<[[...]]
Two rabbis and two congregations towered over the religious
life in Los Angeles Jewry until World War II. Wilshire
Temple was founded in 1860. It was classical Reform, with a
magnificent structure on Wilshire Boulevard representing the
affluence of its membership, including many of the movie
colony. It was the "established" congregation of the Jewish
community.
Hushed worship, the garments of the minister, the mixed
choir, the centrality of the sermon, and the absence of bar
mitzvah, all marked the Reform temple. Its rabbi was Edgar
F. Magnin (1890- ). Under his influence
membership rose from 300 to 2,000, to become reputedly the
largest congregation in the United States. In 1930 Dr. Jacob
Kohn (1881- ) arrived at Congregation Sinai. He
became renowned for his liberal forthrightness,
philosophical depth, and Jewish scholarship.
[Jewish refugees]
At the end of World War II 150,000 Jews lived in Greater Los
Angeles, an increase of 20,000 since the war began.
[[It can be admitted that these were Jewish refugees from
Europe, and Los Angeles was not the only town where the
number of Jews was rising. Add to this many Jews changed
religion and could emigrate under national quotas. So it can
be admitted that the encriese was at least the double.
Unfortunately Encyclopaedia Judaica has never any indication
about this subject of emigration under other national
quotas]].
[General swift to the West]
The major growth of the Jewish population in Los Angeles
began after 1945 when thousands of war veterans and others
moved West with their families. The city's population
multiplied and the Jewish community grew apace.
By 1948 the Jewish population was a quarter of a million,
representing an increase of 2,000 people a month as Jews
moved West in one of the great migrations in Jewish history.
The Middle West was the major area of origin; perhaps 38% of
the Jewry in Los (col. 501)
Angeles in 1951 were from the Chicago area. In 1951 it was
estimated that 330,000 Jews lived in Los Angeles. Dozens of
suburban communities founded during this period were swiftly
absorbed in the spreading Los Angeles metropolis.
[[And again has to be considered the same thing: There were
many Jewish refugees within these shifting Jews - as far as
possible from Europe. And again has to be considered that
many Jews had changed their religion and have shifted to the
Western coast indicating other nationalities]].
By 1965 the Jewish population of Los Angeles had reached
half a million and the community had become one of the
largest centers of Jewish population.>
