Driving to the historic Breed Street Shul in Boyle Heights for our most recent Federation New Leaders Project (NLP) program, I called my Zayde (grandfather) in Long Beach. He picked up after a few rings, “You’re going to Breed Street Shul – did you know that is where I was called to the Torah as a chatan (groom)?”
We were raised on my grandparents’ stories of coming to America after World War II, where they were able to enter a nation of hope after leaving a world of devastation. Only a teenager, my Zayde and his father moved to Boyle Heights and tried to rebuild.
I knew Breed Street was the place he and his father had davened as new immigrants. I knew Breed Street was a place of mutual connection for he and Rabbi Dubin – the man who helped my Zayde study for his smichah, and the man who officiated my Zayde and Bubbe’s marriage, as well as the marriage of my Zayde’s oldest son, my father. I knew that my dad and his sister attended the little yeshivah next door to the Shul as kids. But, no, I hadn’t heard that my Zayde – a young refugee marrying his beautiful, feisty refugee bride – was called to the Torah at Breed Street so the community could bless him, so that they should have a life of mazel. I loved that he told me!
Recently, our NLP class visited Breed Street Shul to learn about Community Development and Revitalization in an historic community. Claudia Lima, the Executive Director of LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation), and Isela Gracian, Associate Director of ELACC (East Los Angeles Community Corporation) provided a comprehensive discussion on how to revitalize a community. We were then treated to a personalized tour of the shul and the surrounding neighborhood. This was made even more special by our tour-guides…local high school students from the area!
NLP gives each participant the opportunity to view magnified swaths of Los Angeles’ fabric, and this program was especially exciting because it explicitly touched on the history of Jewish Los Angeles – and my own family!
As I parked and hit “end” on my iPhone, I marveled at how much had changed and how much had stayed the same – both for my family and for Breed Street. It was a perfect Sunday.
NLP, a program of Jewish Federation Los Angeles, is the premier Jewish civic leadership program in our city, preparing individuals to make extraordinary contributions to both our Jewish and greater communities. For more information, please contact Alissa Duel (323) 761-8236 or ADuel@JewishLA.org.
