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Rabbi Daniel Mehlman
​Rabbi Daniel Mehlman leads Temple Ner Tamid in Downey, California, while serving as a prison chaplain at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi. Born and raised in Buenos Aires, he was mentored by Rabbi Marshall Meyer, a student of Heschel who transformed Judaism across Latin America. After studying at the Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano and spending thirteen years in Israel, where he met his wife. Rabbi Mehlman completed his S’micha at Los Angeles’ Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in 2000. His rabbinate has included pulpits in Nevada, Florida, and throughout California, including Reno, Jacksonville, Ojai, Studio City, and Downey.
Student Rabbi Erin Wyner
Dr. Erin Wyner is a second-year rabbinical student at AJRCA. She grew up in a Conservative household and attended Jewish day school from 1st-4th grade. As a high schooler, she frequently read Torah, and she also helped teach Sunday school. Despite her enthusiasm for Judaism, she never seriously considered becoming clergy as it was not common to see women rabbis in the Conservative movement at that time. Instead, she pursued a career in family medicine. She worked in the community health setting in the San Fernando Valley for 5 years, taking care of a largely Hispanic population of uninsured, underinsured, and undocumented individuals. She spent time in medical school and residency learning Spanish in order to better communicate with this population and can speak reasonably conversational Spanish.
Despite her love for her patients and her passion for helping, Erin rapidly found herself burned out and frustrated with the American medical system and the way that medicine was siloed from health as a larger descriptor of medical, social, and spiritual well-being. Ultimately, she left medicine. She was happy for the opportunity to stay home with her young children, but she also felt that something was missing. It took some time, but a trip to Israel in 2021 rekindled her drive to engage in Judaism. While she had continued to be active in synagogue her entire life, young children sometimes made that difficult, and she missed learning in chevrutah. She also realized she wanted to teach Judaism. She began by teaching at religious school at her synagogue, Adat Ari El (she has taught kindergarten and 4th, but currently teaches 2nd). She also began to take courses through IJS and Hadar. Eventually, she realized that she wanted to become a rabbi. Though she had considered going back to school on and off in various contexts for 10 years, this finally felt right.She began at AJRCA in 2023. She also recently completed a certification to teach Jewish mindfulness through IJS. She has a particular interest in renewing Jewish spirituality and finds herself most aligned with the Renewal movement, though she still worships at a Conservative synagogue and follows Conservative halacha. She hopes to eventually lead spiritual retreats melding Jewish practice, text study, and Jewish and Eastern-inspired mindfulness practices. She loves to design services that blend chant and music with traditional prayer, and she has a passion for the way Judaism is a conversation with texts throughout the ages. She hopes to successfully help people find the meaning in their Judaism.
Hazzan Jonathan Kohan
Born in Buenos Aires, Jonathan Kohan is an ordained Cantor and Jewish Studies Professor, as well as an advanced Rabbinical Student at the Latin American Rabbinical Seminary “Marshall T Meyer.” He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Buenos Aires and a Master’s degree in Jewish Studies from the Hebraica University of Mexico. Additionally, he was a fellow at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Institute of Israel and a Visiting Scholar in Holocaust Music at Clark University in Worcester, MA.A classically trained lyric tenor, Cantor Kohan has served as a Cantor and Jewish Studies Professor for over twenty years in various congregations and schools in Argentina and the US. Since 2020, he has been the Director of the Cantorial Institute at the Seminary. He currently serves as the High Holiday Cantor at Chicago Loop Synagogue and frequently visits Temple Beth El. An advocate of Jewish tradition and culture, Hazzan Kohan considers nusach (traditional synagogue chant) and congregational tunes a unique vehicle for individual and collective spiritual experience. He is committed to transmitting secular and religious Jewish music through performance and education. In addition to this, he enjoys singing opera, art songs, and tango. He is the father of Ilana (10).
Hazzanit Laura Lucaci
Cantorial Soloist Laura Lucaci holds a Bachelor of Musical Arts from Maimonides University in Buenos Aires. An accomplished and dynamic singer, she has served at the Kehilatid Synagogue in Buenos Aires. In 2018, she was selected by the Onward International Organization for a seven-week internship in Israel, where she collaborated with various choirs and performed at OLEI in Tel Aviv and Beit Daniel Synagogue during Shabbat services. In 2023 and 2024, she participated in the High Holidays vocal quartet at ATJC (Aventura, FL). Highly creative and proactive, Laura's musical skills enable her to learn new music quickly and proficiently. She enjoys collaborating with clergy and both vocal and instrumental ensembles.
Rabbi Dov Gottesfeld
​Rabbi Dov has retired from being our Temple's Rabbi as of June 2025. He served Temple Beth El in Santa Maria for 10 years! He will continue to serve as Prison Chaplain in Atascadero. He has more time now to spend with his lovely wife, Sharon. We wish them both the best!
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