A new documentary film, Restoring Tomorrow, chronicles the enormous and complex process of renovating and restoring the magnificent Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles — and also the impact that following this process had on the filmmaker, Aaron Wolf, and his own Jewish identity.
The Times of Israel runs an article by Renee Ghert-Zand exploring both aspects of discovery/recovery. (Other recent articles also detail the process — see links below).
The story has many echoes of what happens in the restoration of synagogues, Jewish cemeteries and other Jewish heritage sites in Europe, and what “bringing back” neglected, forgotten or simply rundown places can mean for people involved. The synagogue, the city’s oldest Jewish Reform temple today stands in Los Angeles’s “Koreatown” neighborhood, witness to changing demographics and residency patterns in a dynamic city.
Watch the trailer:
The film has three dominant threads, which are intertwined: one is the restoration of the synagogue itself, which took place between 2011 and 2014; the second is the history of the synagogue — a huge domed building completed in 1929 and designed by architect Abram M. Edelman, who was the son of the congregation’s first rabbi — and its congregation. “The final, and ultimately most important, thread,” Ghert-Zand writes, “bridges the temple’s history with filmmaker Wolf himself. This is the heart of the film.” Ghet-Zand writes:
By witnessing the enormous effort put into securing the future of the historically significant temple and its role in the city’s Jewish community, as well as the city as a whole, Wolf became aware of the importance of Jewish continuity. He also understood the critical role that he and other American Jews of his age play in ensuring that continuity. “My family is small. My sister doesn’t live in LA, so if there is going to be any involvement in Wilshire Boulevard Temple into the long-term future, it’s going to be from me. If I’m not there, then the Wolf gene goes away. I feel responsible,” he shared. Over the course of making the film, Wolf has reconnected with some aspects of Jewish religious practice and attended temple events with his parents. He even sees himself one day taking a seat on the temple’s board. “Four years ago, I would never have imagined something like that,” he said.
An article in the Los Angeles Times in November made this even more explicit.
When Aaron Wolf began interviewing synagogue members and shooting footage for a documentary about the restoration of Wilshire Boulevard Temple, he considered himself a fallen-away Jew. He knew that his late grandfather, Rabbi Alfred Wolf, had served the temple for 36 years. Aaron Wolf was bar mitzvahed in the historic sanctuary, and he spent summers at the camps for Jewish youth that his grandfather had created in Malibu. But by the time he went to New York University to study film, he viewed religion as unimportant. After four years of working on the documentary, “Restoring Tomorrow,” and learning more about the temple’s history and his grandfather’s role in it, that has all changed.
See article in the LA Times: Documentary-maker rediscovers Judaism, family, self