Sunday, August 18, 2013
Second Act for the Temple of the Stars
It was known as the Temple of the Stars: a soaring sanctuary capped by a 100-foot-wide Byzantine dome, built by Hollywood moguls on the eve of the Depression and splashed with the kind of pizazz one might expect at a movie palace rather than a synagogue.
But over the last 80 years, the Wilshire Boulevard Temple has become a monument to neglect, its handsome murals cracked, the gold-painted dome blackened by soot, the sanctuary dark and grim. A foot-long chunk of plaster crashed to the ground one night.
The congregation, too, has faded; while still vibrant and active, it has grown older, showing no signs of growth. This once proud symbol of religious life in Los Angeles seemed on the brink of becoming a victim of the steady ethnic churn of the city, as its neighborhood grew increasingly Korean and Hispanic and Jews moved to the west side.
But faced with the threat of extinction that has forced synagogues in other parts of the country to close or merge, Wilshire has responded with force: a $150 million program to restore the synagogue to its former grandeur and, in fact, make it even grander — extending the campus to fill a whole block and building a school and a social services center for the community. In the process, the synagogue is looking to reclaim its prominence in the civic order here.
It is by any measure a costly gamble — Jewish leaders said the $150 million is among the highest amounts ever spent on a synagogue renovation. And the renovation is in some ways jarring, coming at a moment when cuts in education and social services have rocked this state and taking place in a community that has at times been criticized for being short on philanthropy.
But the leaders of this synagogue, racing to open their new temple before the High Holy Days in September, said they had no other choice.
“I’m not going to sell this place,” Steven Z. Leder, the senior rabbi, said as he led his almost daily show-off ritual of taking visitors to admire results slowly being revealed with the dismantling of scaffolding. “I’m not going to be the rabbi that turns this place into a church.”
Risky or not, the renovation of such an admired building is heartening to Jewish leaders who have watched as other synagogues have faltered.
“I’m thrilled with what’s going on at Wilshire,” said Ron Wolfson, a professor at the American Jewish University here. “That’s a spectacular building. They could have very easily moved west, they could have abandoned that building and sold it for who knows how many millions of dollars to some church. They didn’t. I have to respect that.”
To a considerable extent, the decision to invest on the future of this synagogue is an insight into the demographic rhythms of Los Angeles. For a long time, many of this city’s Jews concentrated on the west side, in places like Westwood, Beverlywood, Santa Monica and Beverly Hills. But these days, many younger Jews are settling on the east side, in hip and handsome — and less expensive — neighborhoods like Los Feliz and Silver Lake.
Rabbi Leder, in recounting the demographic studies and debate that went into the decision, noted that two subway stops, part of this city’s rapidly growing transit system, are within walking distance of the synagogue, raising the prospect that people would take a train to services.
Yet there are considerable obstacles. Jews might be moving back to the east side, but the Wilshire Boulevard Temple is in the heart of Koreatown, a good 15-minute drive from, say, Los Feliz. The sidewalks surrounding the temple are filled with Latinos and Koreans, a contrast with the many neighborhoods across Los Angeles where the streets on Friday night are filled with Jewish families headed for services.
Many synagogues across the nation are also struggling with declining attendance and membership. On a recent Saturday morning at Hollywood Temple Beth El, the very few people in attendance broke out in an anguished discussion about whether they would need to hire a choir for the approaching holidays because there were not enough congregants.
From the minute one walks into the grand sanctuary of the Wilshire Temple, there are reminders that this is no ordinary synagogue, with ample evidence of its Hollywood past: Irving G. Thalberg, the film producer, and all three Warner brothers were among its major benefactors.
The walls are covered with murals depicting stages of Jewish history through 1929. They were painted by Hugo Ballin, who for much of his career was a Hollywood art director, and were commissioned by the Warner brothers.
“The murals were a radical artistic statement because the second of the Ten Commandments forbids graven images, so Jews shunned iconography and figurative art,” Rabbi Leder said. “These guys just decided to make a different statement.”
The opening words of the Shema, the prayer at the heart of Jewish daily worship, are painted in a circle at the top of the dome.
Unlike most synagogues, there is no central aisle leading to the bimah, or altar.
“It’s very much Hollywood,” said Brenda Levin, the architect who oversaw the renovation. “One of the first things you notice when you come in here is there is no center aisle. And why is there no center aisle? Why would you get rid of center seats? They are the best seats in the house.”
Ms. Levin, who has overseen many of the top historical restorations that have taken place in this city, took a few steps across the floor as workers hammered in the background.
“Every aspect of this room is theatrical,” she said. “The paint on this wall is not a single color; it’s four different colors. They are put together in way that creates the appearance of a different kind of texture.”
Rabbi Leder said he began assessing the synagogue’s future shortly after he was named senior rabbi in 2003. “We had zero kindergarten kids registered for Sunday school here,” he said. “We were dying at the roots.
“I started asking myself, what is it that Wilshire Synagogue has that no other synagogue has?” he said. “We have The Room. And no one had a room like that.”
The congregation, which has 2,400 families, has raised $121 million so far for the project, Rabbi Leder said.
“It resonated with people because the need was real,” he said. “The place was in terrible disrepair. And the room was aspirational.”
Bruce A. Phillips, a professor of Jewish communal service at Hebrew Union College, said that while the synagogue was taking a bit of a chance in this effort, “there’s also the possibility that by putting that kind of money back into the synagogue and refurbishing it and so forth, that it sends a message that this is a vital area, this is a feasible area and that it’s a Jewish area.”
“It’s taking a risk,” he said. “But I applaud them for taking a risk.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/19/us/second-act-for-the-temple-of-the-stars.html?_r=0
But over the last 80 years, the Wilshire Boulevard Temple has become a monument to neglect, its handsome murals cracked, the gold-painted dome blackened by soot, the sanctuary dark and grim. A foot-long chunk of plaster crashed to the ground one night.
The congregation, too, has faded; while still vibrant and active, it has grown older, showing no signs of growth. This once proud symbol of religious life in Los Angeles seemed on the brink of becoming a victim of the steady ethnic churn of the city, as its neighborhood grew increasingly Korean and Hispanic and Jews moved to the west side.
But faced with the threat of extinction that has forced synagogues in other parts of the country to close or merge, Wilshire has responded with force: a $150 million program to restore the synagogue to its former grandeur and, in fact, make it even grander — extending the campus to fill a whole block and building a school and a social services center for the community. In the process, the synagogue is looking to reclaim its prominence in the civic order here.
It is by any measure a costly gamble — Jewish leaders said the $150 million is among the highest amounts ever spent on a synagogue renovation. And the renovation is in some ways jarring, coming at a moment when cuts in education and social services have rocked this state and taking place in a community that has at times been criticized for being short on philanthropy.
But the leaders of this synagogue, racing to open their new temple before the High Holy Days in September, said they had no other choice.
“I’m not going to sell this place,” Steven Z. Leder, the senior rabbi, said as he led his almost daily show-off ritual of taking visitors to admire results slowly being revealed with the dismantling of scaffolding. “I’m not going to be the rabbi that turns this place into a church.”
Risky or not, the renovation of such an admired building is heartening to Jewish leaders who have watched as other synagogues have faltered.
“I’m thrilled with what’s going on at Wilshire,” said Ron Wolfson, a professor at the American Jewish University here. “That’s a spectacular building. They could have very easily moved west, they could have abandoned that building and sold it for who knows how many millions of dollars to some church. They didn’t. I have to respect that.”
To a considerable extent, the decision to invest on the future of this synagogue is an insight into the demographic rhythms of Los Angeles. For a long time, many of this city’s Jews concentrated on the west side, in places like Westwood, Beverlywood, Santa Monica and Beverly Hills. But these days, many younger Jews are settling on the east side, in hip and handsome — and less expensive — neighborhoods like Los Feliz and Silver Lake.
Rabbi Leder, in recounting the demographic studies and debate that went into the decision, noted that two subway stops, part of this city’s rapidly growing transit system, are within walking distance of the synagogue, raising the prospect that people would take a train to services.
Yet there are considerable obstacles. Jews might be moving back to the east side, but the Wilshire Boulevard Temple is in the heart of Koreatown, a good 15-minute drive from, say, Los Feliz. The sidewalks surrounding the temple are filled with Latinos and Koreans, a contrast with the many neighborhoods across Los Angeles where the streets on Friday night are filled with Jewish families headed for services.
Many synagogues across the nation are also struggling with declining attendance and membership. On a recent Saturday morning at Hollywood Temple Beth El, the very few people in attendance broke out in an anguished discussion about whether they would need to hire a choir for the approaching holidays because there were not enough congregants.
From the minute one walks into the grand sanctuary of the Wilshire Temple, there are reminders that this is no ordinary synagogue, with ample evidence of its Hollywood past: Irving G. Thalberg, the film producer, and all three Warner brothers were among its major benefactors.
The walls are covered with murals depicting stages of Jewish history through 1929. They were painted by Hugo Ballin, who for much of his career was a Hollywood art director, and were commissioned by the Warner brothers.
“The murals were a radical artistic statement because the second of the Ten Commandments forbids graven images, so Jews shunned iconography and figurative art,” Rabbi Leder said. “These guys just decided to make a different statement.”
The opening words of the Shema, the prayer at the heart of Jewish daily worship, are painted in a circle at the top of the dome.
Unlike most synagogues, there is no central aisle leading to the bimah, or altar.
“It’s very much Hollywood,” said Brenda Levin, the architect who oversaw the renovation. “One of the first things you notice when you come in here is there is no center aisle. And why is there no center aisle? Why would you get rid of center seats? They are the best seats in the house.”
Ms. Levin, who has overseen many of the top historical restorations that have taken place in this city, took a few steps across the floor as workers hammered in the background.
“Every aspect of this room is theatrical,” she said. “The paint on this wall is not a single color; it’s four different colors. They are put together in way that creates the appearance of a different kind of texture.”
Rabbi Leder said he began assessing the synagogue’s future shortly after he was named senior rabbi in 2003. “We had zero kindergarten kids registered for Sunday school here,” he said. “We were dying at the roots.
“I started asking myself, what is it that Wilshire Synagogue has that no other synagogue has?” he said. “We have The Room. And no one had a room like that.”
The congregation, which has 2,400 families, has raised $121 million so far for the project, Rabbi Leder said.
“It resonated with people because the need was real,” he said. “The place was in terrible disrepair. And the room was aspirational.”
Bruce A. Phillips, a professor of Jewish communal service at Hebrew Union College, said that while the synagogue was taking a bit of a chance in this effort, “there’s also the possibility that by putting that kind of money back into the synagogue and refurbishing it and so forth, that it sends a message that this is a vital area, this is a feasible area and that it’s a Jewish area.”
“It’s taking a risk,” he said. “But I applaud them for taking a risk.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/19/us/second-act-for-the-temple-of-the-stars.html?_r=0
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