Temple Judea Opens New $26M Synagogue, School

Todd Cobin has been a member of for more than 30 years. That’s where he was bar mitzvahed, and where his children attend school now and are preparing for their formal coming of age in Judaism.

On Thursday, Cobin was among an estimated 300 people who attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the temple’s new $26-million campus in Tarzana with its first Shabbat service set for Friday, followed by a 10-day extravaganza of free events open to the public after a decade of planning and 18 months of building.

”This really represents a culminating moment of what a congregation has [been imagining] for nearly 60 years,” said Cobin, a Woodland Hills resident. “It represents generations and generations of families dedicated to Reform Jewish worship, study and fellowship in the West San Fernando Valley. This is what our founding members envisioned, and we help to continue to fulfill that vision.”

Cobin was joined by Vivi Davidson, whose family was one of the original 13 founding families who gathered decades ago in a local backyard when the decision was made to start a temple.

“It’s overwhelming,” said Davidson about the opening to the new campus, which replaces the congregation's 50-year-old temple building. “I haven’t had any time to absorb it. After the holidays, I’ll spend a month to go through it.”

Cobin and Davidson were joined by federal, state, county and city governmental leaders in the shul where the ceremony began with a song about pride, joy and optimism among the people and their link to Israel.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a longtime friend of Temple Judea, said he was jolted on Wednesday upon learning poverty levels in the United States were at their highest levels since 1993.

“I hope as we celebrate this shul and congregation … [you] think about the needy … a tradition in your religion, as well as in mine,” Villaraigosa said. “[We should] share the fruits of our labor. [Today] is a day we think about those less fortunate, and reach out to them.”

Temple leaders received resolutions and proclamations from a variety of government agencies.

Among them was state Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield, who joined Temple Judea a year ago with his wife and two children.

Blumenfield said the temple was a special place for the entire community, especially the Jewish community.

“This is a group of people who believe in healing the world,” Blumenfield said.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who attended the ceremony, said Temple Judea was always the place where one would go to be on the cutting edge of political activism.

Yaroslavsky said the beauty of the new sanctuary was enhanced by the quality of the people who occupy it.

“It’s a wrap-around Jewish experience,” he said.

Temple Judea started in 1952 with 13 families and now is home to an estimated 1,000 families.

The congregation outgrew its quarters and clergy and members began to divide their time between a Tarzana temple and Temple Judea in West Hills.

The 3.5-acre site at 5429 Lindley Ave. in Tarzana contains four new classrooms, a youth lounge, remodeled administration offices and a new gift shop. It boasts some artistic features, including a grand staircase called an aliyah, which is Hebrew for "ascending." The construction money came from private donations and fundraisers over a five-year period and took hundreds of volunteers to accomplish.

Rabbi Don Goor said the new building will touch lives and change the world for the better.

In Judaism, there is a saying, Tikkun Olam, which means “repairing the world,” Goor said. At Temple Judea, he said, they are building better individuals and better human beings.