Rabbi Allen Maller became the spiritual leader of Temple Akiba in Culver City, CA in 1967. He brought new ideas with him. “I want Temple Akiba to be a congregation that is open to new people and new ways. Judaism can add a great deal of meaning and security to our existence, but only if we have the ability to identify with, and then live, the values that our faith teaches us.”
Rabbi Maller is a graduate of UCLA and the Hebrew Union College. He has taught at Gratz College in Philadelphia, Hebrew Union College, University of Judaism, and Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Rabbi Maller is Past President of the Southern California Association of Reform Rabbis and is now President of the National Jewish Hospitality Committee.
Rabbi Maller has published over 100 articles on Jewish values in popular magazines; Jewish, Muslim and Christian. Rabbi Maller has also published original research in scholarly journals (Jewish Social Studies, Journal of Dharmah and Journal of Ecumenical Studies). He is the author of Tikunay Nefashot a spiritually meaningful High Holy Day Machzor that has been used at Temple Akiba and other congregations for many years, two books of children’s short stories, and a popular account of Jewish Mysticism entitled, “God, Sex and Kabbalah.”
In 2006 Rabbi Maller retired, after 39 years as Rabbi of Temple Akiba.
