President – Howard Schnee

Hello,I am Howard Schnee, the 2025 -2026 MOTAS president. I am a local Los Angeles product who grew up in Granada Hills. My wife Karen and my two daughters have been TAS members since 1992. I have been a TAS trustee, chaired the TAS book group, a choir member, co chaired the Cantor’s concert and a long time volunteer for MOTAS. I retired from my law practice in 2024 and am busy enjoying life.

Vice President – (Vacant)

TBD

Vice President – Scott Yollis

Bio Pending

Secretary – Hal Bass

Hal Bass was born and brought up in Chicago IL where he learned a strong work ethic from his parents, who owned a “mom and pop” store. His first vote was for JFK in 1960 and has not missed an election since. He met his bride at a young adult mixer in Chicago’s Blackstone Hotel in August, 1960. Within three weeks they were engaged and married ten months later. She worked as a high school French and English teacher while he completed medical school and residency. He graduated from The University of Chicago with his MD degree and a Masters in pharmacology. He found time to study genetics and used that skill as a clinical professor at UCLA and later at a well-known HMO where he was a pediatrician. He also served in the US Air Force at Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino, CA. The base needed his medical specialty so desperately that he missed out on basic training.

Hal and his wife have been members of TAS since 1974. Both have served the Temple in various capacities including serving on the Temple Board, working to build our sanctuary-social hall building, and other committees. Hal and his wife have taken leadership positions within MoTAS and Sisterhood and fervently believe that the synagogue is the foundation for Jewish survival. They have passed this belief to their two daughters and four grandchildren.

Since retiring, Hal has devoted even more time to MoTAS. He is currently serving as our perpetual secretary, providing us with highly detailed and accurate records of our meetings. As part of our monthly meeting programs, we have learned from him through presentations on a variety of subjects including genetic birth conditions, the 1956 Sinai War between Israel and Egypt, and the Armenian Genocide and its connection to the Holocaust. He also developed and helped organize our November Veterans Day salute where we identified and honored all of our TAS veterans. If all of this were not enough, we can always count on him to help both in front and behind the scenes for many other events such as our Shabbabaque, mailers, poker tournament and wherever else he sees a need.

Treasurer – Roger Lowe

Since retirement he has been remodeling his 1964 home and  traveling around the country and the world.

Past President – Larry Hoffman

Larry Hoffman graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1985 with a major in Economics. He was elected to the student senate as the only member of the Progressive Regressive Party. His platform was to make the Campanile digital using Roman numerals. He was a member of the University of California Rally Committee where he met his future wife Dorothy Baum.

Larry and Dorothy were married in 1990. They have two adult children, Daniel and Kayla. Both grew up at Temple Ahavat Shalom. Larry credits his role as a Dad for the quality of many of his jokes.

In 2021 Larry built a corn maze for Halloween. The corn maze was unique in that it was made of canned corn.

Larry is a retired mainframe programmer and enjoys not working. He is a member of several TAS small interest groups including Curious Eaters, Jewish Theatre, Games, and the Second Act Havurah.