Sinai Temple (Los Angeles, California)
| Sinai Temple | |
|---|---|
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| Basic information | |
| Location |
Wilshire Boulevard and Beverly Glen Boulevard, Westwood, Los Angeles, United States |
| Geographic coordinates | 34°03′59″N 118°25′45″W / 34.0663°N 118.4291°WCoordinates: 34°03′59″N 118°25′45″W / 34.0663°N 118.4291°W |
| Affiliation | Conservative Judaism |
| Rite | Ashkenazic/Sephardic |
| Status | Active |
| Leadership | Rabbi: David Wolpe Rabbi Emeritus: Zvi Dershowitz Cantor: Marcus Feldman School Rabbi: Andrew Feig Lower School Director: Shelly Lawrence |
| Website | Sinai Temple Website |
Sinai Temple in the Westwood district of Los Angeles, California is the oldest and largest Conservative Jewish congregation in the greater Los Angeles area. Architect Sidney Eisenshtat designed the current synagogue building, constructed in 1956 and expanded in 1998. Since 1997, the senior rabbi has been David Wolpe, the Rabbi Emeritus has been Zvi Dershowitz, and since 2008, the head school rabbi has been Andrew Feig.
Begun in 1906, Sinai Temple was established as the first Conservative congregation in Southern California. Its founders saw it as a venue for the practice of traditional Judaism in an environment of assimilation. The congregation first met in a B'nai B'rith hall on Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles, then from 1909 to 1925 in a building at 12th and Valencia, just west of what is now the Los Angeles Convention Center. That building then became the Welsh Presbyterian Church, and was named a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1977. (In 2013, Jewish music impresario Craig Taubman bought the building and announced plans to convert it into "a multicultural and interfaith performing arts center and house of worship.")
Having outgrown this facility, the congregation relocated to the mid-Wilshire district in 1925. This second building, located at 4th and New Hampshire, is now a Korean Presbyterian church.
Following the trend of its congregants, who were moving in significant numbers to Beverly Hills and the Westside of Los Angeles, in 1956, Sinai Temple constructed its third facility at its current location at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Beverly Glen Boulevard in Westwood. The building has a striking interior marked by the use of stained glass; Eisenshtat's design has been compared to the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. The building was expanded in 1998, under the supervision of architect Mehrdad Yazdani and Dworsky Associates.
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