Temple Emanuel Clergy
- Rabbi Laura Geller, Senior Rabbi
- Rabbi Jonathan Aaron, Senior Rabbi and Director of Education
- Cantor Yonah Kliger, Cantor
- Rabbi Sara Mason-Barkin, Assistant Rabbi and Congregational Educator
- Rabbi Meyer Heller, Rabbi Emeritus
RABBI LAURA GELLER This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Rabbi Laura Geller is the Senior Rabbi of Temple Emanuel in Beverly Hills, California. She was the first woman to be selected to lead a major metropolitan synagogue. Prior to being chosen for this position in 1994, she served as the Executive Director of the American Jewish Congress, Pacific Southwest Region. Among her accomplishments at AJCongress was the creation of the AJCongress Feminist Center, which became a model for other Jewish feminist projects around the county. She came to AJCongress in 1990 after fourteen years as the Director of Hillel at the University of Southern California.
Rabbi Geller has been recognized with numerous awards and honors, including being named one of Newsweek’s50 Most Influential Rabbis in America for two years in a row and receiving the California State Legislature’s Woman of the Year Award. She was featured in the PBS Documentary called “Jewish Americans.” Author of many articles in journals and books, she is a frequent contributor to the Huffington Post and served on the Editorial Board of “The Torah: A Woman's Commentary,” in which she has two essays. Rabbi Geller is a Fellow of the Corporation of Brown University from where she graduated in 1971. She was ordained by the Hebrew Union College in 1976, the third woman in the Reform Movement to become a rabbi. She is married to Richard A. Siegel, and she is the mother of Joshua and Elana Goldstein and the step-mother of Andy and Ruth Siegel.
Click here to read Rabbi Laura Geller's sermons
RABBI JONATHAN AARON This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Rabbi Jonathan Aaron is the Senior Rabbi and Director of Education at Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater from Emerson College in 1983. A gifted performer and musician, he spent several years running a theater company in Connecticut and teaching high school theater. Rabbi Aaron then shifted his focus to the study of Judaism and attended Hebrew Union College, where he received a Masters Degree in Jewish Education in 1993, a Masters Degree in Hebrew Letters in 1994, and where he was ordained as a Rabbi in 1996.
Since 1996, Rabbi Aaron has served Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills, first as the Associate Rabbi and now as Co-Senior Rabbi and Director of Education. Temple Emanuel is Rabbi Aaron's first pulpit. In 2002, he became the Head of School for Temple Emanuel Academy Day School, our well-respected Jewish Day School. Rabbi Aaron is especially known for his storytelling and for bringing joy to children of all ages. He has written liturgical music for Temple Emanuel, and also penned the full-length musical "Hyrcanus" performed at Temple Emanuel in 2001 and 2010. Along with Cantor Yonah Kliger, he helped create one of the core Shabbat experiences at Temple Emanuel, Shabbat Unplugged.
Click here to read Rabbi Jonathan Aaron's sermons
CANTOR YONAH KLIGER This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Cantor Yonah Kliger grew up at Temple Emanuel and is a proud graduate of our Day School. He is dedicated to revitalizing worship and creating a bridge between the ancient sounds of Jewish tradition and contemporary music. With a strong background in theater, Cantor Kliger infuses his passion for music and performing with his love of prayer, bringing energy and enthusiasm to the synagogue experience. With Rabbi Aaron, he helped create one of the core Shabbat experiences at Temple Emanuel, Shabbat Unplugged. His passions extend far beyond the bimah, with a focus on engaging our Jewish youth as well as illuminating Judaism through the arts. Cantor Kliger's dedication to the B'nai Mitzvah program has helped to make it a model emulated by temples throughout the Los Angeles Area.
A gifted teacher, he has captured the enthusiasm of our teens by establishing the Junior Cantors Program in which post-B'nai Mitzvah students congregate every Saturday to study Jewish text and music, culminating in their leading Shabbat Services throughout the year. Cantor Kliger also serves as Director of Temple Emanuel's Emanuel Arts Center. Through his leadership, EAC has introduced original plays, musicals, concerts, film screenings, and Shabbat experiences to the Temple Emanuel congregation. He is also very passionate about his work as Executive Producer of a concert in support of Israeli Victims of Terror.
Cantor Kliger received his commission as Hazzan-Minister from the Cantors Assembly and proudly serves on the Executive Board of their Western region.
RABBI SARA MASON-BARKIN
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Rabbi Sara Mason-Barkin is the Assistant Rabbi and Religious School Director at Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills. She was ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in May, 2010, after receiving both a Masters Degree in Hebrew Letters in 2007, and her Masters Degree in Jewish Education in 2008. Prior to her studies at the Hebrew Union College, Sara earned her Bachelors Degree from Brandeis University in Sociology and Judaic Studies.
Rabbi Sara has also been a participant in the prestigious DeLeT (Day school Leadership through Teaching) program. Teaching second grade at a Jewish Day School in Boston was what led her to the rabbinate. While teaching, Sara discovered a passion for educating others about Jewish living, and a commitment to engaging in further Jewish learning. This dedication to pursuing further work in the field of Jewish education led her to Jerusalem, where she began her rabbinical studies.
While living in Los Angeles, Rabbi Sara has served as a 6th teacher at Temple Isaiah in Los Angeles and an Interim Rabbi at Beth Knesset BaMidbar in Lancaster. She has also worked with student representatives of the Reform movement at UCLA Hillel, been the Education Director at URJ Camp Newman, and worked as both a rabbinic presence and as an educator at Congregation Or Ami, in Calabasas.
Rabbi Sara is thrilled to be the Congregational Educator and Director of the Religious School at Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills, and looks forward to building relationships and creating Jewish leaders among students and families at Temple Emanuel.
Sara is originally from Buffalo, New York though she has spent significant time in both Chicago and Boston. When Sara is not teaching, studying, or enjoying the LA sun, she loves to spend time playing Jewish music on her guitar, baking, and relaxing with her husband, Josh and son, Charlie.
RABBI MEYER HELLER (EMERITUS)Rabbi Meyer Heller has served the Temple for over 35 years. Today he lives with his family in Oregon.
Donate 
Login 
