Diamond Jubilee: Temple Beth El to mark 75 years in northeast Bakersfield

Feb. 18—It was the winter of 1947, two years after the end of World War II and one year before the founding of the state of Israel, when 35 local families gathered at the old American Legion Hall on 17th Street in downtown Bakersfield with hope and determination in their hearts.

That meeting would signal the beginning of Temple Beth El, Bakersfield's first Reform synagogue.

That same synagogue in northeast Bakersfield will celebrate its 75th anniversary, its Diamond Jubilee, on Feb. 25, one day after the installation of the eighth rabbi of Temple Beth El, Rabbi Jonathan Klein.

There's something to be said about those 75 years in that sanctuary on Loma Linda Drive, Klein said.

"The same prayer has been said on a weekly basis at Temple Beth El, to the same God, with the same faces of our members here," Klein said as he spoke to a reporter inside Temple Beth El's sanctuary.

"One of the interesting things about Temple Beth El," Klein remarked, "all the people who are gone, who have died, everyone still remembers them as if they're still here."

Phil Rudnick remembers.

"My parents came as immigrants," said the Bakersfield native. "I still have that immigrant mentality."

It includes both an appreciation for the country and community that welcomed them, along with an acknowledgment that they live in a world with a centuries-long history of oppression toward Jews.

"Temple Beth El grew out of the older synagogue, B'nai Jacob," Rudnick said. "People felt they had to have a more intellectual understanding of the teachings of Judaism."

Part of that meant services would be held primarily in English, rather than in Hebrew.

In recent months, the 110-year-old Congregation B'nai Jacob, long struggling with a small and aging membership, sold its building near Mill Creek Linear Park and has since moved to Temple Beth El.

"My dad contributed to the old synagogue and he contributed to the new synagogue," Rudnick said.

The significance of Temple Beth El's 75th anniversary boils down to one thing, Rudnick noted.

The vision those Jewish families had of a safe, stable, spiritual home had come to pass.

"It meant we had a community of our own here," Rudnick said. "And that's important."

Lawrence Elman, 63, a local teacher, longtime member and former president of Temple Beth El, came to Bakersfield from New York City where he was surrounded by Jewish culture and identity.

"Here in Bakersfield, few of my friends knew Jews. My students had no idea what Judaism was. Most people here were and are not familiar with holidays and traditions."

It was an adjustment, to say the least.

"Being at TBE provided a touchstone for being Jewish in a Christian community," Elman said.

"If I had stayed in New York City, I probably would not have joined a congregation because of all the Jewish influences in the city. Here, the only way to connect to a Jewish cultural community was TBE."

His daughter, Amelia, benefited greatly from Temple Beth El and its congregation.

"She had a great youth group at temple, and an amazing child educator and mentor, Irene Christiansen," Elman said. "So Amelia grew up with a very positive view of being Jewish. She enjoyed being at temple. Felt at home there. Wanted to go to services."

Indeed, the attraction to Temple Beth El seems to be multigenerational.

Sage Russinsky, 29, an elementary school teacher now living in New Orleans, has fond memories of Temple Beth El.

"Growing up at TBE was formative for me," Russinsky said in a text message.

"I was accustomed to being the only Jewish kid at public schools in Bakersfield. Going to synagogue every weekend always felt like an opportunity to be my truest self.

"I remember learning from my Sunday school teachers that to be a good Jew meant to be a good person and to treat others how you want to be treated, and I have carried that with me throughout my life," she said.

Even living in Bakersfield, where being Jewish meant being different, TBE's 75 years of continuity locally carries meaning and weight and strength for Russinsky and her generation.

"The Jewish community of Bakersfield has never been large," she said, "but is strong and made me feel safe growing up being different than most of my friends around me."

Klein has been acting rabbi at TBE since 2020, taking over duties from Rabbi Cheryl Rosenstein, who had been the temple's religious leader for 25 years. Klein believes his installation scheduled on Friday is needed to make the announcement official, not only for the congregation, but for the larger community.

Several clergy from local Protestant churches will be at the installation.

"It's an opportunity for people to learn more about me, and to feel that I'm their rabbi," he said. "Also to let the community know that there's a new sheriff in town, a new rabbi in town."

And as Temple Beth El prepares to celebrate its diamond jubilee, all the generations that make up its congregation are expected to be there.

"This multigenerational attachment to this synagogue is beautiful, it's a poetic thing," Klein said.

The Magnus family, for example, continues that tradition, from the genesis of the synagogue in the late 1940s to the current day.

The Broida family also carries on that tradition.

Greg Broida, 68, is retired from the vehicle sales industry and is a past member of Temple Beth El's board of directors.

"My family was a charter member of TBE and has held membership continuously since 1947," Broida said. "I'm a fourth-generation member, while my son Michael, 35, is fifth generation."

There's value in that continuity, Klein said.

"There are many people here whose parents were founders, who continue to live in Bakersfield and are comfortable here."

In a world that sometimes seems fractured, where families split and fall apart, where daughters disown mothers and sibling relationships too often crumble under the seismic pressure, there's much to be said for the constancy of this little congregation in Bakersfield.

"I think it will keep going," Klein said. "I hope it will keep going."

Reporter Steven Mayer can be reached at 661-395-7353. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter: @semayerTBC