Growing Congregation Builds a New Jewish Legacy in Oxnard

OXNARD — Last year, Friday nights found Oxnard resident Mort Resnick making the 90-minute drive to Northridge to celebrate the Sabbath at a Conservative synagogue. A religious man whose son observed his bar mitzvah at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Resnick cherished the local Jewish community he had been part of for 27 years.

Next month, as president of Congregation Am Hayam in Oxnard, Resnick will receive a framed certificate proclaiming the 90-member synagogue part of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. With its rented hall, hand-me-down Torah and a history that reaches back to Abraham, Am Hayam, or “The People of the Sea,” has become one of the newest Conservative congregations in America.

“We have done amazing things in a year, things we didn’t know were possible,” Resnick said. “Hopefully we will grow, and we’ll be able to leave a legacy here.”

Am Hayam’s legacy had an unlikely beginning more than 13 months ago at May’s Hair Design Plus, an Oxnard salon. Hairdresser Terry Perry noticed that many of her clients were Jewish women who had moved to Oxnard from the San Fernando Valley, and made introductions.

“She’s this sweet Italian lady, tiny, who kept introducing us to each other,” said Jackie Saltz of Oxnard, president of the Pacific southwest region of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. “We got to talking and realized we were all schlepping out to the Valley for services, and decided to see if we could get something going here.”

In February of last year, three families who were interested in starting a synagogue met in Resnick’s living room. Encouraged by the level of interest they found, they began placing fliers in local bagel shops and, of course, in May’s hair salon.

By the time the group met with officials from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the organization that grants charters for Conservative congregations, their number had swelled to 22.

Ten months later, the group had hired a rabbi, acquired a Torah and an ark in which to store it, prayer books and a charter.

“This is the first Conservative congregation in the Oxnard-Ventura region,” said Rabbi Marvin Labinger, executive director of the United Synagogue’s southwest region. “We feel very proud of this new congregation, and we hope to see it grow and see it prosper. They have made a very important contribution to the community.”

Rabbi Gerald Hanig, a Ventura resident who retired after 20 years as cantor of Temple Ramat Zion in Northridge, looks forward to leading Am Hayam. A large man with a rich voice who led the members of his former synagogue in song and prayer, Hanig said he is proud of what the fledgling temple has accomplished.

When a Los Angeles synagogue donated a Torah in December--a sacred handwritten parchment scroll containing the five books of Moses, Genesis through Deuteronomy--Am Hayam’s membership celebrated. Gathered in their rented hall at the Oxnard Monday Club, they sang ancient melodies and danced with the Torah in their arms.

“It was a very emotional experience for all of us,” Hanig said. “People wept. There was a tremendous amount of feeling in the room.”

In some ways, the creation of Am Hayam mirrors the history of the Jews themselves, he said. The group first held services in members’ homes, needing only a minyan--10 congregants--to worship. The group then moved to a member’s warehouse and finally found its current home at the Oxnard Monday Club, 1401 W. Gonzales Road.

“We are a portable people. The Torah can be carried anywhere, and that is how we have been able to make the religious aspects of our lives and our way of life meaningful,” Hanig said. “So we can create our synagogue out of a meeting room, put the Torah in our ark, and we have created our community.”