Temple Sinai (Oakland, California)
| Temple Sinai | |
|---|---|
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| Basic information | |
| Location | 2808 Summit Street, Oakland, California, US |
| Geographic coordinates | 37°49′00″N 122°15′54″W / 37.816637°N 122.264907°WCoordinates: 37°49′00″N 122°15′54″W / 37.816637°N 122.264907°W |
| Affiliation | Reform Judaism |
| Leadership | Rabbis: Andrew Straus, Jacqueline Mates-Muchin Cantor: Ilene Keys |
| Website | oaklandsinai |
| Architectural description | |
| Architect(s) | G. Albert Lansburgh |
| Architectural style | Beaux-Arts |
| Groundbreaking | 1913 |
| Completed | 1914 |
| Construction cost | $100,000 |
| Specifications | |
| Dome(s) | 1 |
| Materials | pressed brick, carved wood |
Temple Sinai (officially the First Hebrew Congregation of Oakland) is a Reform synagogue located at 2808 Summit Street (28th and Webster Streets) in Oakland, California, United States. Founded in 1875, it is the oldest Jewish congregation in the East San Francisco Bay region.
Its early members included Gertrude Stein and Judah Leon Magnes, who studied at Temple Sinai's Sabbath school, and Ray Frank, who taught them. Originally traditional, the temple reformed its beliefs and practices under the leadership of Rabbi Marcus Friedlander (1893–1915). By 1914, it had become a Classical Reform congregation. That year the current sanctuary was built: a Beaux-Arts structure designed by G. Albert Lansburgh, which is the oldest synagogue building in Oakland.
The congregation weathered four major financial crises by 1934. From then until 2011, it was led by just three rabbis, William Stern (1934–1965), Samuel Broude (1966–1989), and Steven Chester (1989–2011).
In 2006 Temple Sinai embarked on a $15 million capital campaign to construct an entirely new synagogue campus adjacent to its current sanctuary.Groundbreaking took place in October 2007, and by late 2009 the congregation had raised almost $12 million towards the construction. As of 2015, Temple Sinai had nearly 1,000 member families. The rabbis were Jacqueline Mates-Muchin and Yoni Regev, and the cantor was Ilene Keys. The synagogue has two emeritus rabbis, Samuel Broude and Steven Chester.
Founded in 1875 as the First Hebrew Congregation of Oakland, Temple Sinai is the oldest synagogue in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. It grew out of Oakland's Hebrew Benevolent Society, which had been organized in 1862 by eighteen merchants and shopkeepers from several foreign countries—predominantly Polish Jews from Posen. Although Hebrew Benevolent Societies typically ceased operations upon the founding of a synagogue, Oakland's was unusual in continuing to function independently for a number of years (the two groups did not merge until 1881).
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