THE LAINERS : A Life of Commitment to Jewish Values

Octogenarians Sara and Simha Lainer look back at a life of hard work, pursuing opportunities across three continents, always mindful of giving to others as they labored for themselves. And they feel amply rewarded.

But the community that gathered recently to recognize the Lainers’ lifelong contributions feels even more rewarded.

About 600 community leaders, educators, friends, family members and supporters of Jewish education gathered recently at the Beverly Hilton Hotel to pay tribute to the couple, who are considered the local Jewish community’s patriarch and matriarch, said Betty Zeisl of the Bureau of Jewish Education.

The Lainers, who have three sons, nine grandchildren, a thriving real estate business and a home in Beverly Hills, might have retired to a quiet life of indulgence. Instead, they recently donated $500,000 to the Fund for Jewish Education, after a previous gift of $1 million.

For Sara, the donations are a logical extension of the couple’s commitment to preserving Jewish values. “By preserving Jewish education, we’re making a better society, a better world,” she said. “That’s very important to us.”

The memory of the Holocaust and a lifetime of sometimes subtle but ever-present anti-Semitism have motivated the couple to put a premium on preserving Jewish culture. “I lost two sisters and a brother and their little children--10 people from my own family were killed during the Holocaust,” Sara said. “Were they gassed? How were they killed? I don’t know. Little children. I couldn’t find out anything about them. Nothing.”

Even in the United States--”a great country, where Jewish people can be whatever they want”--anti-Semitism is prevalent, Sara said.

Both Sara, 81, and Simha, 89, were born in Eastern Europe. Both left seeking education and jobs unavailable to them in their homelands, where Jews were often prohibited from entering certain professions and schools. As a child, Sara said, she was afraid of the non-Jews in her small town, who often beat Jewish children and told them to go back to Palestine.

The hostility pushed many Jews to leave Eastern Europe and settle in more hospitable countries. At the time, Mexico City and other Latin American cities had thriving Jewish communities. By contrast, other countries, such as the United States, had strict quotas on the number of Jews who could resettle there.

Simha left the Ukraine in 1925 and pursued various businesses, including a successful textile enterprise throughout Latin America. Sara, meanwhile, had gone to Mexico City at the behest of her uncle, the chief rabbi of Mexico, to continue her education. The Lainers met at a charity ball in Mexico City, married and remained in Latin America until the mid-1940s, when Simha developed a bleeding ulcer.

After seeking medical treatment in New York, they returned to Mexico City via Los Angeles. They liked what they saw and eventually settled in West Los Angeles. In 1951, Simha sold his businesses and moved to Beverly Hills. Though he spoke no English, he saw great opportunities in real estate and began investing. Today, the Van Nuys-based Lainer Management Group, run by Simha, his three grown sons and a grandson, is a multimillion-dollar enterprise.

Throughout, the couple have remained active in helping the Jewish community. Sara has written a book and many articles on the subject of Jewish education and gives lectures in Los Angeles, Israel and Mexico. The Lainers have served on charity boards and have sponsored Jews from Russia and the Middle East, helping them to resettle.

The Lainers plan to continue their work for the Jewish community as “long as God will allow,” Sara said.

Their 57-year partnership has been a fruitful one, she said. “Once a friend of my husband asked him, ‘So many years with the same woman. Did you ever think of divorcing her?’ And my husband said, ‘No! Never! Killing her, yes.’ ”

But the real truth of their success is this: “Give each other the freedom to be an individual,” Sara said. “And work together. Then do what you can do. That’s it. You can only do what you can do.”

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Students at Stephen Wise Middle School recently won top honors in a statewide science competition. Daniel Carmy of Beverly Hills, Ben Barron of Encino and Daren Schlecter of Sherman Oaks took first place in the research and essay contest sponsored by NASA and and the National Science Teachers Assn. Two other teams of students from the school placed second and third in the competition. They are: Adam Grant, Nicki Marmet, Michael Silver, Oren Tepper, Allen Landver, Matt Pouldar and Rodney Rad.

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New York Life Insurance selected a musical piece by UCLA doctoral student Mark Riley as part of an eight-movement suite that was performed at the company’s 150th anniversary celebration July 4 at Madison Square Garden.

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Seven Santa Monica College students have received Dale Ride internships to serve in government in Washington this year. They are: Karla Ek, Raul Gonzalez, Evelyn Orantes, Ingrid Rodas, Ann Rode, Helena Vikstrom and Paul Yandura.

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Local author Jeri Chase Ferris received the 1995 Author-Illustrator Human and Civil Rights Award from the National Education Assn. this month in Minneapolis. The annual award is presented to authors whose books promote an understanding and appreciation of civil rights. A retired schoolteacher, Ferris writes biographies and historical fiction for children and young adults.

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William E.B. Siart of West Los Angeles recently was elected to the USC Board of Trustees. Siart is chairman and chief executive officer of First Interstate Bancorp, the second-largest banking company in the Western United States.