TV SHOW EDUCATES JEWS ON RELEVANCE OF ANCIENT FAITH.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

Adat Ari El, a conservative Burbank Boulevard synagogue, produces the monthly program "Journeys into Judaism" for broadcast on cable TV systems across the San Fernando Valley.

The program, available to 291,000 cable TV subscribers, is designed to educate viewers about Judaism and encourage those who have strayed from their religion to return.

Rolf Gompertz, host of the half-hour program, said his aim is to "create goodwill and understanding about what Judaism is all about."

Gompertz, 68, came to the United States in 1939 as a refugee from Nazi Germany. He said the broadcast is an outgrowth of his love for a religion that cost millions of people in their lives.

"Looking at (Judaism) from the outside, it seems it's a hard religion, a demanding religion," Gompertz said. "Yes, it makes demands on you. If you take it seriously, there are things you do and things you don't do," he said.

But Gompertz said he sees the rules of Judaism not as restrictive, but rather as a sort of road map to attain a fuller life. "They help give you direction," he said. "They help you develop a spiritual discipline."

Rabbi Moshe Rothblum, leader of the synagogue - which was established in 1938 and is among the oldest in the Valley - has twice been a guest on the Adat Ari El program.

"Judaism . . . even though it is one of the oldest religions, is relevant today and has things to say about life today," Rothblum said. He said he hopes the program has a unifying effect on Jews, and reinforces a pride in their common faith.

"There is a real spiritual need that people look to fulfill, and we try to share some of our insights and values with our fellow Jews," Rothblum said.

Making Judaism relevant to everyday life in an increasingly turbulent era is another function of the show, said Adat Ari El's associate rabbi, Leslie Alexander.

"Lots of people are really adrift, and they're not rooted, and that's what the synagogue is there for - to help them," she said, adding she hopes the cable program will encourage Jews to join a temple or take a more active part in the synagogue to which they already belong.

"All the more so now, people need faith communities to participate in," Alexander said. "I think that people feel really lonely and disconnected, but for some reason they feel uncomfortable about walking into (a synagogue) where they might be a stranger."

Gompertz said he hopes the broadcasts "provide committed Jews with some deeper insights" into their beliefs. He also said the synagogue hopes to reach, for instance, young people who drift away from temple worship during their college years or young adulthood.

"Those of us who have found Judaism a joyful way of life, a meaningful way of life, have become concerned about the Jews who have fallen away," Gompertz said. Typically, such people return to religious practice when they get married or have children.

"Suddenly, when you hit your mid-30s, you find out you're not immortal and you start asking some of the big questions," he said.

Gompertz and his guests - many of them rabbis and cantors - discuss life's challenges and assorted issues from a Jewish perspective.

He has a favorite question for those who come on the show: "If you believe in God, how do you explain evil in the world? How do you explain pain and suffering? How do you explain the Holocaust?"

Other shows have been more lighthearted, such as his interviews with Rothblum, a musical theater buff who directs synagogue youths in productions like "Guys and Dolls," "Man of La Mancha," and - of course - "Fiddler on the Roof."

Other programs have focused on converts to Judaism, the questions of Jewish teen-agers, Israeli and Yiddish liturgical and folk songs and dance, and Jewish efforts to address societal problems through community outreach.

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Photo Rolf Gompertz hosts, and Adat Ari El synagogue produces the monthly TV show "Journeys into Judaism." Terri Thuente/Daily News