Congregation Beth Meier

Congregation Beth Meier has served the San Fernando Valley Jewish community since it was founded in 1958. The Congregation evolved from its early days of meeting in the founding rabbi's backyard to its present location. We are affiliated with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

Our Congregation is dedicated to providing a House of Worship that keeps with the best of Conservative values of innovation and change while maintaining a Traditional form for expression of those values. Additionally, we celebrate the timeless Jewish values of love for G-d, support for Israel, teaching our children, and openness to all who find Beth Meier their spiritual home, their “House of Light."

We offer Friday night services at 8:00pm with Family Shabbat services at 7:30 the second Friday of the month and Saturday morning services are at 10am. Services on Fridays include lots of singing, the use of English, and even some dancing as we celebrate the coming of Shabbat and praise G-d together. Saturday mornings offer a more traditional style service with a flavor unique to Beth Meier. There is a kiddush-reception after every Friday night service and lunch following Saturday morning services.

Rabbi Benson graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the spring of 1998 with a B.A. in History. In the fall of 1998 he entered the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles. Rabbi Benson studied in Israel during 2001-02 and was ordained in May of 2003.

From the time of his ordination until 2008 he served as rabbi of Congregation Beth Meier, where he had also been a rabbinic intern. He was an instructor for the Miller Introduction to Judaism Program at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles from 2005 to 2008. From 2006 to 2008 he served as the Recording Secretary for the Rabbinical Assembly’s Pacific Southwest Region Executive Board. A story of his, “The Blankets,” was published in Jewish Stories from Heaven and Earth: Inspiring Tales to Nourish the Heart and Soul, an anthology compiled by Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins.

From 2008 to 2011 he was rabbi of the East Brunswick Jewish Center, in East Brunswick, New Jersey. While there served as head of the Rabbinic Advisory Cabinet of the Solomon Schechter Day School of Raritan Valley as well as serving as a trustee for the New Jersey Region of the Rabbinical Assembly. Rabbi Benson also taught in the Interfaith & Conversion Outreach Education Program. He was an appointee to the Mayor of East Brunswick's Ethics Committee and also served as a chaplain for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Rabbi Benson is married to Isabel Smith. They have a son, Montgomery, and two dogs, Georgie and Katie.

Our synagogue was founded by and carries on the mission of our first spiritual leader, Rabbi Meier Schimmel. That mission is encapsulated in the ancient saying, "have love for humanity and draw close to the teachings of Torah." Ordained in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, at the Hoffman Yeshiva, Rabbi Schimmel was a rabbi for seventy years. He came to the United States after having served in various rabbinic capacities in Europe.

During the Second World War he served as a Chaplain in the United States Army. The rabbi and his late wife, Rebbetzin Rochelle Schimmel, relocated to Los Angeles in the late 40's. Even before founding the synagogue, Rabbi Schimmel had already become known for his pioneering efforts to make kosher food more widely available in Los Angeles.

To that end he opened the city's first kosher restaurant and bakery. In 1958, after starting with Friday night services in their home, Rabbi and Rebbetzin Schimmel, along with a handful of like-minded families, founded Congregation Beth Meier. Congregation Beth Meier is named his Rabbi Meier Baal HaNess, known as Master of the Miracle. His tireless dedication to the synagogue made him an inspiration to all who entered Beth Meier's doors. Rabbi Schimmel passed on at the age of 89 just before Rosh Hashanah in 2005.

If you would like to help keep Rabbi Schimmel's dreams alive, please make a contribution to the Rabbi Meier Schimmel and Rebbetzen Rochelle Schimmel Memorial Fund. Please contact our office. Or make a donation on the donation page.