About BCC

Beth Chayim Chadashim is a progressive and diverse community of people who come together to celebrate Jewish faith and culture.  Started in 1972, we are the world’s first synagogue founded by, and with an outreach to, lesbians and gay men. Today our community is an established and essential part of the religious life of Los Angeles.

Our name means “House of New Life,” and our services, social gatherings and broader activism work in concert to make our community unique and live up to its name. LA is a vibrant but often disjointed big city; BCC is an intimate, welcoming synagogue that brings warmth and perspective to its members and friends.

About Our Mission

Congregation Beth Chayim Chadashim sustains a Jewish community for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Jews, while welcoming all who wish to make community with us.

We give people the opportunity and means to worship God in accordance with the principles and practices of Judaism. We also cultivate knowledge about the history, traditions and ideals of Judaism. We support and encourage our members as they explore themselves, the world, and their role in it. BCC seeks to promote communication between the broader Jewish and LGBT communities.

In partnership with our clergy, we wrestle openly and intelligently as a community with the Jewish tradition and the Torah. We are inspired by our founders’ vision and values of equality, fairness and inclusiveness. We face new challenges in today’s world, but will always affirm our founders’ core belief: that all people are created B’tzelem Elohim – in God’s image.

Our Mission

Congregation Beth Chayim Chadashim’s mission is to:

  • Provide all members the opportunity and means to worship God in accordance with the principles and practices of Judaism.
  • Serve others and work to see that all come to realize their own value and dignity.
  • Serve and support members as they explore their own value, dignity and place in their community.

9 Comments on “About BCC”

  • Debbie Kessler April 21, 2013 pm30 10:58 pm . Reply

    I thoroughly enjoyed the Cantor’s recorded blessings and prayers. I am a Jewish convert who is blind and my listening is helping me to recall all the words. Also, I have been signing in to listen to Friday night’s service via live stream for the past couple of months. Hopefully, I will be able to attend temple services in person in the near future. Thanks for providing your great service to those of us unable to attend at this time.

    • Juval April 23, 2013 am30 11:28 am . Reply

      Dear Debbie,
      We were all so happy to read your kind words. It was our hope to provide access to all who can not make it to BCC in person and your comment is more than we could ask for. We look forward to having you with us one day. All the best,
      Juval

  • Crystal Van Horn May 14, 2013 am31 9:05 am . Reply

    I am so very pleased to see more information about Beth Chayim Chadashim. And I want you to know how proud of your work I am.

    My mother, Lorena Wellington, was a founding member (and I believe an original Board Member in 1972). I was always to proud of her work in both the gay and Jewish community. And I know that she, too, was proud of the work that BCC has done (she died of Pancreatic Cancer in 2001 — at the age of 81).

    Please keep doing your important work.

    Thank you. B’Shalom,

    Crystal W. Van Horn
    Clifton, NJ
    973-478-8130

    • Felicia Park-Rogers May 14, 2013 am31 10:07 am . Reply

      We are thrilled to hear from you! Your mother’s memory is such a blessing to us at BCC. Let’s be in touch! BCC

  • Itay & Tony Seith August 20, 2013 pm31 4:32 pm . Reply

    As members who moved to Florida, we are e extremely happy that there is this method of still being with our beloved Synagogue despite the distance between our current location and the most caring synagogue I have ever been a member. Many times our only way to worship is thru the streaming broadcast. (Due to my mobility issues.)

  • Jariell A Perlman February 5, 2016 pm29 7:07 pm . Reply

    Hello, my name is Jariell A Perlman… I lost my mother in 2008 sep 30, to Leomyosarcoma, a very rare form of cancer. She told me that my dad was Reform regarding his faith of Judaism… my grandfather was Conservative regarding his faith of Judaism, we attended Beth Kodesh in Canoga Park, in Los Angeles, in early 1980s. Since my father passed away in 1983, I have been disconnected from my roots in faith in Judaism. I attended a Jewish kindergarten in Tarzana, in Los Angeles and attended EMIC, a Jewish day school in Los Angeles. All these years, I have been disconnected, and found your site, through the reformjudaism.org website after a search for virtual synagogue service. I used to attend synagogue with my father Justin Avram Perlman, every saturday practically, and I remember very well… I was eight years old when my dad passed on. I was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2001, and schizoaffective bipolar disorder in 2010, and I have been living in a foster home since just before my mother passed on… we lived together just my mom and I for many years, we had company for a short while, but mostly my mom and I. My mother grew up in a catholic upbringing, but she raised me with jewish background just as my father did, and also, we tried to keep to our faith in judaism throughout all these years we were together. I still feel they are wih me. My mom’s name was Elena Villarreal Perlman or Elena V Perlman as many knew her. Since 1985 we reside in El Paso, Tx, with family on both sides of border. My dad was from New York, originally, and his parents, Celia Cohen Perlman and Milton Bertram Perlman. My grandmother Celia was a member of Hadassah, the Jewish Women’s organization, and both my grandparents were educators in the public school system in New York city. Thank you for your congregation BCC – Beth Chayim Chadashim, an all inclusive congregation… thank you for providing your live web cast feed… sincerely, all the best to you… and thank you. Ps.. I don’t speak hebrew but maybe someday.

    • Yvonne "Bonnie" Guinn February 3, 2017 am28 7:02 am . Reply

      Jariell,
      You were very young when we met in El Paso, Texas. Your lovely mother and my father Joseph Efrain were cousin’s. Have looked for you for several years. So happy to have located you.
      Bonnie Guinn

  • Janine June 12, 2016 pm30 8:06 pm . Reply

    Would you kindly provide me with Rabbi Lisa Edward’s email address? Thanks! Happy Shavuoth. Blessings, Janine

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