Temple B'nai Hayim and Congregation Beth Meier's Rabbis
Temple B’nai Hayim and Congregation Beth Meier were blessed to have strong, inspired and highly educated leaders throughout their existence.
These are some of the luminaries that made both congregations what they are today.
Rabbi Mika Weiss
Rabbi Mika Weiss was born October 19, 1913 in Kiskunfelegyhaza, Hungary. He received a Doctorate in Philosophy from the Pazmany Peter University of Budapest in 1939 and received his first position as a Rabbi in Oroshaza, Hungary in 1939 prior to his ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary in Budapest in 1941. In May 1944 he was arrested by the Gestapo at gunpoint and deported to the Mauthausen extermination camp. He had numerous chances to flee but said, “What kind of man would I be if I forsake my own congregation?” He stayed alive despite brutal treatment, giving his fellow prisoners the will to keep living when they were ready to give up.
Rabbi Weiss survived the Shoah, but with the Hungarian revolution on November 5, 1956 and the birth of his son Peter, he decided to leave anti-Semitism behind. Assisted by his friend the Arch Bishop of Hungary, he became Rabbi for the Helsinki Jewish Congregation in Finland, serving there until 1961 and becoming the Chief Rabbi of Finland in 1959.
With the Russians threatening Finland, he moved his family to the United States in 1962, quickly learning English. He became Rabbi of the Jewish Community Center in Flemington, New Jersey and Temple Mishkon Tephilo in Venice, California before coming to Temple B’nai Hayim where he served as Rabbi and Rabbi Emeritus for 35 years. During this time, he visited Los Angeles area hospitals and jails and worked with the LAPD from 1979. Rabbi Mika M. Weiss passed away on Shabbat, December 29, 2001, leaving a spirit and love for mankind that lives eternally.
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Rabbi Sheldon J. Weltman
Rabbi Sheldon J. Weltman served as the spiritual leader of Temple B’nai Hayim for an all too brief time, passing away from cancer in 1991 at age 55.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Weltman graduated from Columbia University and later received a Doctor of Divinity degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. He also received a Doctorate Degree in Religious Studies from Drew University in Madison, N.J.
Rabbi Weltman ministered to the elderly, problem children, veterans’ hospital patients and inmates. In 1983, Rabbi Weltman, who served as a U. S. Army chaplain for two years, was named the Jewish chaplain for the Granada Hills Community Hospital’s Symptom Control Program, which assisted terminally ill patients.
An avid traveler, Rabbi Weltman visited more than 60 countries. His collection of books on Jewish history, philosophy and Judaic studies showed his great love of learning, amassing more than 5,000 volumes in his personal collection.
Rabbi Sally Olins
Rabbi Sally Olins, affectionately known as ‘Rabbi Sally,’ served as Temple B’nai Hayim’s rabbi for sixteen years. A talented woman with a vast breadth of accomplishments, Rabbi Olins came to the rabbinate later in life. Prior to becoming ordained, she taught English and Modern Dance at the high school level, founded the Fine Arts Department at the Westlake School for Girls in Bel Air, and owned and taught at The Firm Company Dance Exercise Studio for 13 years.
She received her B.S. and M.A. from UCLA, and her M.A. in Jewish Philosophy from the University of Judaism in Bel Air. After completing her studies at The Academy for Jewish Religion in New York City, Rabbi Sally was ordained in 1989 as a conservative rabbi at B’nai Hayim Temple, the first time an ordination took place on the West Coast. siddur. Rabbi Olins was the first woman in the 102-year history of the Rabbinical Assembly of the Pacific Southwest Region to serve as its preside
Rabbi Meier Schimmel, Congregation Beth Meier's Founder and
Spiritual Leader
As a young man in Germany, Rabbi Meier Schimmel was always one step ahead of the SS. In World War II, the Rabbi served as a chaplain in the United States Army.
Coming from a long history of Rabbis, in 1958 he and Rebbetzin Rochelle Schimmel, along with several families, founded the first synagogue in Studio City. A few years later a permanent home for Congregation Beth Meier was erected. For over 50 years CBM was known as the “temple of light”, serving as a beacon to the community. Rabbi Shimmel was deeply committed to mankind, without regard for race, color or creed. His congregations and students loved and adored him, and he loved and adored them.
Rabbi Schimmel’s successor, Rabbi Richard Flom, continued those traditions.