City Council Orders Closing of Encino Synagogue

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday ordered an Orthodox Jewish congregation to close a synagogue, which has been operating illegally in a two-bedroom house in a residential neighborhood of Encino, by the end of October. The Sephardic Jewish Center began holding weekly services in a 1,000-square-foot house near the corner of Ventura Boulevard and Lindley Avenue four years ago without getting city permission to operate a house of worship in a residential zone.

Councilwoman Laura Chick said she regretted having to close a religious institution, but added: “It is not possible to ignore a long, disruptive track record.” Last November, a city zoning official turned down the synagogue’s request for a conditional use permit, saying the temple did not belong in a residential area. In January, the Board of Zoning Appeals concurred. The synagogue appealed, first to the planning subcommittee of the council, and on Wednesday, to the full council.

Most of the synagogue’s 60-member congregation are Iranian immigrants who speak little English. Because as Orthodox Jews many feel they should not drive on the Sabbath but must walk to the synagogue, congregants said the closing of the temple will make it harder for them to practice their religion. It will also be more difficult to interact as members of a community, they said, and preserve their culture.

“The old people and the people who are [new arrivals] are the ones who are going to be hurt the most,” predicted temple member Jimmy Younessi, 50, a clothing manufacturer and wholesaler. “They’re going to be cut off from their spiritual nourishment.”

Rabbi Joseph Cohen, the leader of the Sephardic Jewish Center, said he was very disappointed by the City Council’s decision, which gives the congregation until the end of October--so that it can remain open through the Yom Kippur holiday. Fred Gaines, attorney for the synagogue, said the temple leadership is studying its options, which include moving to a different location and suing the city.

Cohen and several neighbors who oppose the temple spoke at the hearing. A week earlier, about 50 worshipers and about a dozen homeowners attended the planning committee hearing.

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Neighbors complained that on many occasions, congregants had blocked driveways with their cars, and that the temple had not been responsive to their concerns until very recently. In the past few years, building inspectors had cited the synagogue for violating city codes dealing with plumbing, illegal heaters and overly high fences.

Although most congregants walk to the synagogue, some do drive and park their cars on the street. In response to neighbors’ concerns, the temple had made arrangements for parking a block away at kosher stores that are closed on the Sabbath--Friday night and Saturday.

Bonnie Kopp, a planning aide to Councilman Marvin Braude, who represents the area, praised the City Council’s decision.

“I think they made the right decision,” Kopp said. “This was a congregation that was too large for the space they were in.”

Gaines, however, accused the City Council of trampling upon the Jews’ constitutional right to practice their religion.

Temple member Danny Yistach, 30, said the temple’s youngest members would also be hurt. With the synagogue closed, he and his wife will no longer be able to take their children to the synagogue for special blessings on their birthdays, as they have in the past. The temple’s Hebrew school, also located in the house, will also be forced to shut down.

His three children have felt “at home there,” said Yistach, a part-time school administrator. “They need that to feel closer to God.”

There are about 30,000 Iranian Jews in Los Angeles--”probably one of the best-kept secrets of Los Angeles Judaism”--according to Zev Garber, Jewish studies instructor at Valley College. Garber serves as a religious and cultural adviser to the community’s International Judea Foundation.

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“They are terribly good at business, but they often feel offended that they are not respected in Los Angeles Jewry except for their affluence,” said Garber, who writes regularly for a local Iranian Jewish monthly magazine.

Most emigrated to this area in the 1980s, he said. Some Iranian Jews have affiliated with Conservative synagogues, but they are culturally and religiously orthodox in their Jewish orientation. Unlike most Orthodox Jews, many do drive cars on the Sabbath, but they tend to be independent and gather in members’ homes rather than go to a large synagogue, he said.

Dart is a Times staff writer and Hwangbo is a special correspondent.