For 54 Years Temple Beth El Volunteers Keep Their Community Thriving

54 YEARS

We prosper and succeed because of our member volunteers who work tirelessly to keep our community thriving.

Temple Beth El is the Shul that serves Santa Maria and the surrounding community. Founded in the late 1940s by a diverse group of Santa Maria residents, our current 49 member families include individuals from Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform backgrounds; Jews by birth and Jews by choice. English speakers and those more comfortable in Spanish. We are the Jewish community of the north and west Santa Barbara and south San Luis Obispo counties. We prosper and succeed because of our members and our people work tirelessly to keep our community thriving.

We are proud to be the home of the Holesov Torah, #16;4 of over 1,000 Torahs rescued during the Holocaust from what was Czechoslovakia (and is now the Czech Republic). This treasure was entrusted to our community in 1979 and is one of three such rescued Torahs on-loan and now residing in Santa Barbara County.

Our part-time rabbi, Dov Gottesfeld, comprises our professional staff. The remaining work involved in the operation of the Temple is done by its members volunteers. Volunteering is us!! And with the hard work of those volunteers the Temple is able to provide the services and programs necessary for our membership.

• Weekly Friday night services • Monthly Torah discussions • Saturday morning services for

Spanish speaking members • Major holiday services and/or celebrations

Our Temple Beth El community has always been open to new faces and eagerly looks forward to meeting new people. Although we are officially a Reform congregation, our members include members from Conservative and Orthodox backgrounds and several active families of Sephardic/Spanish descent. We are small but have managed to continue our activities throughout these pandemic times and look forward to getting back to “normal” soon. Our services and programs include: • Weekly Friday night services, 7:30 p.m. (temporarily on

Zoom) Rabbi Dov Gottesfeld and a group of lay leaders provide leadership for our

Friday night services.

“Scroll MST #164” was entrusted to Temple Beth El on permanent loan in March 1979 by the Memorial Scrolls Trust. This Torah is one of two commissioned in 1890 to celebrate the building of a new synagogue and used by the Jewish community of Holesov in Bohemia and Moravia, which is today in the Czech Republic. The Jewish community in Holesov dates back to 1454 and was once home to nearly 1,700 Jews, but had dwindled to less than 350 by the start of WWII. Of the 259 Jews living in Holesov who were deported to extermination camps, about 243 perished during the Shoah.

To learn more about the history and journey of this and other surviving Torah scrolls, please visit the Memorial Scrolls Trust website at memorialscrollstrust.org.

• Religious school for our children • Monthly Brotherhood discussion group • Monthly Sisterhood dinners All these activities happen because of individuals that tirelessly give of their time and effort. Most of these activities have continued throughout these past COVID seasons although virtually. But, slowly we are coming back to “normal” and look forward to being together to celebrate all our events “in person” soon.

LAY RELIGIOUS LEADERS FOR OUR WEEKLY FRIDAY NIGHT SERVICES: Anita Friedman, Josue Madreno and Diane Borad-Mirkin and Raul Medina (for our Spanish Shabbat services) lead us when the Rabbi is not scheduled to be with us. JEWISH EDUCATION FOR OUR KIDS: Amber Medina and Nakiha Burnes

FUNDRAISING AND SHOW TALENT: Diane Borad-Mirkin

BUILDING MAINTENANCE AND OPERATION: Ken Wolf and Sid Goldstein

BROTHERHOOD LEADERSHIP: Gary Epstein and Michael LeCove

SISTERHOOD LEADERSHIP: Marsha Epstein

Because of these volunteers,and others not mentioned, Temple Beth El goes on in its 54th year of serving the needs of our Jewish community.

• Torah discussions, Saturday mornings, 10:00 a.m., once a month. (temporarily on Zoom) • Brotherhood current event seminars, 10:00a.m., first

Sunday of the month. (usually with a lox and bagel breakfast, but unfortunately, temporarily on Zoom) • Religious school for youngsters. (temporarily on Zoom) • All major holiday services and celebrations. (temporarily on Zoom) • Temple Sisterhood which is not active at this time, but patiently awaiting the end of the pandemic.

Temple Beth El of Santa Maria

1501 E. Alvin Avenue Santa Maria, CA093454 P.O. Box 5217 Santa Maria, CA 93456 805.928.2118 tbesantamaria.com templebethel@verizon.net