New Year Rings in New Role for Rabbi

By Nancy Sokoler Steiner
Published on September 8, 2005

Rabbi Toba August likes to accentuate the positive, and the new year is no exception.

"Too often for the High Holidays, we're told about our shortcomings," August said. "I want to concentrate on what we're doing right.... We don't recognize the things we do that matter. I want us to walk out of services feeling elevated and validated and renewed."

August has reason to focus on the positive, because this summer she was made the principal spiritual leader of Adat Shalom, a Conservative synagogue in West Los Angeles. Currently, August is one of only two women to head a longstanding Conservative congregation in Los Angeles. (The other is Rabbi Sally Olins of Temple Bnai Hayim in Sherman Oaks.) Her appointment comes just as the Conservative movement is grappling with the disparity of women rabbis in the movement.

Reviving a Shul, One Goat at a Time

By Rob Eshman
Published on December 4, 1997

Note to future rabbis: If you want to make a lasting firstimpression with your congregants, nothing beats farm animals on thebimah. Just ask anyone at Temple Adat Shalom in West LosAngeles. It's been almost four months since Michael Resnick took overthere, and they're still talking about his goats.