$24-Million Expansion Project Begins at Westwood Temple

Demolition has begun on a Westwood townhouse and three adjacent apartment buildings to make room for a $24-million, five-story building designed to allow Sinai Temple to better serve its members and community groups.

“We have so many Jews coming to us to partake in our programs that we have simply run out of space,” said Judith A. Galperson, president of the 1,300-member congregation. “Not only have we run out of space, but we’ve had to cancel some important programs in favor of others.”

The new building will adjoin the existing temple and provide a school and meeting rooms, multipurpose facilities, playgrounds and 335 parking spaces.

When the facility is completed, Sinai Temple will encompass the entire block between Beverly Glen Boulevard and Holmby Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard and Ashton Avenue.

The increased desire among younger adults “to find a setting where their children can grow up with Judaism’s traditions and make them a part of the normal, everyday routine” has generated the need for additional facilities, said temple Vice President Jan Zakowski.

For the last 10 years, the temple has had a long waiting list for its preschool, where enrollment has increased from about 200 to 475, Zakowski said. It also has operated the Sinai Akiba Academy, which provides secular and religious instruction from kindergarten through eighth grade, and a separate afternoon religious school program.

The temple’s emphasis on youth-oriented programs has forced it to drop some adult programs and kept it from offering its facilities to community groups.

“We had people seated out in the hallway for our ‘Lunch and Learn with the Rabbis’ series, and then we dropped it because we didn’t have the space for it,” Zakowski said.