High Holy Days chance to reconnect with faith

The High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are an opportunity for many people to reconnect with their Jewish faith. For local temples, the holidays offer an opportunity to inform new members about the services and programs they have available. Temple Beth Emet, a conservative congregation at 1770 W. Cerritos Ave., will celebrate the holidays with services that see such a large attendence that tickets will be needed to keep the number of worshippers from over reaching the amount of space. Rabbi Mordecai Kieffer presides over the services. Rosh Hashanah was Monday, Yom Kippur is next Tuesday. The ELzra Center, which operates in three north county synagogues, provides the large congregation with programs. During the day on Mondays and Thursdays, the center offers adult education and activities from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. In addition to classes on issues of Jewish faith, the center offers classes on health, fitness, safety and finance as well as entertainment activities. It serves as a place for people with free time during the day, many of them retired, to get together to play cards and socialize. The program is free with a $10 annual membership. A kosher lunch is offered for $4. Temple Beth Emet also offers youth religious education and day care during services. Temple Adat Ari, a conservative synagogue at 5100 E. La Palma Ave., is a smaller congregation than Temple Beth Emet. According to Marci Laurvik, an active member, the average family tends to have young children. The center of the growing synagogue is the children s religious education program, which teaches Hebrew and Jewish traditions three days a week. Rabbi Joe Amsterdam presides over the services. The synagogue offers a Shabbat family dinner the first Friday of every month, one of the most successful events. There is a real family feeling. New people feel like honored guests, Laurvik said. It s a small close-knit community. Even though he knew he had to leave full-time work, Stack couldn hogether. I thought of other jobs I could do. But I just enjoy helping people, Stack said. My fellow officers tell me I m crazy. I say to them I hope someday you have a job you love. Reserve work also gives Stack the chance to be close to his daughter, Kim Carr, a probation officer who recently started working with the Anaheim gang unit. Reserve officers receive some compensation for their hours, but the pay is less than that of a full-time police officer. Lt. John Haredon, head of the crimes against persons division, supervises the other two retired officers who now serve in the reserves. Detective Jack Jesson and Detective Bob Hammaker both returned to their units after joining the reserves. Jesson, a veteran with more than 25 years on the force, retired from the sex crimes unit. Now, in his reserve capacity, he works on the sex crimes register that keeps tabs on the sex offenders in Anaheim. Jesson s work not only frees up other officers time, but, acco helps to show strong police attention to registered sex offenders that may help to cut down on recidivism. Hammaker, a veteran with more than 30 years on the force, retired in the domestic violence unit. In addition to assisting domestic violence investigations, Hammaker s experience in robbery investigations is helping out the department. Hammaker was a longtime robbery investigator. Many of the people he put in prison are just getting out now. He can help us with the identification of the criminals, sometimes just from their M.O., Haredon said. Haredon believes that the detectives presence offers young officers an opportunity to learn from their experience and shows them that one you retire, you don "