Stephen Wise Temple

Specialties

3 Prefered Caterers: Wolfgang Puck, The Kitchen for Exploring Foods & Tarte Catering

History

Established in 1964.

Stephen S. Wise Temple was started in 1964 by Rabbi Isaiah Zeldin and 35 families. In the years since, it has grown to what you see today, a progressive Synagogue that blends Jewish values, ethics, and traditions into a house of worship and community. We are a Reform congregation and are members of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), the umbrella organization for the Reform movement.

Now with over 3,000 member families, six rabbis, two cantors, four Schools on three campuses, we are among the largest Reform synagogues in the country. Yet, our size is simply a means to offer the breadth of services and attention that we seek to give to each and every individual member of our community.

As Rabbi Zeldin once wrote, «May the memories of the road to today bring warm smiles to our faces and may the present success of our congregation and families bring joy and delight to our hearts.» And, as for the future, according to Rabbi Eli Herscher, «With only great expectations and hopes…

Meet the Manager

Rabbi Eli H.

Manager

In 1935, Joseph Herscher and Lucy Strauss fled their native Germany for what was then Palestine. Most of their family members were not allowed to leave and perished at the hands of the Nazis. Over the course of the next nineteen years, the Herschers created a new home for themselves in Israel. It was there that they were married and gave birth to two sons, Uri and Eli. Eli was born just a few months before the establishment of the State and the outbreak of the War of Independence. The personal history of his family has always been, and remains, an integral part of his identity as a Jew, as well as an important source of inspiration in his life’s work.

In 1954, the Herscher family moved to the United States, settling in San Jose, California. Upon graduating high school, Eli attended the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned his undergraduate degree in English. In 1970, he entered the Hebrew Union College — Jewish Institute of Religion to begin his rabbinic education…