Community News's blog

I’m often asked to define the value of a VBS membership. Certainly the answers can be long and full of intangibles, but for me there is no clearer answer than community. Three weeks ago, my father passed away suddenly after a brief illness. The immediate response and care my family and I felt from clergy, staff, parents in the schools and members of the community was truly overwhelming. While it was among the saddest moments I experienced in my life, it also affirmed my decision to be part of this outstanding community and it offered me moments of joy and strength at such a difficult time...

We Jews can be a needy people.  We kvetch, we argue, we want – but we are simply human.  As psychologist Abraham Maslow laid out, there are five different levels of innate human needs: physiological, safety and security, belongingness, esteem and respect, and self-actualization. The first two needs – physiological (food, air, expression of love)  and safety and security – are basic and are requirements for our well-being and survival.  The last three needs – belongingness, esteem and respect, and self-actualization – are what brings us purpose, meaning and satisfaction.

I believe that Valley Beth Shalom is an answer to every single one of Maslow’s needs.

My name is Tal Barak and I’m a lot of things. I’m a VBS congregant, all three of my children graduated from the ECC and I’m a current Day School mom. Last, but not least, I am the Director of Admissions and Marketing at VBS Day School, where Liana (10), Guy (6) and Ella (5) attend. This community has been so welcoming to my family, nurturing to my children and it truly is a second home.

My wife Barbara and I both grew up in the Valley. My first understanding of how important a synagogue can be in the spiritual, cultural, and social life of a suburban Jewish community came as a youngster, watching my parents help start a small Jewish congregation in Van Nuys with a few other families, meeting in a small house on Van Nuys Boulevard.

Traditional Learning Through The Academies

Shalom chaverim! Molly Mills here. I am the VBS ECC Infant-Toddler & Family Center Coordinator. Let me begin by offering a huge THANK YOU to the VBS community. As the newest member of the staff, my family and I have been welcomed with arms wide open, and the result is that I feel instantly part of this amazing extended family. Kehilah (Family and Community) is where it all starts. The Infant-Toddler & Family Center (ITFC) is often the gateway into our Early Childhood Center, Day School, Youth Center, and the greater temple community. From the beginning, we want our families to enter our doors with a sense of connection to something bigger.

I appreciate the opportunity to use this Community Corner space to update the Valley Beth Shalom community about the general progress of our Building Project, in particular the construction of the Howard and Irene Levine Community Center.

There are exciting developments almost every week now, as the construction of the Levine Center is going very quickly at this stage.  At the same time, it is interesting to realize that it really has taken more than 15 years to reach this point.   In the early 2000’s, then-President (and now Building Fund co-chair) Jeff Levine, architecture committee member Bobbie Weiser Blau, Ben Reznik and many others began working hard with an architectural firm from Boston on Master Plan entitlements and building designs.  I first got involved as a lay person – as the Day School Board’s liaison to the Building Committee -- when our oldest son Alex was in fourth grade; to put things in perspective, he is now 25 years old.

It is not what we don’t do; rather it is what we do! This is how I see Valley Beth Shalom and my volunteer work on behalf of VBS.

For nearly 30 years, I have given of myself to make our community a "better" place; our Schools, our Sisterhood and our Synagogue. I came to VBS as a nursery school parent and immediately became immersed in what would be my home away from home.

Grandma and Grandpa, Bubbe and Zayde, Savta and Saba, Mamani and Babayi…whatever we call them, grandparents are special people in our lives. They can connect us to the sacred traditions of our family and of our people. It has been said that one of the most beautiful blessings in Psalms is And may you see children [born] to your children, [and see] peace upon Israel.

Telling stories is part of our Jewish tradition. As a people, we are connected one-to-the-other by our shared experiences and the telling and re-telling of them. Of course there is interpretation, personal bias, and creative license that takes place when story telling, but this is all part of the art. Just ask Talmudic Rabbinic duo Hillel and Shamai who never understand anything in quite the same way and spent a lifetime argue about it!

It’s a New World

“It’s a new world, Tevye, it’s a new world." I always thought those words only pertained to the times in Fiddler on the Roof. Over the years, I continually am surprised to see once again, It’s a new world.