Becoming Whole Again : The Brandeis-Bardin Institute Is Rebuilt in Spirit as Well as Structure

Unleashing its fury through the Santa Susana foothills, the Northridge earthquake delivered a devastating blow to the rustic Brandeis-Bardin Institute.

The earthquake left about $11 million of damage in its wake: A glass ceiling shattered, walls buckled and a stone fireplace tumbled to the ground. At least two buildings had to be torn down and rebuilt from scratch.

Harder to break, though, was the institute’s spirit and its mission of uniting Jews of all denominations in their common heritage and the arts.

Now, the institute’s resilience is about to be publicly displayed. On Sept. 14, Brandeis-Bardin staffers and thousands of visitors will dedicate the nonprofit institute’s new arts and conference center with singing, klezmer music, Israeli folk dancing, tours and picnics.

The opening of three new buildings “means that we feel whole again,” said institute Director Alvin Mars.

“Wholeness is a very special word in our tradition,” he said. “It comes from the same root word as peace. So we’re at a state of peace, wholeness and fullness again.”

Getting to this point took three long years--time spent clearing rubble, salvaging artifacts, planning and construction and raising the money to pay for it all.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency wrote a check for about half the damage--which included snapped sewer lines and other busted infrastructure. Donations of money and time from the institute’s 15,000 or so alumni worldwide paid for the rest.

In return, the contributors get three new buildings that sit half a mile from where an 80-year-old Spanish-style ranch house once stood.

The structures will be used in a variety of the institute’s programs--summer camp for children, lectures for adults, enrichment seminars for college students and art exhibits and dances.

The institute was founded in Hancock, N.Y., in 1941 by noted educator Schlomo Bardin and Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, who died that year. In 1947, Bardin moved the institute to the hills just outside Simi Valley, where the balmy weather allows year-round activities.

Within the conference center are an airy two-story rotunda, a salon, art galleries and a library. Next door is the dining center, with separate meat and dairy kitchens for visitors who keep kosher. An administration building was also rebuilt.

The new structures--in earthen hues to mimic the surrounding amber hills--feel elegantly rural.

Gray slate roofs, apricot latticework and graceful, ecru stucco walls sit atop sturdy stone foundations. Donated mezuzot (scripture in miniature, decorative cases) from Spain and Portugal welcome visitors at each entrance.

“We tried very hard--and I think very successfully--to not replicate the old buildings exactly,” said Ken Hailpern, the institute’s director of administration, during an advance tour of the $4.5-million facilities Tuesday. “But we wanted to give a sense of the old in the new.”

Items salvaged from the 1994 earthquake’s wreckage include two wooden columns carved with oak leaves and acorns and the finely wrought, brass “eternal light” from the library. Two of three vibrant stained-glass windows from the original structure also survived the temblor. They hang in art galleries that will see their first exhibit Oct. 19.

Other concepts were adapted from the old “main house.” The new conference center includes a massive, rough-hewn fireplace built of river rocks that campers collected from the institute’s 3,100-acre grounds.

While a glass ceiling was no longer practical, the center’s salon is topped by a sun-flooded skylight.

At an annual faculty retreat for Milken Community High School held in the new buildings Tuesday, visitors were clearly impressed by their surroundings.

“It’s gorgeous,” said visitor Gail Zusman, the athletic director for the high school, located atop Sepulveda Pass in Los Angeles. “Everyone was kind of let down after the earthquake, because the buildings had been here for so many years, and then we saw them trashed. It’s good to have them back.”

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FYI

To celebrate the opening of its new buildings, the Brandeis-Bardin Institute will host a festival Sept. 14 complete with music, Israeli folk dancing, picnicking, swimming and tours. For information on the dedication, call Development Director Kim Miller at 582-4450.