Temple to welcome new rabbi at open house

Temple Adat Elohim, a Reform congregation, will host an open house from 10 a.m. to noon Sun., July 24 at 2420 E. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks.

Prospective and current members will have the opportunity to meet the new senior rabbi, Ted Riter, Rabbi Rebecca Dubowe and Cantor Peter Halpern.

Guests may also meet the preschool and religious school directors, the board of directors and leaders of the various temple groups.

Brunch will be served. Juggling and magic entertainment will be provided for children.

Additional open houses will be hosted from 7 to 9 p.m. Tues., Aug. 16 and from 10 a.m. to noon Sun., Sept. 11.

The temple has introduced Rabbi Ted Riter as the new senior rabbi, along with his wife, artist Corey Rubin. Prior to joining the community, Riter served for eight years as the associate rabbi for Temple Solel in Encinitas, where he led social justice trips to Mexico and Washington, D.C. and created one of the first synagogue-based comprehensive youth programs in America.

Riter is a native of Texas and earned his undergraduate degree in political economics from Tulane University in New Orleans. Following this, he served as a legislative assistant for the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and later for Americans for Peace Now, both in Washington, D.C.

Riter took his rabbinical training and earned a Master of Arts degree in 1996 from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio. The institute ordained him in 1997.

Riter has been active in many Jewish and interfaith efforts to pursue social justice on the local, national and international levels.

Riter succeeds Rabbi Alan Greenbaum, who was recently named rabbi emeritus after serving the congregation for 21 years.

For more information, please call the temple office at (805) 4977101.