HUC-JIR Los Angeles Campus

Isaiah Zeldin, 1st Dean

Isaiah "Shai" Zeldin was ordained at HUC, Cincinnati in 1946. After serving two years at a congregation in Newark, New Jersey, he became the Assistant Dean of the New York branch of HUC.

In 1953, he moved to Los Angeles to become the director the West Coast region of the UAHC and the Dean of the the College of Jewish Studies (a UAHC program). A year later, the President of Hebrew Union College, Nelson Glueck negotiated for the College of Jewish Studies to become a branch of HUC.

In 1958, Zeldin left HUC and the UAHC to return to congregational life. He served at Temple Emanuel in Beverly Hills for five years until he left to establish his own congregation. In 1964 Zeldin led the first services of the new Stephen S. Wise Temple. The congregation has grown to become one of the largest in the world with over 3500 families.