Rabbi---------------------------------------Lisa Hochberg-Miller Cantor-------------------------------------------Michael Anatole Torah School Principal------------------Janis Knight, Educator Cantor Emeritus------------------------------------Ralph Moses Director, Early Childhood Education------Marion Levin-Welch
About Our Rabbi
Rabbi Lisa Hochberg-Miller has been the spiritual leader of Temple Beth Torah for more than a dozen years. She brings an unparalleled sense of warmth, genuine care, energy and love to our temple community. You can come to know her best through the sense of community she brings to weekly Shabbat services, and through her spiritual collaboration with our gifted Cantor Michael Anatole. Her passion for teaching is evident in her Sunday morning adult learning opportunities, Tuesday evening mini-series and her complete immersion into Jewish identity-building with her tenth grade confirmation students. She is one of TBT’s strongest voices for our Temple’s role of creating a close, cohesive Jewish community, as we celebrate simchas together and support each other through times of difficulty. We are proud that our Rabbi brings a commitment to partnership with our lay leaders and a strong desire to draw congregants into finding new paths to enrich their Jewish lives. Our Rabbi, Cantor, and Educator, as well as our Board of Directors, set the tone for Temple Beth Torah being the warm, welcoming, mensch-lik congregation that it is.
Rabbi Lisa is a recognized and respected leader of the interfaith community in Ventura, as well as in City and County leadership. She is a positive representative of the Jewish community in the broader community. We are proud that the good reputation which Temple Beth Torah has held in Ventura for all of its 68 years continues, under her leadership this past decade. Rabbi Lisa’s rabbinate is dedicated to opening the promise and meaning of a Jewishly-enriched life to all who seek it. She is as beloved with the children in our Torah school as she is with our congregation’s adults.
Rabbi Lisa was ordained from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1991; she earned her Masters of Hebrew Letters there in 1989. Her training in Jewish Education was earned through Brandeis University’s Hornstein Program in Jewish Communal Service. She holds a degree in Journalism, and has been awarded multiple commendations for her community service in Ventura. She and her husband Rabbi Seth are parents of three teen daughters, who are active participants themselves in temple youth programs and Torah School.
Michael Anatole has served as a Cantor in the Jewish community since 1974, and has served Temple Beth Torah since 1998.
Michael is a prolific composer. He has written three complete sacred services in English, and one in Hebrew, along with many sacred and secular songs. Michael believes that he has the distinction of being the only Cantor to have had a composition of his recorded by a Christian Gospel artist.
Michael is the husband of Deborah Anatole, and the father of Elana and Jesse. Debbie and Michael are lovers of Arabian horses, and Michael is fond of saying that their barn is like the Middle East; Arabs on both sides, and the Jews in the middle!
In addition to his cantorial responsibilities, Cantor Michael works closely with B'nei Mitzvah candidates in preparation for their special days, in "one-on-one" sessions. Michael also presents a six- week Basic Judaism/Synagogue Skills Course, which is usually attended not only by B'nei Mitzvah candidates, but by their parents as well. The TBT Shabbat music program has grown to include additional regular Simchat Shabbat musicians, greatly expanding the musical possibilities for Shabbat worship.
Michael was selected in April 2008 as Synagogue Executive Director.
Click Here to link to Cantor Michael's Musical website.
About Our Educator
Janis Knight grew up in Marblehead, MA. As the daughter of a Hebrew school teacher, there wasn’t much doubt as to what she would become. She worked in her Reform temple’s school after Confirmation then went on to Brandeis University where she received a Bachelor degree in Near Eastern/Judaic Studies with a minor in Medieval Studies. After teaching Sunday School for several years and working in student loan management, Janis left the corporate world and returned to graduate school full-time at Brandeis’ Hornstein Program in Jewish Communal Service in 1992. She married her husband, Tom, that year, as well.
Since receiving her Master’s in Jewish Communal Service, Janis has worked as Program Director at a large Conservative synagogue in Springfield, MA, as Education Director at an independent congregation in the Orlando area and finally, as Temple Educator for the past five years at Temple Beth Torah. She loves to garden, read, write and travel with her husband. Her special loves are her two cats, Tucker and Random.
Janis runs the Torah School, Camp Haverim and the Youth groups. She coordinates adult education activities at the temple and enjoys teaching the occasional class herself. She is an ex-officio member of the Executive Committee and the Board of Trustees and acts as a resource to the other committees and satellite organizations of the temple. Janis is also a founding member of the VCJE, Ventura County Jewish Educators, a professional group that allows her to work with and build bridges with other Jewish educators in the area.
Office Staff
Temple Secretary------------------------------Martha Richardson Preschool/Torah School Secretary---------------Linda Smith Bookkeeper------------------------------------Camilla Johnson Caretaker----------------------------------------Camilo Orozco
Office Volunteers: Juanita Seavey
Webmaster: David Minkin
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