Temple Menorah

Dear Friends,

This is my 30th and final year as your Senior Rabbi. It has been a profound and wonderful experience for me. I plan to devote each of my sermons this yontef to the topic “What I have learned in my 30 years as your rabbi.”

I want to ask you to do the same, to reflect in writing on what you have learned in the last thirty years. I hope that you will share your reflections on Yom Kippur afternoon in the segment we call “Meditations of the Heart.” I have asked our member and author of the new memoir, https://www.amazon.com/Beverly-Hills-Concentration-Camp-Healing/dp/0996969306 Randi Maggid, to receive your contributions and review them with you. Please submit your 300 word reflection to rmaggid@socal.rr.com

When you begin writing you might want to consider these questions;
The Days of Awe come each year to prod us to reflect on our Divine potential. Have we lived the life we really want to live? Have we lived and loved according to our own ideals? Have we kept faith with our Jewish obligations and traditions? Have we found a spiritual community that encourages us to reach our Jewish potential?

The good news is that we have control over which way things will go.
We are all able to effectuate change in our lives if we desire to do so.
So start writing!

May this Year be for Us and All Israel, a Year of Peace, Prosperity and Purpose

Feel free to contact me personally at rabbi@templemenorah.org

L’ Shanah Tovah Tikatevu

MEET OUR NEW PRESCHOOL DIRECTOR!!!
Featured in LA Parent Magazine

Rabbi Selilah Kalev received her ordination from the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, California in 2003. Raised in Anchorage, Alaska and the granddaughter of a Protestant minister, Rabbi Selilah brings a unique background to her love of Judaism and education. Having performed as a member of the professional Alaska Children's Choir, Rabbi Selilah also has a deep connection to music and holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Music from the

California Institute of the Arts. Her passion for teaching others and developing new and innovative curricula led her to receive two Master's Degrees: one in Jewish Education and one in Rabbinic Studies. In addition, she holds a Baccalaureate Degree in Hebrew Letters.

Rabbi Selilah began her career in Early Childhood Education as one of two teachers in a small Preschool at Temple Beth Shalom in Carmel, California. Her love of being in the classroom was the foundation that led her to a career in Lifelong Learning at synagogues in California, Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania. During her role as Director of Lifelong Learning and running schools of more than 500 students, Rabbi Selilah remained passionately connected to Early Childhood Education within her communities by partnering with and overseeing many of the programs. Rabbi Selilah created and developed parent education, holiday and special event curricula, and in her most recent school, partnered in creating a play-based program. She was also instrumental in expanding her last preschool from a part-time program to a full-time integrative preschool community serving ages six weeks to five years.

Rabbi Kalev loves to develop adult education, religious school and synagogue programs which she has implemented at various communities around the nation. She has been invited as a consultant to assist synagogues to restructure their schools and develop an education vision. Rabbi Kalev was one of a select group of educators in the nation invited to participate in and subsequently completed the Melton Teachers' Educator Institute, was awarded the title of Conservative Jewish Educator, selected to be a committee member for the national Jewish Educator's Assembly and Torah Aura Curriculum Award honoring the best religious school curriculum and she also chaired the UJA/Federation Principal's Council in Stamford, CT, comprising of Education Directors across all denominations of Judaism.

Rabbi Selilah Kalev is married to Rabbi Joshua Kalev. They have two children, Noa and Jacob