PAST ARTICLES AND SERMONS FROM RABBI BAIR
Rabbi Ethan Bair
Rabbi Ethan BairJULY 2013 TO JUNE 2018
Email: RabbiBair@tbsmb.org
Rabbi Ethan Bair grew up in Boston where he was raised by spiritual seekers who rediscovered their Judaism through the Jewish Renewal movement. A graduate of Oberlin College and a former Fulbright scholar to Germany, Rabbi Bair was ordained at the Reform seminary, Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles, in 2011. He wrote his Rabbinic thesis on “Re-Envisioning Reform Jewish Prayer,” with Dr. Rachel Adler. While in rabbinical school, he was a recipient of the prestigious Schusterman Rabbinical Fellowship, which brought together future Reform and Conservative rabbis to learn about volunteer engagement, strategic planning and synagogue management. Stemming from this experience, Rabbi Bair would describe himself as a member of a new generation of Jewish leaders for whom denominations are secondary to transformational Jewish experience. For more than 11 years he has served congregations in Ogden, Utah; Vancouver, British Columbia; Sun Valley, Idaho; and San Rafael, CA. Most recently, he worked at American Jewish World Service, a global Jewish non-profit working to realize human rights in the developing world. Before that, he served as Campus Rabbi at the University of Southern California Hillel.
Rabbi Bair served Temple Sinai as our Senior Rabbi for five years before moving on to an an Assistant Rabbi position at Temple Beth Shalom in Miami Beach, FL. Rabbi Bair is committed to creating a participatory and authentic Jewish prayer culture; promoting inter-faith social justice work; and integrating Jewish studies with traditional Jewish sources into his repertoire of teaching. He enjoys running, hiking, singing, and welcoming Shabbat guests into his home with his wife, Nadya who has a PhD in Art History.
Vision for Temple Sinai’s Shabbat Culture
Yom Kippur, 5774 Temple Sinai, Reno, NV One transformational experience I had which led me to become a rabbi happened when I was 15. I was singing the Bach B Minor Mass with an international choir at Dachau Concentration Camp in Southern Germany. The conductor’s sister had been beaten to death there for serving as […]
On Listening and Letting Go
Yom Kippur, 5774 Temple Sinai, Reno, NV Listen Oh Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One. Sometimes I read it this way: Come on already, Israel, listen! Adonai, the One we call our God, Adonai is one! Adonai, our God, and GOD who goes by a multiplicity of names throughout the world— […]
Comprehensive Immigratinon Reform, A Jewish Issue
Rosh HaShanah Morning, 5774 Temple Sinai, Reno, NV Abraham, the founding patriarch of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, was an immigrant. The man who first entered a covenant with the One God, and whose merit we invoke every time we pray, because we are his descendants. Thus we read on every Passover night: “Arami Oved Avi,” […]
Define Yourself, as a Reform Jew, by What You DO (not by what you don’t do)
Erev Rosh HaShanah, 5774 Temple Sinai, Reno, NV He’s Orthodox! He uses so much Hebrew! Is he conservative or Reform? I still think he’s Orthodox. OMGosh, our rabbi keeps kosher? Is he going to make us keep kosher? These are some of the reactions I have heard since starting at Temple Sinai in July. Don’t […]