Louise Spitzer

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Louise Spitzer

When Louise Spitzer moved to the Valley some 45 years ago, as a new single parent of three boys, it didn’t take her long to decide which synagogue to join. “It was a no-brainer,” Louise recalled. “It had to be Valley Beth Shalom and Rabbi Schulweis was the attraction.

“To have access to a rabbi with his passion and intellect was something I wanted for my family and me. As a matter of fact, before we moved, we used to drive from my home in Montebello to attend Friday night services just to hear him. But it was more than the services, it was the fact that the community was then and still is warm and welcoming.”

Louise said she also wanted a place that had lots of activities and offered her children a Jewish environment. Her family includes sons Mark, Danny and Andrew as well as eight grandchildren.

Louise has always valued the importance of Jewish education. Ironically, it was as anti-Semitic incident when she was a child in Boyle Heights that encouraged her to learn more about her religion.

“I was walking to school one day and was accosted by a group of anti-Semitic bullies who called me a ‘dirty Jew’ and other slurs,” she said. “Now my father was a fervent Zionist, but I was raised with virtually no knowledge of my religion. My dad had pretty much abandoned Judaism and offered no insight into what it meant to be a Jew.”

Anyone who knows Louise wouldn’t be surprised at the result. “The incident caused me wonder, ‘what is it about being Jewish that made me the subject of such an attack?’ I went home determined to know more about my heritage spoke to my dad and demanded to learn about my religion. And I’m happy to say that that passion has never left me.”

In the mid-90s when Rabbi Schulweis started the Keruv program to reach out to and educate Jews by choice, he called on Louise to help. That program has evolved into the current College of Jewish Studies and is now designed to educate the entire community. “I’m still involved in helping to organize the programs,” Louise said. “Not only does it stimulate my mind, it even helps me get in some exercise as I walk around with the mic during the Q and A that follows each lecture.“

Louise is also active in Hazak, and various committees including New Member, Gala and Havurah, as well as the new Celebrating Israel committee.

“I love this place,” Louis concluded. “My membership has given me an even stronger sense of Jewish identity, a feeling of purpose and a chance to give back. What more could anyone ask for from a synagogue?”

interview conducted and and written by Jay Schuster.