Welcome!
The Library Minyan, now beginning its six decade, is a participatory, lay-led, davening and learning community that blends traditional observance with a fully modern and egalitarian approach to Jewish living. We hope you’ll find this website a useful source for information about our activities.
As a lay-led organization, we encourage people to volunteer in any capacity. Ways to volunteer can be found here.
The Library Minyan meets every Shabbat and holiday morning at Temple Beth Am in the Dorff-Nelson Chapel. The photos on this page are of the stained glass windows found either side of the Aron Kodesh as well as the community Hiddur Mitzvah Adult Coloring Project which adorns the ceiling above the bima. Conceived and supervised by artist Wanda Peretz in 2018, the project honors the unique Jewish folkart that decorated the Prayer Halls of wooden synagogues in 18th Century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Over 60 members of the Library Minyan assisted in the coloring.
This website includes the following helpful links:
Calendar: The Calendar shows who will be gabbai for each service, contact information for gabbaim and other coordinators, assigned/open dates for reading Haftarah or giving a drash, and dates for special events.
Minyan Weekly Update: Each week before Shabbat, an email goes out with details of services that week and other useful information about the minyan. If you are not receiving our email, you can join the email list here, or you can view this week’s email.
Donate: If you would like to celebrate a simcha by co-sponsoring a kiddush, or make a donation to the minyan to help support its youth outreach or chesed projects, click here and fill out the form:
Ohel Patuach/Open Tent opens the tent of home hospitality for newcomers and others. If you’d like to share a Shabbat or holiday meal in your home or the home of another Library Minyan member, contact Essia Cartoon-Fredman, Ohel Patuach coordinator, to arrange a shidduch. Essia can be reached at: ohelpatuach@libraryminyan.org or efredman@pressmanacademy.org.
Chesed Committee supports Library Minyan members during the birth/adoption of a child, illness or death in the family. Contact Lori Harrison, loriharrison2017@gmail.com, if you or another member of our community needs assistance with meals.
Programming: As an integral part of Temple Beth Am, we are proud of its wonderful heritage and leading role in the Los Angeles Jewish Community. For information on the broad range of religious, educational, and social activities at TBA:
Website: We’re still a work in progress. If you have any suggestions for ways to improve our website, please send them to the webmaster.