Obituaries : Sonny Raffle; Jewish Community Leader and Philanthropist

Sonny Raffle, a pioneering West Valley Jewish community leader known for her philanthropic work and inspiring speaking style, has died. She was 63.

Raffle died early Tuesday of brain cancer in her Agoura Hills home, according to her son David Raffle of Calabasas.

Born Sondra S. Saretsky on Nov. 19, 1932, in Brooklyn, N.Y., she moved to Los Angeles in the early 1950s. She soon enrolled in court reporting school, where she met

Erwin Raffle, whose nickname also was Sonny. The two married and relocated to Alaska, where Erwin was stationed during the Korean War. After the war, the couple settled in Canoga Park, later moving to what became Agoura Hills.

In 1958, Sondra Raffle helped establish Congregation Beth Kodesh, since renamed Shomrei Torah Synagogue, in West Hills, where she served as synagogue president and president of the Sisterhood.

Raffle soon began organizing and working with numerous philanthropic organizations.

Rabbi Elijah J. Schochet of Shomrei Torah Synagogue, who began working with Raffle when he became the synagogue’s first full-time rabbi in 1960, said Raffle had a vision of the west San Fernando Valley becoming a center of local Jewish life.

“She was a pioneer who was very patient with her vision of the Valley growing to be what it is today. . . . Now her dream is coming to fruition,” said Rabbi Schochet, referring, in part, to the completion of the synagogue’s new building, which was Raffle’s primary fund-raising focus for the past five years.

The inaugural event for the new facility will be a June 15 tribute dinner honoring the Raffles and another couple. The building will be dedicated June 16.

Raffle’s work, particularly her dynamic speeches, inspired many women in the Jewish community, many of whom approached Raffle as adults with childhood memories of seeing her speak, according to David Raffle.

“She was able to take an audience and really move them,” said Raffle, who described his mother as more of a motivator than a feminist. “If she had been a politician, she would have gone as far as she wanted to go, but she was committed to the community and helping to empower women to do anything they wanted to do.”

During her career as a community activist and fund-raiser, Raffle was honored with many awards, including the Woman of Achievement Award from Pacific Southwest Branch, the University of Judaism’s Merit Award and the National Community Leadership Award from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

Raffle was also past president of the Pacific Southwest branch of the Women’s League for Conservative Judaism, a member of University Women of the University of Judaism and a life member of Hadassah.

“She had a remarkable lifetime of productivity,” said Rabbi Schochet.

In addition to her husband and son David, Raffle is survived by another son, Danny Raffle of Agoura Hills; a daughter, Shelly Wax of Brooklyn; her father, Phillip Saretsky of Agoura Hills; two sisters, Muriel Brown of Encino and Ruth Brooks of North Hollywood, and seven grandchildren.

A funeral service will be held at noon today at Mt. Sinai Memorial Park, 5950 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles, with interment to follow. An additional service will be held at the synagogue following interment.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Raffle’s memory to the Shomrei Torah Synagogue Building Fund, 7401 Shoup Ave., West Hills 91307.