Edy Reyes has been an important member of the community as one of our security guards since 2017. He is one of the first friendly faces you see when you enter our building. Before working at Temple Beth Am, he worked at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for 9 years as security and other various roles. He found it to be an interesting job and met all sorts of celebrities and even got to walk the red carpet...READ MORE

Abe: I was born in January 1920. My father was a Stolner Hasid from the old country. We lived in Brooklyn and he was a grocer. My father's forte was buying run-down businesses,...READ MORE

I had my baby naming at Temple Beth Am and it's been an honor to serve this wonderful community as a rabbinic intern these past 2 years...READ MORE

If not every Friday, almost every Friday, my mother made chunt for Shabbat. "It's CHUNT, not cholent," she would say insistently...READ MORE

I'm Deb Engel Kollin. For thirteen years I worked at Pressman Academy as an educator, administrator, and leader of the school's twinning program between LA and Tel Aviv. I'm a longtime member at Temple Beth Am, but I became...READ MORE

The Jewish community in Mozambique was growing during this time with Diane and me serving as the lay leadership. We reestablished the formal community as Honen Dalim -- Comunidade Judaica de Moçambique, restored the historic synagogue dating from 1926, celebrated a number of bar and bat mitzvas, a wedding, births, conversions, and welcomed the return of the community's Sefer Torah. ...READ MORE

This year in the middle school play Annie I am playing the role of Daddy Warbucks. I love being in front of an audience and singing my heart out but sometimes I get a little nerves...READ MORE

People come in and out of our lives for a reason. Whether it be for a minute, a season or a lifetime, it is important that we cherish the moments...READ MORE

My family has a long history at Temple Beth Am: my great grandmother and great grandfather were members of Olympic Jewish Center, and Rabbi Pressman officiated the bar mitzvah of my grandfather and the wedding of my grandparents...READ MORE

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Israel.

When talking and thinking about Israel, you always hear the same things. "Israel is my home", "Israel is a homeland for the Jewish people", "I love the community and spirituality." There must be a reason that these...READ MORE

I was born in La Paz, Bolivia, in 1942. My parents, z"l, were German Jewish refugees who found a haven there...READ MORE

I believe in prayer and I think it's important for people to have a place to pray. That's why I serve as gabbai for the daily morning service at Temple Beth Am, as well as for the afternoon/evening service... READ MORE

My name is Fariba Matinfar and I was born in Iran during the days of the Shah. Life was good for Jews in Iran at that time, but when I was 12 years old, the Islamic Revolution changed my homeland forever... READ MORE

"The most important factor in our lives is our family. Cherish them, good and bad, for better or for worse. In the final analysis, family is all that matters." -Henny

The Beth Am and Library Minyan communities offer me spiritual guidance and nourishment as I engage in an arduous journey...READ MORE

The kid said, "Daf Yomi is a worldwide program for reading the whole Talmud. Everyone reads one page a day on the same schedule. It takes seven and a half years to complete, and today... is day one."

On Rosh Hashanah two years ago my wife Jessica and I were reminded - by a five year old - of one of life's important lessons...READ MORE

I love being an active participant in a person's transformation. People often come to the doors of Beit T'Shuvah devastated with no hope, and it's wonderful to witness a 180 degree transition within only a few months. READ MORE

Since becoming a grateful member of Beit T'Shuvah, I am engaging in the community here and reclaiming my life. I am doing the next right thing by honoring my own dignity, the dignity of my peers, my family, and my community. READ MORE

My parents sent me to a public school for kindergarten and first grade....READ MORE

Everyone should have a "Life Theme," something that ties you together with your values and your actions

...READ MORE

Avi: I was alienated from Judaism. Not because of my heritage, but because I was the classic disaffected Jew. I never went to Shul, except for on...READ MORE

I guess I was always a mediator—I just didn't know it. I am the middle of three sons, and as I look back I was always trying to figure out...READ MORE

Meditation is about so much more than being still, closing your eyes, and clearing your mind. For me, the path of Jewish meditation is also a perspective that you apply to your everyday life...READ MORE

Every September when the new Pressman kindergarteners come in, I'm in love again. It's an amazing unconditional love affair every year. They're my kinders! READ MORE...

My grandfather, Neftali Galdamez, is my role model because he's everything to me. He's my grandpa, my dad, my best friend and my therapist...READ MORE

It is a Judaism that has maintained traditions of soft matzah, eastern melodies for Torah readings, unique Ketubot, and encouraged dialogue with their religious neighbors and easy conversions to Judaism. Slowly but surely I found my heritage in Judaism again, one that finally felt familiar yet ancient, and so much bigger than me...READ MORE

I am an upbeat and romantic 63 year old European woman, born in Budapest, Hungary, and am filled with vitality and curiosity. Yet I always strive to be a caring and compassionate friend. I consider myself to be an intelligent, well-read, attractive, and a kind, sensitive individual...READ MORE

Who am I? I am, in no particular order, a person who thrills to speak publicly, and who is nervous every time. A rabbi who models religious belief and practice who yet toils in achieving internal peace in both—and thus thinks that teaching that very grappling is one of the best things I can teach about Judaism...READ MORE

The closest I've ever felt to a South African shul here in Los Angeles is the Library Minyan at Temple Beth Am, to which both my husband and I belong and regularly attend. My real Jewish identity came when I came to America and started to teach in Jewish day schools....READ MORE

For the first time in my life I really started to understand the powerful connection of the Jewish people. Anywhere we are in the world, we find ways to come together. And it's true what they say about traveling, it helps you find yourself. But it also helps you find your people...READ MORE

I decided to gather a thousand origami cranes for a friend of mine, a really sick friend living in Denver who is about my age. One thousand cranes is a Japanese symbol for healing and good luck, and I thought that would be good for my friend. I got origami paper...READ MORE

I came to America in 1997 from Santa Ana, the second largest city in El Salvador. My father used to have his own business providing supplies to factories for the shoe business... the glue...the leather. They were doing very good, but because of the war we lost everything ...the farm, houses, cars, and the business itself. I was looking to move to America for a better future,...READ MORE