Temple Adat Elohim sits on Hillcrest Drive between Conejo School Road and Skyline Drive, on a campus in Thousand Oaks that draws members from Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Camarillo, Malibu, Moorpark, Newbury Park, Oak Park, Simi Valley, and Westlake Village. The congregation calls itself the largest Jewish community in the Conejo Valley, and its reach shows in the calendars of families who travel from Ventura, the San Fernando Valley, and the surrounding 101-corridor suburbs to pray, learn, and celebrate together. From a Friday evening Musical Shabbat led by a composer-cantor to a Tuesday morning baby naming in the sanctuary, the rhythm of TAE life is built around song, study, and acts of kindness that stretch from the sanctuary out into the wider Los Angeles region.
Learn. Grow. Connect.
The temple's own welcome puts it plainly: TAE is for all who are interested in joining, whether raised in another Jewish denomination or without affiliation, raised in another faith or with no religious background at all, married or single, interfaith, multiracial, or LGBTQ. "We come together as one congregation, one extended family," the community states, "supporting one another in times of need, celebrating each other's joys, and building a foundation of trust, friendship, and belonging." That openness shows in the language used across the site, which talks of "temple partners" rather than members, and frames the community's work in the language of Tikkun Olam, repairing the world.
A Clergy Team with Three Rabbis and a Cantor
Rabbi Barry Diamond serves as the senior rabbi. Raised in Southern California, he was drawn to the rabbinate after time in Jerusalem and was ordained at Hebrew Union College, where he also completed an additional year at the Rhea Hirsch School of Education. He served congregations in Detroit and at Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, became national president of the National Association of Temple Educators (now the Association of Reform Jewish Educators), and spent six years as a governance consultant for non-profit organizations before returning to Temple Adat Elohim, first as interim rabbi and then as its permanent spiritual leader. Rabbi Diamond is active in the Conejo Valley Interfaith Association, has introduced a weekly Saturday-morning Shabbat meditation minyan, and is known for welcoming interfaith partners as full members of the congregation.
Cantor David Shukiar, a magna cum laude UCLA graduate whose vocal and compositional training has earned him two international best-young-composer awards from the Guild of Temple Musicians, leads music across the congregation. His works are published by Transcontinental Music Publications and performed in congregations worldwide, and his musical Benjamin and Judah has been produced in New York, Los Angeles, and San Diego. At TAE he teaches in the religious school, oversees the B'nai Mitzvah program, directs the choirs and instrumental ensembles, and serves the community through bikur cholim, or visiting those who are ill.
Rabbi Michael Lotker serves as Scholar-in-Residence. A physicist by first training, Rabbi Lotker holds degrees in physics from Queens College in New York City and from the University of Illinois, and spent his earlier career in alternative energy, including wind power development in Hawaii and California. He was ordained at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 2003 and now teaches regularly through TAE's adult Torah study and special learning series.
Rabbi Emeritus Alan Greenbaum, who served TAE as senior rabbi from 1984 to 2006, remains connected to the congregation. During his tenure he helped start the Conejo Valley Winter Shelter Program and served as president of the Conejo Valley Ecumenical Council. He and his wife, Dori, now live in Grass Valley, where he continues to serve small Jewish communities in the Sierra Nevada.
The Leadership Team and the Board
The administrative team includes Gideon Manzur, Executive Director; Lindsay Wozniak, Early Childhood Center Director; Brenda Olshever, Director of K-12 Education; Susie Guldbeck, Director of Member Engagement and Programming; Doreen Austad, Communications Director; Stephanie Streja, Choir Director; Heidi Segal, B'nei Mitzvah and Special Events Coordinator; Dani Eskridge, Accounting Administrator; and Jordan Tepfer, Youth Engagement Coordinator. The Board of Trustees for 2026 to 2027 includes President Jill McAnear, Vice President Noah Gusdorff, Treasurer John Rosenfeld, Secretary Arianne Walker, and trustees Brian Berman, Julie England, Dena Feingold, Danielle Gotcher, Adam Graff, Dan Nudel, and Lynne West, with Past President Greg Epstein.
Friday Nights: Many Shabbats, One Community
Every Friday evening at 7:00 PM the congregation gathers for Shabbat, and TAE has built several distinct flavors into that weekly rhythm. The Traditional service is described as warm, relaxed, and "hamish," with uplifting prayers, candle lighting, teachings, and a moment to honor loved ones, followed by a Shabbat Oneg of desserts and conversation. On selected Fridays the Shabbat Shabbang Family Service takes over, often led by a Religious School class or a temple group, with lively music, a child-friendly Shabbat story, birthday blessings, and a time chosen to accommodate families with young children.
Once a month, usually on the fourth Friday, the sanctuary fills for an evening led by Cantor Shukiar, the Band of Milk and Honey, and the TAE Chorale. The congregation is encouraged to sing and clap along as the choir, band, and cantor raise the liturgy. On selected Fridays at 6:00 PM, the Tot Shabbat service welcomes preschool-aged children and their parents for singing, dancing, candle lighting, and a cookie Oneg afterward.
Two additional Shabbat offerings round out the week. A weekly, community-led meditation service weaves Jewish and other meditative traditions together through mindfulness, lovingkindness meditation, walking meditation, morning blessings, Chassidic niggunim, and kirtans, with no prior experience needed. During the summer the courtyard becomes the setting for Starlight Shabbat, where congregants gather outdoors in white to pray as the sun sets and the stars come out, recalling the feel of summer camp Shabbat.
Each of these services uses Mishkan T'filah: A Reform Siddur, the prayer book that TAE points to as the center of its communal worship. The community's prayers and songs, from Sh'ma and Aleinu to Mi Sheberach and the Mourner's Kaddish, are recorded and made available online so members can hear them between visits.
Saturday Mornings: Talmud, Torah, and Meditation
Shabbat morning study is a tradition at TAE. From 8:00 to 8:45 AM, Rabbi Diamond, Rabbi Lisa Bock, or Dr. Ken Elman lead Talmud Study in the Youth Lounge or on Zoom, with Hebrew knowledge welcomed but not required; participants are invited to stay on as Torah Study begins at 8:45 AM and continues to 9:30 AM. Mondays bring a 7:00 PM Community Torah Study led by Rabbi Lotker on Zoom, and Thursday mornings at 10:30 AM bring Women's Torah Study with Dr. Ken Elman. Saturday afternoons, the meditation service gathers most weeks from 12:00 to 1:00 PM, with location shared by email. Together the regular week offers a near-daily rhythm of Jewish learning.
Music as Prayer
Music is woven through every part of TAE's life. The TAE Chorale, directed by Stephanie Streja, sings alongside the band at monthly Musical Shabbat services. Shirei Elohim, the Junior Choir led by Cantor Shukiar, welcomes children in kindergarten and older and sings at monthly Family Shabbat Celebrations and at Chanukah and Pesach celebrations at local retirement homes. The Band of Milk and Honey brings a temple-member instrumental ensemble to the same monthly Musical Shabbat. The TAE Symphony Orchestra plays for special events. Original music composed and arranged specifically for these ensembles fills the sanctuary with pieces that exist nowhere else, the temple notes, allowing the community to pray in its own communal voice.
The High Holy Days and the Jewish Year
During the High Holy Days, TAE builds on its regular rhythm with a season shaped around Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simchat Torah with Yizkor, Selichot, and Shabbat Shuvah. The temple issues tickets, runs a Memorial Book, organizes a food drive supporting Manna, recruits a Shofar Corps and a wider volunteer team, livestreams services, and archives videos for later viewing. During Sukkot the community builds a sukkah together in the courtyard, gathers for a preschool-age Shabbat in the sukkah, hosts a community dinner, and orders lulav and etrog sets to bring the holiday home.
A Book Group reads titles such as Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew by Emmanuel Acho and Noa Tishby, exploring Jewish identity and antisemitism in small facilitated conversations, and a companion podcast, Two Rabbis, Three Opinions, is co-produced with Temple Etz Chaim.
The Early Childhood Center: A Home Away from Home
At the youngest end of the community, the Early Childhood Center serves children from six weeks to six years across several programs. The Gallant-Schiff Infant Center welcomes twelve infants a day, ages six weeks to 18 months, with a rolling waitlist that typically runs about a year. Parents receive real-time updates, photos, and videos through the Brightwheel app, and a "home away from home" atmosphere with an open-door policy for visits and volunteers.
The ECC's Preschool and Transitional Kindergarten programs serve children 18 months through six years, with a play-based curriculum rooted in Jewish values such as kindness, compassion, inclusiveness, and respect. The program integrates science, technology, engineering, the arts, mathematics, and Judaica, and offers flexible scheduling with two-day, three-day, and five-day options, early and late care, weekly Music and Movement specialists, after-school enrichment, weekly Shabbat and holiday celebrations led by the clergy, and an optional eight-week summer session. Baby and Me classes welcome caregivers and children from birth to 36 months, and a Postpartum Support Circle brings together new parents with babies from 0 to 6 months.
Throughout the year, the ECC's children take part in child-friendly Tot Shabbat services led by TAE's clergy, introducing them to the rhythms of Jewish prayer and community.
Religious School and the Bar/Bat Mitzvah Journey
TAE's Religious School serves students from PreK and Transitional Kindergarten through 12th grade, with programs including the Pre-K/TK Fun-Fest, classes for K through 7th grade, and Teen Tuesdays for grades 8 through 12. Younger students experience Celebration Circles from kindergarten through third grade, family-inclusive events that build shared Jewish identity, and Adah Groups from fourth grade up, small cohorts that form lasting friendships. Teen Tuesdays for grades 8 to 12 build real-world skills for college and beyond.
The Madrichim Program invites older students who love working with children to serve as classroom leaders, and the B'nai Mitzvah program supports students preparing for their ceremonies. A separate Adult B'nai Mitzvah program offers an 18-month group study experience in Hebrew, liturgy, and foundational Jewish knowledge, taught by clergy, staff, and special guests, culminating in a Shabbat service with Torah readings and personal teachings. The program is open to both TAE partners and non-partners.
Adult Learning Across a Lifetime
Beyond the weekly Torah and Talmud sessions, TAE runs an adult learning ecosystem that includes a Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning, a special Engaging with Israel series with longtime guide Uri Feinberg, and short- and long-term adult education classes designed to deepen Jewish practice. Weekly Torah study, Talmud study, and Women's Torah Study give adults multiple entry points to the tradition, and TAE points beyond its own programming to a wider network of Jewish learning opportunities in the region.
Connections That Matter: Havurot, Small Groups, and Neighborhoods
TAE is built around small circles inside the larger congregation. Havurot, or Circles of Friends, are small groups of temple partners who gather to celebrate Jewish life, share Shabbat dinners, mark holidays, and support one another through life's milestones. Each Havurah sets its own calendar, and the temple's Havurah committee helps match new applicants with existing groups. TAEngage small groups add a different layer: short, season-long gatherings built around shared interests from cooking, hiking, and board games to Broadway, genealogy, art, golf, and Jewish learning. Members can browse current groups, join a Book Group, or start their own.
Neighborhood Connections divides the TAE community into ten neighborhoods that stretch from Ventura to the San Fernando Valley, so partners can know which other TAE families live nearby, organize casual gatherings, and offer one another small acts of support. Just Five, the community's signature program, asks each person to give just five hours a year, turning everyday interruptions into acts of kindness through practical help, companionship, family support, or shared skills.
Social Action: Tikkun Olam in Practice
"We believe in the power of community to bring about change," the Social Action Committee writes, and the congregation's Tikkun Olam work shows in a long list of ongoing projects. Regular food drives support families facing food insecurity, a Blood Drive partners with a local blood center, the Hot Meal Program prepares and serves meals for those in need, and Shoes That Fit donates shoes to children. My Stuff Bags assembles duffel bags for at-risk youth, gift bags are prepared for holiday dinners, and the knitting and crocheting group makes scarves, hats, and small blankets for charity.
TAE fields a team for Relay For Life, supports the Gift of Life bone marrow registry, partners with ADL Kulanu in the fight against antisemitism, and engages in TAE Racial Education as part of a broader commitment to justice. A Tzedakah box stands in the foyer outside the sanctuary doors for those who want to give as they come and go from worship.
Youth and Teens
Three youth groups serve students from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Kochavim welcomes students in K through 3rd grade, Mazalot gathers 4th through 6th graders, and Derech Shamayim serves 7th through 12th graders. Each group plans social events and Tikkun Olam projects, from laser tag and bowling to the upcoming Planetarium and Sleepover for grades 6 to 12 during Sukkot. Jordan Tepfer, the Youth Engagement Coordinator, works with the rabbis and cantor to shape these experiences.
Sisterhood, Seniors, and the Caring Community
Sisterhood is the congregation's women-led group, made up of women of all ages: single, married, widowed, divorced, mothers, daughters, sisters, grandmothers, and friends. Sisterhood hosts recurring events, publishes a newsletter, and runs a tributes program for sending cards and thoughtful notes.
Seniors Connect, anchored by the Seniors Meeting Seniors program, offers enrichment, guest speakers, and social gatherings for older adults in Thousand Oaks and the surrounding area. Past gatherings have included storytelling programs on local family histories, and the program is open to all.
Yad B'Yad, the Caring Community, is a committee that works alongside clergy to support members experiencing a loss, illness, surgery, accident, or injury. Those who want to help can join the Yad B'Yad committee or participate through the Just Five program.
Life Cycle: From Baby Namings to Weddings to Mourning
TAE marks Jewish life through every stage. Newborn ceremonies include baby namings and brit milah. Weddings take place under a custom-made chuppah in the sanctuary, with clergy officiation for both Jewish and interfaith couples, pre-marital counseling, and the option to host the reception in the Social Hall.
For interfaith families, the temple follows the standards of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR). Non-Jewish spouses are welcomed as full partners, interfaith couples can marry at TAE with clergy support, and children being raised as Jewish receive baby namings, brit milah, and bar or bat mitzvah ceremonies. The community will never pressure a non-Jewish partner to convert, but offers classes, study, and personal conversations with clergy when someone wants to explore Judaism.
Adult B'nai Mitzvah, Conversion study, and a cemetery planning program support adults exploring Jewish identity, while a Mourning program walks with families through end-of-life care, funerals, and shiva.
The Campus and a Reception Hall for Community
TAE's campus on Hillcrest Drive centers on a Sanctuary that hosts weekly worship and life cycle events, a Social Hall that seats 300 for dining and 560 for meetings, classrooms and meeting rooms available for use, and a Youth Lounge that gives teens, members, and guests a cozy place to relax. The Reception Hall is available to temple partners for private events and, with executive director approval, for public rental, with trusted caterers and professional staff on hand to support celebrations, seminars, and performances.
Joining the Community
Anyone interested in Temple Adat Elohim is invited to fill out an online interest form or call the temple office at (805) 497-7101. Limited dues assistance is available through a Financial Assistance Committee so that finances never become a barrier to belonging. The Religious School can be reached at 805-497-0361, and the Early Childhood Center at 805-497-6920. Office hours are Monday through Thursday, 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, and Friday, 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Shabbat services are livestreamed on Vimeo for those who cannot attend in person, and the community's prayers, songs, sermons, and archived High Holy Days services are available to revisit online.
Temple Adat Elohim, in the words of its own welcome, exists to "deepen love, understanding, and engagement in Jewish life," "support one another through life's joys and challenges," and "advocate for social justice and making a difference in the world." On a Friday night in Thousand Oaks, when the cantor raises his voice, the band begins to play, and the congregation rises to sing Shalom Aleichem, that promise becomes something the whole room can hear.