A Century of Jewish Life on Loma Avenue
Temple Israel Long Beach sits on a quiet residential block at 269 Loma Avenue, in the same neighborhood where it has worshipped since 1941. The congregation is a warm and musical Reform Jewish community, known locally as "the singing congregation" for the way music runs through its services, its adult learning, and its programming. Rabbi Scott Fox, Cantor Kelly Cooper, and Cantor Emeritus Marvin Finnley lead a congregation that fills its renovated sanctuary each Shabbat, streams services to viewers at home, and gathers throughout the week for Torah study, Hebrew classes, art journaling, social action, and a Tuesday morning Men's Minyan that always moves from prayer into a long and lively conversation over bagels.
From 125 Members to a Singing Congregation
Temple Israel was established in early 1924, when Long Beach had only 125 Jewish residents. Reform and Orthodox members shared a community building on Anaheim Street, with Rabbi Louis Grossman commuting from Cincinnati to lead worship in a Reform style. The arrangement was a stormy one: when Attorney Harry Cohn suggested that the two groups simply split the building between them, the larger Reform congregation took over the space. Sisterhood was created in 1925 with 50 members, and within three years it was affiliating with the national women's organization in New York.
The Great Depression nearly broke the young temple, and Rabbi Harvey B. Franklin and the temple secretary famously drove around town begging members for a dollar or even fifty cents to keep the doors open. In March 1933, a major earthquake devastated Long Beach. Temple Israel served as headquarters for relief efforts, the genesis of social action at the congregation. The badly damaged Anaheim Street building was eventually replaced. Real estate developer and longtime pillar David Feuer found a lot at Third and Loma streets and negotiated its purchase. The new building, completed in 1941, was modeled after the much-admired Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles, though the original $85,000 bid had to be scaled down to a $41,000 version the congregation could afford.
In 1955, Rabbi Wolli Kaelter arrived, an innovative leader who made music central to the worship experience. Tallit and yarmulke returned to the sanctuary, Saturday morning services resumed, and Temple Israel became known as "the singing congregation." Under Kaelter's leadership the religious school grew to nearly 500 students and membership reached 440 families. Cantor Marvin Finnley joined in August 1983 and served for 31 years before retiring in 2014. A complete renovation of the building at Third and Loma was finished in November 2012, and a capital campaign that had hoped to raise $3 million ultimately brought in $6 million.
The congregation hired its first ordained cantor, Sara Hass, in 2015, and welcomed Rabbi Scott Fox in July 2020. Today the temple continues the musical and social action traditions that have marked its history, while reaching out to a growing number of families with young children whose Torah Center program is, in the words of its leaders, "nearly bursting at the seams."
Shabbat at Temple Israel
Shabbat is the heart of congregational life. The Friday evening Shabbat service begins at 6:00 pm, and the Saturday morning service begins at 10:30 am. On Saturday mornings at 8:45 am, Rabbi Fox leads Torah Study, an open, engaging look at the parashat hashavuah (the weekly Torah portion) using traditional commentaries, personal reflection, and lively debate. The Torah study is for everyone; no previous background or knowledge of Hebrew is required, and it is available both in person and on Zoom.
The musical life of the congregation shows itself in special services such as Kol HaNeshama: Musical Shabbat in the Round, an alternative Shabbat service that brings musicians and prayer leaders into the center of the room for a more intimate experience. A Pre-Shabbat Oneg gathers at 5:30 pm on some Fridays for refreshments before the service. The congregation also offers a Short and Sweet Shabbat Service, a half-hour service that fits into a busy Friday evening. During the week, the Tuesday morning Men's Minyan begins at 9:00 am in the sanctuary, with lay leaders running a brief weekday service; the gathering then moves from 9:30 to 11:00 am into coffee, donuts or bagels, and a discussion that ranges from Judaism to politics to current events and back again.
Services are held in person and are also livestreamed. A dedicated livestream page makes it possible to follow services from home, and the congregation also broadcasts live on Facebook Live through the Temple Israel Facebook page. Videos of services and events are archived on the temple's YouTube channel.
Clergy and Staff
Rabbi Scott Fox leads the congregation. Before coming to Temple Israel he served as Associate Rabbi at the Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation and as the Reform Campus Rabbi at Cornell University. A native of San Diego, he earned a BA in Modern Jewish Fiction with Highest Honors from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and was ordained at Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. His writings have appeared in the Union for Reform Judaism, Ritualwell, the Indianapolis Star, and the Huffington Post. He is also a trained jazz guitarist who studied with John Pisano in Los Angeles. He lives in Long Beach with his partner Dori and their child Adi.
Cantor Kelly Cooper began singing at 13, earned a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance from the University of Southern California, and built a career in musical theater, opera, and as a soloist in congregations from Los Angeles to New York. She started working at Temple Israel in 2010 as a choir soloist, Hebrew teacher, and Tot Shabbat leader, and was ordained by the Academy for Jewish Religion, California in 2022. Her master's thesis, From Challah to Chazante, traces the journey of women in Jewish musical leadership.
Cantor Emeritus Marvin Finnley, a former Air Force Singing Sergeant and member of the Roger Wagner Chorale, served Temple Israel from 1983 until his retirement in 2014. He and his wife Hannah remain part of the congregation.
Eric J. Shatzkin has been Executive Director since 2010. He previously led youth work and Jewish education for the Conservative movement and earned his MBA from San Diego State University; he served as president of the Pacific Association of Temple Administrators from 2017 to 2019.
Sharon Amster Brown has been Temple Israel's Director of Education and Congregational Engagement since 2000. She holds a joint master's degree in Jewish Education and Jewish Communal Service from Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, Los Angeles, and received the distinguished Reform Jewish Educator title in 2004. She shapes both the Torah Center program for children and the Joys of Jewish Learning program for adults.
Kara Liu is the Youth Director, a teacher in the Torah Center, a presenter in the Joys of Jewish Learning program, and an experienced NFTY leader. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies with a concentration in Geography from California State University Long Beach, and a Certificate in Jewish Education Specializing in Adolescents and Emerging Adults from Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion.
The Torah Center: Religious School from Preschool through Grade 12
The Torah Center is the congregation's preschool through grade 12 religious school. Torah and Jewish values sit at the core of an experiential program that draws on music, art, Israeli dance, Jewish cooking, family learning days, field trips, social action projects, retreats, and Shabbat celebrations. Each week, students spend time on the Judaica and Hebrew curriculum and join a t'filah, a worship experience designed for their grade level.
Throughout the year, families are invited into the school for grade-level Shabbat services, holiday programs, family learning days, field trips, and opportunities for tikkun olam (repair of the world). The Torah Center curriculum moves in depth through Shabbat, the Jewish holidays and calendar, the synagogue, Torah and prophets, Jewish ritual, Israel, the Jewish lifecycle, Jewish heroes and values, the Holocaust, Jewish history, sacred Jewish relationships, justice and Judaism, comparative Judaism, Jewish identity, current events through a Jewish lens, mitzvot and community service, Hebrew prayer and vocabulary, and Reform liturgy and prayer.
Kesher Teen Program and ANDI Youth Group
Temple Israel's Kesher Teen Program brings together 8th through 12th grade Torah Center classes, the Madrichim (teaching assistant) Program, and the ANDI Youth Group. Teens can take part in one, two, or all three pieces of the program.
TI 67, the middle school youth group, hosts quarterly social activities, regional events with other Reform congregations in the area, and an overnight retreat, all centered on community building, informal Jewish learning, and social justice. ANDI (Adolescents Now Doing Incredible Things) is Long Beach's largest 8th through 12th grade Jewish youth group and a proud chapter of the North American Federation of Temple Youth. ANDI plans an active calendar that includes the popular TI Lock-In, the ANDI All-Nighter, the Teen Rosh Hashanah Service, and the religious school Purim shpiel. Regional NFTY weekends are a regular highlight.
Joys of Jewish Learning
Adults learn alongside children. The temple's adult education program is called Joys of Jewish Learning, a name that captures the sense that learning at any age should spark pleasure. With offerings multiple times a week, the program includes Torah Study with Rabbi Fox, a 10-week Beginning Hebrew class with Janet Liss that brings students from the Alef Bet to reading from the Torah, an eight-week Torah Trope course with Cantor Cooper that teaches the musical notation used for chanting Torah, Songs of the Bible with Rabbi Robin Foonberg, and guest lectures, field trips, and book discussions led by world-renowned scholars, artists, and authors.
The Rabbi's Reading Corner recommends a wide reading list that ranges from Lawrence Kushner's The Book of Miracles and Abraham Joshua Heschel's The Sabbath to Michael Chabon's novels, Judy Blume's Are You There God? It's Me Margaret, Art Spiegelman's Maus, Pablo Neruda's poetry, and Yehuda Amichai's Open Closed Open. The annual Joys of Jewish Learning catalog is published as a downloadable PDF.
Sisterhood, Men's Group, Social Action, and Caring Community
Four standing groups draw members into ongoing temple life. Sisterhood is open to all women, from the young to the young at heart, and centers on fundraising, friendship, and service to the congregation. The Men's Group meets each Tuesday morning for the Men's Minyan and discussion; it also helps build the temple sukkah each fall, participates in Yom HaShoah Yellow Candle packaging, and fields a team for the annual Race With A View along the Long Beach waterfront, which benefits Jewish Family and Children's Service.
The Social Action Committee puts Jewish values into practice by supporting the temple's Homeless Assistance Fund, partnering with Habitat for Humanity, and joining the Annual Make a Difference Day alongside other local organizations. Caring Community volunteers perform acts of loving-kindness for members during a loss of a loved one, sitting shiva and providing meals and support.
A Reform Jewish Mission
"Guided by Reform Jewish values, our mission is to engage in a journey of prayer, learning, and community that inspires us to transform ourselves and the world." The congregation describes itself as welcoming, traditional and relevant, connected, compassionate, and sustainable, and as committed to three core values: Kehillat Chesed, a community built on loving-kindness and shared Jewish life from generation to generation; Talmud Torah, lifelong Jewish learning; and Tikkun, the work of repair that begins with Tikkun Atzmi, repair of the body and soul, and extends outward through Tikkun Olam, repair of the world.
In 2026 the temple adopted a new Congregational Ethics Code, developed in partnership with the Union for Reform Judaism, that sets out the standards that guide the community's work. The temple is proud to be affiliated with the Reform Movement and the NFTY youth network, and the lay leadership includes a president, vice presidents for ritual practices, education, membership, resource development, and social action, a secretary, treasurer, and an elected Board of Directors.
Visiting Temple Israel
Temple Israel is located at 269 Loma Avenue, Long Beach, California 90803. The office is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and Friday from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, and can be reached at (562) 434-0996 or info@tilb.org. Shabbat services are held Friday at 6:00 pm and Saturday at 10:30 am, with Torah Study Saturday at 8:45 am. Services are livestreamed online and on Facebook Live, and a calendar of events, classes, and programs is available on the temple's calendar page. The monthly newsletter, Kol Yisra'el, is published as a downloadable PDF, and donations are accepted online through PayPal. Tzedakah, the giving of charity, is a central mitzvah of Judaism, and discretionary funds support projects chosen by the Rabbi, the Cantor, the Educator, and the President, alongside special funds for the library, homeless assistance, caring community, music, Torah Center scholarships, and many other purposes.