Join us as we honor the many congregants whose time, talent, and heart strengthen our community.
FRIDAY, MAY 15, 2026 | 7:00 PM
TAE Sanctuary
Every strong community is built by people who step forward to help by leading the way or lifting the load, keeping our community thriving.
Please join us for a special Shabbat of Gratitude, a service dedicated to honoring our “Leaders and Lifters,” past and present, who have given their time, talent, and heart to sustain and strengthen our community.
What do we mean by Leaders?
Leaders help guide our path forward and deepen temple engagement by organizing, planning, chairing committees, and stepping up when vision and direction are needed both within our community and beyond our walls.
Who are the Lifters?
Lifters are those who show up repeatedly, often behind the scenes, supporting programs, welcoming others, and ensuring that everything runs smoothly, helping our congregation thrive.
Our kehillah (community) is strong because of both. Some lead, some lift, and some do both.
A Shabbat of Gratitude
On this Shabbat, we honor and recognize everyone whose contributions have helped our community grow, serve, and shine. Rabbi Diamond and Cantor Shukiar will offer a special blessing in appreciation and gratitude to our “Leaders and Lifters” for their dedication and lasting impact on our congregational life.
More than anything, this evening is an opportunity to pause, give thanks, and celebrate the spirit of service that makes our synagogue a place of purpose, connection, and belonging.
If you know any former temple partners who were “Leaders or Lifters,” we would love to invite them as well. Please let Susie Guldbeck know at (805) 497-7101 ext. 104.
Join us for a meaningful Shabbat service in observance of Yom HaShoah, Israel’s Holocaust Memorial Day – an evening of remembrance, learning, and reflection with guest speaker Shoshana Brower.
About Shoshana Brower
Shoshana Brower is a writer, speaker, and advocate for social justice whose work sheds light on stories of moral courage and compassion. We are honored to welcome her as our guest speaker for the evening.
Brower will share reflections from her powerful article, The World Should Take Notice of Albania’s Code of Honor, which highlights the extraordinary actions of Albanians during the Holocaust. Guided by Besa, a sacred cultural code of honor, many Albanians risked their lives to protect Jewish refugees by opening their homes, disguising identities, and standing united in the face of danger.
A Legacy of Courage
Could you protect others if their lives were at risk, even at the expense of your own safety?
This is the provocative question Brower asks as she shares stories of Albanian families who followed their moral compass, putting honor above fear. Albania remains the only country in Europe where the Jewish population increased during the Holocaust, thanks to the bravery of individuals who saw no strangers, only guests.This is the provocative question Brower grapples with in her article. It’s a question that challenges us to consider what we would do in the face of hatred and persecution.
Brower’s storytelling often highlights the courage of individuals who hid Jewish families in his home, and countless others who followed a collective moral compass that valued honor above fear.
An Evening of Reflection and Inspiration
As we welcome Shoshana Brower to our congregation, we look forward to learning from her insights and experiences. Her message challenges each of us to consider how we might live by that same code of honor, to protect and care for others, no matter the cost.
Pray and sing during our warm, relaxed, and “hamish” Shabbat evening services.
Selected Fridays
Time: 7:00 PM, followed by a Shabbat Oneg
Location: Temple Adat Elohim
Join us for a warm, relaxed, and “hamish” traditional Shabbat experience where we come together in prayer, song, and community. Our traditional service provides a calming and meaningful way to end the week, reflect, and find connection. Bring your family and friends to share in the joy of Shabbat. Stay after the service to indulge in Shabbat Oneg treats and lively conversation.
Shabbat services may include:
🙏 Uplifting prayers and reflections
🕯️ Candle lighting and heartfelt blessings
📖 Inspiring teachings and insights
💕 A moment to honor and remember loved ones
🫶 A welcoming space to gather and grow
Musical
Celebrate Shabbat with music, joy, and heartfelt community.
Usually, the Fourth Friday of Each Month
Time: 7:00 PM, followed by a Shabbat Oneg
Location: Temple Adat Elohim
Join us for an inspiring and joyful Shabbat service experience where music is at the center of our worship. Led by Cantor Shukiar, the Band of Milk and Honey, and the TAE Chorale, this uplifting service invites everyone to sing, pray, and rejoice in community. Come early, bring your voice, and stay after for sweet Oneg treats and warm conversation.
Shabbat services may include:
🎶 Live musical evening with band and choir
🕯️ Candle lighting and meaningful blessings
📖 Prayers and melodies that lift the spirit
💕 A moment to reflect and connect
Shabbat Shabbang
A Shabbat experience for the whole family!
Selected Fridays
Time: Varies, followed by a Shabbat Oneg
Location: Temple Adat Elohim
Our Shabbat Shabbang Family Services, designed for all ages, offer an hour filled with lively music, meaningful prayers, and birthday blessings. Often led by a Religious School class, this special service brings our community together in an uplifting way. This engaging and family-friendly service sometimes begins early to accommodate families with young children.
Shabbat Shabbang services include:
🎶 Religious School classes leading the service
📖 A child-friendly Shabbat story
🌟 Meaningful prayers and birthday blessings
🫶 A warm and welcoming community experience
Tot Shabbat
Sing, Dance, and Celebrate Shabbat Together!
Selected Fridays
Time: 6:00 – 6:30 PM, followed by a Shabbat Oneg
Location: Temple Adat Elohim
Our Tot Shabbat services are designed for preschool-aged children and their parents. They provide an opportunity for young children to experience a fun, age-appropriate service that includes singing and dancing. They are the perfect way for young children to get acquainted with Jewish traditions! Stay after the service for a delicious cookie Shabbat Oneg filled with playtime and time to connect with other families!
Tot Shabbat may include:
🎶 Singing and dancing to lively Shabbat songs
📖 A short, interactive Shabbat story
🕯️ Lighting candles and saying blessings together
🫶 A warm and welcoming community experience
Meditation
Find Peace. Connect Spiritually. Cultivate Joy.
Most Saturdays
Time: 12:00 – 1:00 PM
Location: Varies
Join us Saturday afternoons for our weekly, community-led meditation service, where we weave together meditative traditions from Judaism and beyond to deepen our ability to live joyful, meaningful, and wise lives. Please email Ken Elman for location information at kenelman@gmail.com.
Meditation practices may include:
🌀 Mindfulness 💛 Loving-kindness meditation 🚶 Walking meditation 🌅 Morning blessings of gratitude 🎶 Singing of Chassidic niggunim (songs without words) 🎵 Kirtans and more
No prior experience is needed. All are welcome to find stillness, connection, and renewal in this sacred practice.
Summer Starlight
Celebrate Shabbat under the stars during our joyful, musical outdoor service.
✨ Fridays from July 11 – August 29, 2025 🕖 7:00 PM, followed by a Shabbat Oneg 📍TAE Courtyard
One of our favorite TAE traditions, Starlight Shabbat is part of our beloved Summer Shabbat Series. These outdoor services offer a refreshing change of pace and have become a seasonal highlight for many congregants. In our beautiful courtyard, we gather in the fresh air to pray, sing, and celebrate as the sun sets. With joyful music, a relaxed atmosphere, and the spirit of community all around, Starlight Shabbat captures the magic of summer.
Invite friends and family to join you and stay after for a sweet Shabbat Oneg after the service.
View Our Live Services
Join us for Shabbat services every Friday at 7:00 PM. While we hope you’ll join us in person to feel the warmth of our community, you’re always welcome to tune in live from wherever you are!
If the video or chat don’t load, you can watch the service directly on Vimeo.
Bonnie Goldenberg’s journey into World War II history began when she was given a treasure trove of letters her parents had exchanged during her father’s service in a U.S. Army antiaircraft battalion from 1943 until 1945. Those letters became the foundation of Love, Abe: A Jewish GI’s World War II Letters Home.
Goldenberg is also a poet whose works have been published in a variety of literary journals and anthologies. Before leaving her professional career to focus on raising her son, she was a labor attorney in New York and Washington, D.C., and a writer and editor for a legal publishing house in New York City.
In addition to writing, she is the business administrator of her husband’s biopharma startup. She and her husband live in Thousand Oaks, California.
Love, Abe: A Jewish GI’s World War II Letters Home
A story of wartime life, love, and service
The children of immigrants, Abraham “Abe” Klapper and Lillian Schein were newlyweds expecting their first child when Abe was inducted into the U.S. Army and later served in an antiaircraft battalion. Between 1943 and 1945, the couple exchanged over 800 letters. In Love, Abe, author Bonnie Goldenberg draws from her parents’ voluminous correspondence to reveal the unique perspective of a first-generation American Jew sent to fight the Nazis in Germany.
While contending with the vicious anti-Semitism of the Nazi regime, Abe was no stranger to prejudice on the home front. An articulate observer, he shares his experiences during training stateside and his service overseas, including:
Celebrating Passover in Hitler’s Germany
Joining the front line for Europe’s biggest antiaircraft battle at the bridge at Remagen
Using his background in Yiddish to act as an interpreter with German civilians and POWs
The elation of V-E Day and V-J Day
Daily life in postwar occupied Germany
Guarding the Ministerial Collecting Center as part of “Operation Goldcup” to recover documents scattered across Germany during the Allied bombing
In his letters, Abe poured out his love, hopes and dreams for his wife and young daughter and the future he was fighting for.
This is a story unique to Abe and Lillian, but much of their experience was also shared by many of the Americans who served in World War II and their loved ones at home.
Thursday, April 28, 2022, 7:00 p.m.
TAE and live-streamed
Dr. Hensley will share stories of parents who sent their children from likely destruction to an uncertain future, the men and women who gave these children new lives in safety and security, and the ability these stories have to shape memory and inspire the future.
Jason Hensley, Ph.D., has been lecturing on the Holocaust since 2013. He has traveled around North America, interviewing Holocaust survivors who escaped the Holocaust on the Kindertransport. His work has been featured on the BBC, Breaking Israel News, Aish.com, and the USC Shoah Foundation’s website.
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) was established in the 1880s in direct response to Czarist pogroms in what is now Ukraine to assist Jews fleeing to the United States – has staff, partners, and Jewish community collaborations in Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, and Slovakia to help displaced Ukrainians seek shelter, food, water, and medicine. Hear from HIAS’ LA-based Community Engagement Director, Joe Goldman, on the critical work happening on both sides of the Ukrainian border and what the Jewish community can do to uphold its commitment to welcoming the stranger.
Joe Goldman is the Community Engagement Director for the Western Region at HIAS, the world’s oldest – and only Jewish – international humanitarian agency serving refugees and asylum seekers of all backgrounds. He mobilizes activists, organizations, and lawmakers across California to ensure that displaced people are treated with the dignity they deserve. Before joining HIAS, Joe worked at MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, the San Francisco-based Jewish Community Relations Council, and began his career working on several political campaigns and advocacy efforts. Joe is currently in the fourth cohort of the Coro LEAD LA Fellowship and holds both a BA in Political Communication and Master’s of Political Management from The George Washington University in Washington, DC. Joe lives in his native Los Angeles with his husband, Adam.
Bonnie Goldenberg’s journey into World War II history began when she was given a treasure trove of letters her parents had exchanged during her father’s service in a U.S. Army antiaircraft battalion from 1943 until 1945. Those letters became the foundation of Love, Abe: A Jewish GI’s World War II Letters Home.
Stories of the Kindertransport: