Vote Planned on Fate of Historic Temple

In what could mark the end of an era, a historic Hollywood synagogue that once drew such luminaries as the Warner brothers, actor Edward G. Robinson and cosmetics king Max Factor may go up for sale.

Members of the aging and dwindling Hollywood Temple Beth El congregation, faced with maintaining the huge edifice in changing times, are scheduled to vote on the future of the synagogue at an emergency meeting Sunday.

The temple’s executive committee voted last Sunday to ask the congregation to approve selling all or part of the 44,000-square-foot synagogue and school built in 1952. It has operated without a rabbi on staff for the past two years because of lack of money.

While some other synagogues in the area are thriving, members of Temple Beth El and those closely associated with it said it simply became old and brittle.

“It was at one time one of the great congregations in Los Angeles, and it had some very eminent rabbis and some wonderful lay leaders,” with 1,200 member families, said Rabbi David Lieber, president emeritus of the University of Judaism who for more than 30 years served Temple Beth El during High Holy Days.

“They just were not successful in maintaining the loyalties of the next generation. . . . They were not successful in attracting other young leadership.” Today, just 240 families are on the rolls.

In its heyday, Temple Beth El (House of God) was an anchor for the Jewish community in Hollywood.

A Conservative congregation, it drew heavily from the motion picture colony, including producer Hal Wallis, Universal Pictures founder Carl Laemmle, director Mervyn LeRoy, producer Joe Pasternak and film stars Carmel Myers and Robinson.

Former U.S. Rep. Mel Levine is the grandson of one of the founding couples.

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Benjamin Warner, father of the famous Warner brothers, Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack L., was an early member, and the brothers contributed heavily to the synagogue’s building fund, according to executive committee member Daniel Wolfberg.

The present temple on Crescent Heights Boulevard near Sunset Boulevard was built in 1952 after a fund-raising campaign that included a gala dinner party at the downtown Biltmore Hotel at which Eddie Cantor was master of ceremonies.

But the congregation dates its beginning in Hollywood to 1922. Congregation leaders said Friday they have no idea how the vote will go.

Congregation president Sanford Gaum, who joined 2 1/2 years ago, said he prefers selling the historic 1,200-seat sanctuary and retaining an adjacent classroom wing and congregational hall that could be used for services and social events.

An adult education school operated by the Los Angeles Unified School District and a nursery school rent classrooms there.

“The sale won’t affect them one way or the other,” Gaum said. He said he hoped another synagogue would buy the historic sanctuary.

Gaum said that to avoid selling the property, the congregation would need to raise $1 million to pay for renovations that would make it an attractive rental property for special events, bingo, filming and catering.

Nine months ago, the congregation voted to try to keep going for another 18 months.

A few months later, it hired a business manager and recently spent $100,000 to refurbish the sanctuary and kitchen, Wolfberg said.

“We need a rabbi to get members, but [we] can’t afford a rabbi. You feel like a dog chasing his tail,” Gaum said.

Gaum said the property has been listed with a real estate broker, who is speaking with other congregations who may be interested in buying it.

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“It’s sad for me to see a synagogue close, and it’s probably sadder for a lot of these members, many of whom are Holocaust survivors who saw many synagogues close [during World War II], and they didn’t really have a choice,” Gaum said.

“Ironically, we’re in the same position with these older people. They are not a lot of young, vibrant members willing to stand up and help keep the synagogue open.”

He said many young Jewish families have moved to the west San Fernando Valley where synagogues are flourishing.

Still, Lieber said, Temple Beth El’s problems might have been averted.

“I’m not sure it had to be this catastrophic,” he said, noting that other nearby synagogues are thriving. Within two miles, several Reform and Orthodox congregations are doing well, according to demographic researchers with the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles.

Demographic changes may present challenges in the area, said Rabbi John L. Rosove, senior rabbi of Temple Israel, which is nearby. But his Reform congregation now has 800 family members, compared to 500 nine years ago.

He also reported growth in the number of pupils enrolled in the synagogue’s day school and nursery school.

“I feel badly about what’s happening at Temple Beth El, but I don’t think it’s only demographics,” Rosove said.