At Temple Beth El, we aim to cultivate a warm, fun, and inclusive Jewish Learning environment.
Our amazing staff of teachers go above and beyond for every student to help them form their own Jewish identity that will last with them through their entire lives. We encourage all our students to live in their own Jewish way, with kindness, sincerity, and from being unapologetically themselves!
We teach both Torah studies and Hebrew through creative, fun, and diverse methods. In the
younger grades, we do outdoor activities called “Hebrew through movement” to get our students exercising both their bodies and their brains. In our older grades, we learn about important Jewish values and connect them to the real world,while encouraging inclusive conversations
where curious questions are always encouraged.
At Temple Beth El, we make sure to start getting our students familiar with the Torah from an
early age. Beginning in 3rd grade, we provide each class the opportunity to host a Shabbat service themselves. Students practice weeks before their class’ service, so by the time their Bar/Bat Mitzvah comes around, they will have already read from the Torah plenty of times. This boosts confidence in Torah reading, gets students familiar with the pacing of a service, and enables them to be more involved in learning and teaching alongside their classmates and the larger congregation.
Torah School is held every Sunday morning in-person and every Thursday over Zoom.
The goal of Temple Beth El’s Torah School is to provide a Jewish education in accordance with the guidelines set by the Reform Movement. It is a deepening of Jewish experience and knowledge to strengthen faith in God, love of Torah, and identification with the Jewish people through involvement with the synagogue and participation in Jewish life. Linked to these goals, our education program embraces experiences and learning activities which encourage children and adults to become:
Cantor Ilan Davidson has been pleasing audiences with his singing since before he could read. At age five, he began singing with his Cantor, Philip Moddel, and hasn’t shut up since. At ten, he made his Operatic debut with the Fullerton Civic Light Opera’s production of Bizet’s Carmen, as a street urchin. Since then, he has performed roles in opera and musical theatre, performing, directing, and producing world-class productions.
Among his many accomplishments, Cantor Davidson is also known as a contemporary Jewish songwriter and performer, having delighted audiences all over the world, including Israel and Lithuania with the soulful sounds of his music. His recordings, Stained Glass (1995) and In A Hanukkah Mood (2007) are collections of original and covered songs by himself and many contemporary Jewish artists. His most recent recording, God Is In This Place (2020), is a collection of original liturgical pieces for the Friday night Shabbat Service, commissioned and written in honor of his 25th Anniversary as the Cantor of Temple Beth El.
Cantor Davidson left the stage and in 1995 joined the Temple Beth El family, in San Pedro, where, in his nearly 30 years of service, he has brought many new programs and much enthusiasm to all he does. Coming from a long line of Cantors, it must have been Besheret for Cantor Davidson, although talented in all areas of musical performance, to finally settle down into his career as Hazzan for Temple Beth El in San Pedro, California. In 2007, Cantor Davidson founded a new foundation, KindredSPIRITS, producing an annual world humanitarian aid event. KindredSPIRITS premiered on June 5, 2008 at Walt Disney Concert Hall, adding that prestigious concert hall to the ever growing list of venues around the world, where Davidson has performed. During the 10 years of humanitarian events, Global KindredSPIRITS, Inc., as an official 501©3, raised awareness and close to $500,000 for its beneficiaries over the decade.
As a past president of the South Coast Interfaith Council, Ilan fought for tolerance and understanding of ALL faiths in a difficult climate. For the past 7 years, Cantor Davidson has been service as an LA County Commissioner, representing the 4th District on the Human Relations Commission, where he currently serves as President. Whether it is raising his voice for justice, Hazzanut, Pop, Opera, Musical Theatre, or folk music, Cantor Ilan Davidson shares his soul and genuine love in every note.
When asked about his finest accomplishment, Cantor Ilan invariably responds, “After all the great concerts, services, and roles, my finest role in life is that of husband to my beautiful wife, Jodi, and daddy to my gorgeous daughters, Jordan and Zoe.”
Office: (310) 833-2467 Ext. 106
