RABBI HAPPY TO BE HOME GLENDALE CONGREGATION WELCOMES NEW LEADER.

Byline: Helen Gao Staff Writer

GLENDALE - The Yiddish word ``mensch'' means a caring, sensitive and really good person.

In Rabbi Jonathan Biatch, the congregation at Temple Sinai of Glendale believe they have found a mensch.

``We wanted a rabbi who would touch our hearts with words and deeds, who was inspired and inspiring,'' said Louise Mayeri Spillman, a longtime congregation member.

``We were looking for the spark to light our fire ... We found all those traits in Rabbi Biatch. He is a perfect fit for Temple Sinai.''

Biatch, 47, will assume the helm of the 74-year-old institution, the only synagogue in Glendale, starting July 1. He succeeds Rabbi Carole Meyers, who stepped down last year after a 15-year tenure in order to focus on her family.

Biatch - pronounced Bite-ch - was unanimously chosen by the Reform temple's rabbinic search committee, board of directors and the congregation at large, after a yearlong search that involved interviews with more than a dozen candidates.

For the rabbi, a San Fernando Valley native who grew up in Studio City and attended CSUN, landing in Glendale represents a homecoming of sorts.

Biatch's sister worked as a rabbinic intern at the temple in the 1980s and is still remembered by congregants there.

``I didn't know I would ever get back here,'' said Biatch, who has been living in various parts of the country in the past few decades. He was house hunting this week in Glendale and took a break to sit down for an interview.

``My objective was to find the right spiritual community for myself,'' he said. ``I am excited to return to Southern California.''

Dressed casually in jeans and a shirt, sporting a nearly silver mustache and beard, Biatch was affable. He spoke softly with a melodic voice.

When he talks about the job of being a rabbi, he is at turns philosophical and passionate.

``We have a culture and tradition that is 1,000 years old. One of the jobs a rabbi has is to translate that into modern living,'' he said.

``This is a teaching profession: one is a spiritual teacher; one is a practical teacher; one is a translator of ancient language into modern language.''

Biatch, who majored in radio and television broadcast management as an undergraduate, did not always see his life's calling as a rabbi.

By his own account, he was not steeped in his own heritage until he graduated from college and spent a year abroad in Israel working for the country's equivalent of PBS.

``It was during that year my interest went to things Jewish, rather than media-related,'' he recalled. ``It was being in Israel, partly being with the Jewish people and seeing the kind of help the Jewish people need.''

At the end of his one-year sojourn, he returned to the United States to earn a master's degree in Jewish communal service at Brandeis University and went on to work for the Jewish Federation, helping to raise funds and mobilize resources for various causes and social services.

Seeing his gifts would be better used in a more personal setting, he decided to return to school yet again - this time to become a rabbi.

``I love to teach. I love to help people through the difficulties in their lives,'' he said.

Biatch was ordained in 1992 by the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. For the past several years, he has been serving as associate rabbi at Beth El Hebrew Congregation in Alexandria, Va.

Biatch is married to Rabbi Bonnie Margulis, who works for the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. The couple has two children.

He plays the accordion, loves to sing and is admired for his sense of humor.

As rabbi at Temple Sinai, Biatch will work in a team with the cantor and the head of the synagogue's school to serve the needs of about 310 families.

``Everyone who has met him is very excited about his coming,'' said Spillman. ``It's a brand new era for Temple Sinai.''

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Rabbi Jonathan Biatch, a graduate of California State University, Northridge, will lead Glendale's Temple Sinai, where his sister once worked.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer