Dear Friends, As you may have heard, we are weeks away from our sabbatical. This means a few things: We have been here for seven years already! We will be out of the office and off-duty for four months and The congregation gets four months to explore and grow on its own without meddlesome rabbis […]
A Season of Growth: What Our Rabbis’ Sabbatical Means for Us All
This past weekend at Temple Sinai was nothing short of extraordinary. Friday night’s Tot Shabbat brought the most families we’ve seen since the start of the pandemic. That energy carried into a vibrant community potluck and Shabbat Across America and Canada service. On Sunday, we joined forces with Temple Emanu-El for a lively Purim carnival, […]
Rabbis in the Community
Dear Friends, Since Rabbi Sara and I began working and living in Reno, we have been aware of the severe shortage of affordable housing. In our early days here, we partnered with interfaith groups and many of you joined us as we lobbied in Carson City, staffed overnight shelters, and worked for change. Sadly, the […]
Light in Darkness
Dear Friends, As often was the case, the rabbis were arguing. Shammai argued that we should light 8 candles on the first night of Chanukah, and count down, lighting one fewer candle each night. Hillel, on the other hand (or foot as was his wont), believed we should start with one and build up. As […]
The Bottom Line: Fighting for our communal survival
Across our country and in our Temple Sinai membership, I recognize the impulse to draw inward. Over the past year, we’ve seen an uptick in people declining to renew their Temple Sinai memberships citing financial reasons. They feel that they aren’t attending Temple enough to justify the cost of membership. My concern is that, someday […]
Elevate Your Shabbat
Elevate Your Shabbat: Transforming Your Friday Night Meal Sometimes people apologize to me for not attending Shabbat services more regularly, as if I’m taking attendance. I know every family has their own Friday night ritual, and rather than apologies, I want to hear about your Shabbat meal instead! Sharing a meal brings people together like […]
Invitation to Mourn
Dear Friends, Whenever I had a challenge or crisis in my life, I turned to my dad. So now as I mourn his death, I am at a particular loss. Among the many things he inspired in me was a love of Judaism and an appreciation for its wisdom. Lately, I find myself encountering our […]
In Every Generation
Dear Friends, As we prepare for Pesach, we are incredibly excited. Not only for our congregational seder, where we will gather and celebrate together. Not only for all of the traditions and foods that make Passover unique. We are excited because this year we will be using our new congregational Haggadah for the first time. […]
A Year of Renewal at Temple Sinai
I’m not gonna bury the lead: We are launching 5784 as a Year of Renewal at Temple Sinai. This will be a deliberate campaign to invite old and new friends back to Temple Sinai and to ask our members to invite Temple Sinai back into their lives. As one of our first steps in this […]
The Start of Something
Dear Friends, “I don’t make New Year’s resolutions,” said the DJ on the radio. He went on to explain that making promises on an arbitrary date was silly and that one could make a resolution at any time. I would have loved to ask him, “so do you make resolutions at another time? Do you […]