Kol Tikvah location map

Rabbi Janet Offel is a respected rabbi both locally and nationally. In addition to having served in the congregational rabbinate at Temple Isaiah in West Los Angeles and at Temple Aliyah in Woodland Hills, she is a popular guest rabbi/scholar throughout Southern California. She has also served as a curriculum consultant to Synagogue 2000, a national transdenominational institute dedicated to fostering transformational change in synagogue life, a Lecturer in the Religious Studies Department at California State University, Northridge, and Jewish Hospice Chaplain with Kaiser Permanente. Rabbi Offel is a member of the Senior Resource Faculty of the National Center for Jewish Healing, and is a Partner of the Kalsman Institute on Judaism and Health. She has written "The Mitzvah of Bikkur Cholim: A Model for Building Community in Contemporary Synagogues" for the National Center for Jewish Healing based upon her work in co-developing a program in Southern California, the Chesed Project. With Rabbis Nancy Flam and Amy Eilberg, she also co-authored "Acts of Lovingkindness: A Training Manual for Bikkur Holim." In addition to being a former Lehmann Faculty Fellow of the Brandeis Bardin Institute, Rabbi Offel developed a pilot Community Rabbi program in the San Fernando Valley, and continues to speak to Jewish, Christian interfaith and secular groups around Southern California on a variety of topics related to Judaism. Rabbi Offel has served the national Reform rabbinate in a number of capacities. She is a member of the Budget and Finance Committee of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) and formerly served for six years on the Conference's National Convention Planning Committee. A former board member of the Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis, she has also assisted the Reform movement as a peer rabbinic mentor for the CCAR Committee on Ethics and Appeals and as a mentor for the HUC-JIR/CCAR Joint Commission of the Rabbinic Mentoring Institute. Prior to entering rabbinical school, Rabbi Offel spent 13 years in the business world where her career took her from early positions in marketing and special events planning to, ultimately, the position of President/CEO in a turnaround publishing company venture. Ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), Rabbi Offel received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communication Studies from UCLA and a Master of Arts Degree in Hebrew Letters from HUC-JIR.

Cantor Caren Glasser has been serving Temple Kol Tikvah for the past 10 years. She uses her extensive knowledge and expertise in music and liturgy to transmit Jewish values to our congregational family, young and old. Cantor Glasser is involved in the Preschool, Religious school and Hebrew school filling the hearts of the children with song and prayer. She has produced several CD's for Temple Kol Tikvah; "Kol Tikvah - Voices of Hope" a collaboration of spiritual songs with her brother Craig Taubman, is well respected in the Jewish Community near and far. In addition to her 10 years in the business world as the owner of a respected fine arts school, she brings twenty five years of experience to our congregation using her skills as an educator and talents in both Chazzanut (traditional Jewish melodies) and contemporary Jewish Folk Music to further serve the Jewish Community.

Watch Cantor Glasser and Joan Ryan sing "The Prayer"

Steven B. Jacobs, Rabbi Emeritus. Action, commitment, service, spirituality, resistance, and story telling have characterized the sixty-seven years of Rabbi Steven Jacobs' life. As a young child, he was influenced by two life-changing events. First, he witnessed a young Black boy being harassed. This sparked in him the intense emotions that have ever since fueled his pursuit of racial equality. Then, at age thirteen, a nine-year-old boy died in his arms as a result of a drowning accident. Although his faith in God was jolted as a result, he knew at this early age that he was to become a Rabbi. Motivated by a sense of the many injustices in the world, Rabbi Jacobs has actively pursued solutions to right the wrong. The issues for which he has the greatest passion include civil rights, Black and Jewish community relations, Muslim and Jewish relations, interfaith missions and religious pluralism. Dedicated to improving the status quo, he devotes his energy and time in ways that truly do make a difference. He is committed to his congregants, being available for their religious and spiritual needs at any time. Celebrating and grieving together has become a significant part of his daily life. Fairness for all and the idea of tikkun olam, healing the world, keep Rabbi Jacobs busy. Outreach to non-Jews and a desire and sensitivity for social action continuously shapes his Rabbinate. For the past thirty-six years, Rabbi Jacobs has served the San Fernando Valley community. Rabbi Steven Jacobs was part of the interfaith delegation to Yugoslavia with Rev. Jesse Jackson, which brought about the release of the captured American soldiers. The Rabbi actively participated with service union workers for wage reform, striving for a living wage for all and supported the janitor and health care union protests. During the post-election 2000 uncertainty, Rabbi Jacobs emerged as the prime force in the renewal of the Black-Jewish Coalition. He joined Kweisi Mfume of the NAACP, Ralph Neas of the People for the American Way, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson in speaking before Jewish and Black synagogues and churches on behalf of the disenfranchised Black, Jewish, Haitian and student voters in Florida. For these and other activities throughout his life, Rabbi Jacobs received the 2001 Walter Cronkite Faith and Freedom Award. He is currently on the Executive Board of Washington D.C.-based Faith in Public Life, a member of the Muslim-American Homeland Security Congress of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, and since his retirement from the pulpit, he has founded the Rabbi Steven B. Jacobs Progressive Faith Foundation. Shaping more than the community, Rabbi Jacobs also enjoys sculpting, an avocation that he has had for many years. He and his wife Linda also enjoy spending many spring and summer evenings at Dodger Stadium with any combination of their six children and their spouses and their four grandchildren.