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From the Desk of Rabbi Steven Rosenberg

Dear friends:

I hope you had a chance to see our first ad for the High Holidays at the top of the Shabbat-O-Gram. Planning for the High Holidays in this pandemic year has been not only a challenge, but also a great sense of teamwork with the help a wonderfully supportive board and ritual committee. 

My deep gratitude and thanks to our Temple president, Mitchel Karp who came up with an innovative idea of a Drive-in High Holiday experience. Also, Miriam Bent, Burt Lewensohn and Doug Morton have been invaluable. Additionally, thanks to Shawna Owens in the office and our volunteers, as well as our TIWA group and many others. A special thank you to our rebetzen, Dr. Sarah Sela, who is such a tremendous source of support, love and my wonderful partner through life’s journey. 

We have gathered an Internationally known cantorial and musical team to join me on the bimah for an uplifting and deeply meaningful series of High Holiday services. 

I think you will find this year’s High Holiday Services to be wonderfully innovative and spiritually uplifting. 

Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, I think you will find this year’s High Holiday Services to be wonderfully innovative and spiritually uplifting. 

This High Holiday Season, we may be socially distanced, but we will be spiritually together as never before 

As houses of worship all across the country have been learning to be innovative and adapt during this pandemic, synagogues continue to do the same as well.

For several months now, we have successfully made the transition to an online format for Friday night services and Saturday morning Torah study, as well as Jewish University and Coffee with the Rabbi. In this way, we are continuing be a vital and active Jewish community, while at the same time engaging in the Mitzvah of Shmirat Ha-Nefesh, protecting the health of ourselves and of our fellow congregants.

I encourage you to join us online for our Shabbat services, classes and programs. We will continue to be a strong and caring community no matter how long this pandemic lasts.

Jews throughout the centuries have done the same thing: Not matter what the challenge, Judaism has always managed to flourish, even in times of great adversity.

Our present situation is no different, we will continue to thrive.

Let us go forward together, with strength, courage and compassion.

Take care,

Rabbi Steven Rosenberg

Rabbi Steven Rosenberg comes to Temple Isaiah with thirty years of experience as a compassionate spiritual leader and hospice chaplain as well as a dynamic speaker and educator. He is nationally acclaimed for his innovative and inclusive approach to outreach, engagement and programming, and creates an atmosphere of caring and inclusiveness that has translated into Temple Isaiah growing as an upbeat, welcoming congregation. 

Meet our extraordinary High Holiday musical team:

Cantorial soloist Dr. Joel Henry Stein is a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, composer and producer in Los Angeles. He has released five original albums featuring musicians from the bands of John Mayer, Avril Lavigne, Rufus Wainwright, Kelly Clarkson, George Michael, Rickie Lee Jones, Kris Kristofferson, and Edie Brickell, and his songs have received radio play nationwide.

He has arranged music for the Three Cantors with the Atlanta Symphony (Leonard Slatkin conducting), and has written music for the Discovery channel, National Geographic, and the Tony Award-winning Alley Theatre in Houston. He played guitar for the Three Irish Tenors on a national U.S. tour, and was piano accompanist at the Martha Graham School for Contemporary Dance and also Alvin Ailey Dance Center in NYC. Dr. Stein has led services at many temples in New York and LA including B’nai Jeushurn and the Brotherhood Synagogue in Manhattan, B’nai Keshet in Montclair, NJ, and Nachshon Minyan, Shomrei Torah, and Kol Tikvah in LA. He holds a PhD in music composition and theory from UCLA.

American - Chilean pianist Dr. Meriette Saglie, is a prize-winning solo and chamber musician. She attended the University of Southern California, Thornton School of Music where she earned a Doctor of Musical Arts with distinction.

Dr. Saglie has performed on stages worldwide, including the United States, Chile, Germany, Austria, and Italy. Her accomplishments include performances at the LACMA Bing Theater in Los Angeles, California and the Wiener Konzerthaus in Vienna, Austria. The National Austrian Radio: ORF (Österreichischer Rundfunk) in Vienna, Austria also invited her to take part in a live broadcast performance and symposium with famed pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy. As an active performer in her home base city of Los Angeles, Dr. Saglie also contributes to LA's cultural community by performing in concerts to benefit the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Most recently, Dr. Saglie made debut performances in Tokyo, Japan and Barcelona, Spain, where she presented “Saglie plays Saglie”, a personal project that features performances of the complete piano works of her brother, acclaimed composer Luis Saglie.

Hillary Smith, cellist, returns to Temple Isaiah after last year’s moving rendition of Kol Nidre. She has performed extensively throughout the U.S. and abroad as soloist and chamber musician. Currently residing in Los Angeles, Hillary enjoys a versatile career, performing in a wide array of concert venues across the city, from Walt Disney Concert Hall to the Greek and Dolby Theatres. In addition to performing as a soloist with the UCLA Symphony, the UCLA Philharmonia, and the Santa Monica College Orchestra, she has also performed for live television and radio broadcasts such as The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, The Today Show, America’s Got Talent, The Ellen Show, LACMA’s Sundays Live concert series, and KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic.

An avid chamber musician, Hillary has been selected as a finalist in both the Coleman Chamber Music Competition and the Chesapeake Chamber Music Competition. Other chamber music highlights include a residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts and performances in Montepulciano, Italy. She is currently recording an album of new music for cello and piano with pianist/composer Nikos Syropoulos.

Dr. Sarah J. Sela is a Pediatric Gastroenterologist at Miller Children's Hospital Long Beach. She received her medical degree from the Hadassah School of Medicine at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel, and completed her postgraduate Pediatric residency training at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore and Johns Hopkins Medical School. Married to Rabbi Steven Rosenberg, she has an exceptional Judaic background and is accomplished in Torah, haftorot and synagogue liturgy. Blessed with a lovely voice, she will be taking part in our High

Holiday Services.

David Bent grew up in Temple Isaiah, and learned to blow the shofar from Rabbi Joseph Hurwitz, with one minute lessons twice a week before religious school at age 9. A Vice President of the College of Health Care Professionals in Houston Texas, he happily returns to participate in the High Holidays, helping to lead Mincha services on Yom Kippur, reading Torah and, of course, blowing shofar.