers toss debris from the second floor.

Rothblum said the 950-family North Hollywood congregation needs the space to expand its day school, which now enrolls 240 children through the sixth grade, a 20% increase from three years ago. The demolition began last week as part of a $6.5-million expansion program for the temple.

“It was actually a very simple stucco building,” Rothblum said. But it was where he taught classes in the early 1960s before he went to seminary and where he and synagogue administrators had their desks until April.

Administrative assistant Pearl Fischler, in temporary offices within sight of the skeletal eyesore, said: “I’ve been here 30 years and it is a little difficult to take.”

The 330-seat David Familian Chapel--constructed along with the synagogue offices and classrooms and a familiar sight for 42 years to motorists along Laurel Canyon Boulevard near Burbank Boulevard--will remain.

Rabbi Aaron Wise, who was spiritual leader of the congregation from 1947 to 1978, said the chapel was classed as a state historical monument several years ago, but that status was revoked when it was learned that the building did not meet the 75-year minimum age for the honor.

The chapel has been popular with visitors, largely because of 11 stained glass windows designed in the late 1940s by Wise and a Universal Studios artist, Mischa Kallis. “Each window tells the story of a Jewish holiday,” Wise said.

Temple Adat Ari El, organized by 15 families in 1938 as the first Jewish synagogue in the San Fernando Valley, was known as Valley Jewish Community Center when its first permanent buildings were constructed in 1949. The words and Temple were later added to its name. Eventually, the congregation, affiliated with the Conservative branch of Judaism, adopted the name Adat Ari El (Hebrew for “Congregation Lion of God”).

The temple pioneered in adult education with “as many as 500 people coming to classes at one point,” Wise said. State Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Tarzana), prior to his bar mitzvah, attended classes at the children’s school.

Rothblum said the temple expansion will consist of two school buildings, a new hall to supplement the existing auditorium and an outdoor chapel, with completion expected in two or three years.