Temple Sinai (Oakland, California)

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 Poznań. 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). By 1876, the congregation had purchased land on the south side of 14th and Webster streets; however, due to a severe recession in California at the time, the congregation did not construct a building until 1878. Services were initially traditional, following the Polish rite. Men and women sat separately, but the mehitza separating them was soon done away with. In 1881 the new president, David Hirschberg, led a campaign to modernize, and convinced a small majority to introduce a number of reforms, including the addition of a mixed choir of Christians and Jews and organ music, and the removal of the requirement for a minyan. ==Levy, Sessler eras: 1881–1892==

In 1881, the congregation hired Oakland's first rabbi, Meyer Solomon Levy. Born in England in January 1852 and raised there, he was the son of Rabbi Solomon Levy of Borough Synagogue in London. Meyer Solomon Levy had been ordained in England as an Orthodox rabbi before he was twenty, and moved to Australia as a young man. An early supporter of Zionism, he had served as a rabbi in Melbourne before moving to California in 1872 Levy came into conflict with Oakland's public schools, which refused to excuse Jewish students on High Holy Days. He petitioned that they be excused, but the superintendent and district went even further, and directed teachers not to schedule examinations for those days. Although traditional in some ways, Levy was progressive in others. "Deeply affected by the enlightened spirit of his day", according to historian Fred Rosenbaum, he "delivered lectures with titles such as 'Progress of Science' and, while at the First Hebrew Congregation, he invited Oakland's Unitarian minister to give a series of talks at the synagogue. Levy in turn was well received at the Unitarian Church, where he spoke on the theory of evolution." The structure had "Moorish elements inspired by Isaac Mayer Wise's Plum Street Temple in Cincinnati". During Levy's tenure, the synagogue had several congregants who were famous, or would become so. Ray Frank, the first Jewish woman to preach formally from a pulpit in the United States, settled in Oakland around 1885, and taught Hebrew Bible studies and Jewish history at First Hebrew Congregation's Sabbath school, where she was superintendent. Her students there in the 1880s included Gertrude Stein, later to become a famous writer, and Judah Leon Magnes, who would become a prominent Reform rabbi. Magnes's views of the Jewish people were strongly influenced by First Hebrew's Rabbi Levy, Morris Sessler succeeded Levy as rabbi in 1892. He had served at Congregation of the Sons of Israel and David in Providence, Rhode Island, from 1887 to 1892. His tenure lasted only six months, as "his ideas did not harmonize with those of the congregation". He became rabbi of Congregation Gates of Prayer in New Orleans that same year, where he served until 1904. ==Friedlander, Franklin eras: 1893–1919==

The congregation hired Marcus Friedlander of Congregation Baith Israel in Brooklyn, New York in 1893. Soon after he was hired, California experienced another economic downturn, which hurt the finances of members of the congregation. The congregation sold its property at 13th and Clay (which had become the heart of the business district) in 1895, and moved to a less expensive location at the northwest corner of 12th and Castro streets, and renovated the building there in 1896. Over 500 people, both Jews and non-Jews, were sheltered in the building for days after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The synagogue had 95 members by 1907, with annual revenues of $6,000 (today $). Friedlander and former congregation president Abraham Jonas persuaded the congregation to introduce a number of significant reforms in the service: they first adopted the Jastrow prayer book, and later the Reform movement's Union Prayer Book (though in a revised, less radical version published specifically for First Hebrew, and authorized by the Central Conference of American Rabbis). By 1908, the congregation had eliminated the second day of Rosh Hashanah, and few men wore head coverings in the service, Groundbreaking took place on October 26, 1913, and the building was completed there in 1914 at a cost of $100,000 (today $). The new building was called "Temple Sinai", and thereafter the congregation itself became known as "Temple Sinai", although it retained the official name of "First Hebrew Congregation of Oakland". Designed by noted American architect G. Albert Lansburgh, the Beaux-Arts structure had six tall stained glass windows, an "elliptical dome", and an entrance characterized by "graceful Corinthian columns supporting a Greco-Roman portico". Carved into the entablature above the entrance was the Biblical verse "MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL PEOPLE" (). More modest in size than most Beaux-Arts buildings, it nevertheless had features typical of that style, including its "cross-axial composition". However, it was adorned with "simpler materials such as pressed brick and carved wood", rather than the usual "florid Classical design elements". Along with the sanctuary, the building included a social hall and classrooms. It is the only example of Lansburgh's work in Oakland, and one of about 150 Oakland buildings given an "A" or "Highest Importance" rating by the Oakland Cultural Heritage Survey, which signifies "outstanding architectural example or extreme historical importance". The building has a status code of "3S" in the California Historical Resource Information System database, indicating that it "appears eligible for the National Register of Historic Places" (NRHP). The outbreak of World War I, and the costs of the new mortgage, placed a significant financial strain on the members, and in 1915 they decided to release Friedlander from his contract. Temple Sinai hired Harvey B. Franklin as rabbi in 1917, but his tenure there was only two years. Franklin next served at Bickur Cholim in San Jose—the congregation from which Temple Sinai's first rabbi, Myer Solomon Levy, had come. ==Coffee era: 1921–1933==

After going without a rabbi for another two years, in 1921 Temple Sinai hired Rudolph I. Coffee, an Oakland native and cousin of Judah Leon Magnes. He also supported California's compulsory sterilization of the mentally ill and intellectually disabled, and eugenicist E. S. Gosney's advocacy on this issue. Coffee was involved in the California State Prison System, and during his tenure at Temple Sinai he was head of the Jewish Committee of Personal Service, a California-wide organization that "ministered to Jews in state prisons". In January 1924, California's governor appointed Coffee to the State Board of Charities and Corrections, which was responsible for supervising California's state prisons. In 1931, Coffee opposed California legislation intended to regulate the kosher food industry and prohibit fraudulent claims that foods were kosher. In a letter to state senator E.H. Christian he stated: I am unalterably opposed to this bill because Judaism need not call upon the State to settle its own internal affairs. We are starting a dangerous precedent in California which can only lead to evil consequences.Four years ago you assisted in preventing an increase of "wine rabbis." The law relative to sacramental wine was properly surrounded, and California Jews do not suffer the disgrace which eastern brethren feel.This will bring a "meat rabbi" into existence. New York state has this kosher law and yet it did not prevent the terrible scandal which was uncovered last month in New York City. Use your best influence to prevent it.If Judaism has not enough inner resources to meet present day conditions, the sooner it passes away the better. Despite Coffee's opposition, the legislation was enacted. Coffee's advocacy, and Temple Israel's financial instability, eventually contributed to his dismissal from Temple Sinai in 1933; at the same time that the membership was experiencing financial distress due to the Great Depression, Coffee was advocating higher salaries for government employees. After leaving Temple Sinai, he became chaplain at San Quentin State Prison. ==Stern era: 1934–1965==

In 1934, Temple Sinai hired William M. Stern (originally Sternheser) as rabbi. Much less formal than his predecessor Coffee, Stern was seen as a poker-playing, cigar-smoking "regular guy", Although originally anti-Zionist, Stern's views changed in the 1940s, and by 1942 he was strongly supported Jewish nationalism. When an Oakland branch of the anti-Zionist American Council for Judaism formed in 1944, Stern opposed its creation, even though many members, including its president, were leading members of Temple Sinai. By 1948, however, the congregation had also become supportive of Zionism. The main building's interior was also significantly remodeled, aside from the sanctuary. In 1965, the congregation bought land in Oakland Hills, anticipating a future move. In December of that year Stern died unexpectedly. Following his death, Temple Sinai held for many years an annual Stern Lecture series in his memory. ==Broude era: 1966–1989==

In 1966, the congregation hired Samuel Broude as rabbi. A graduate of the University of Chicago, in the late 1940s he had worked in Pasadena at a Reconstructionist synagogue, as a part-time cantor and Hebrew teacher, and then in the early 1950s as cantor of Reform University Synagogue of Los Angeles. After completing his rabbinic training, he became associate rabbi at Congregation Ansche Chesed in Cleveland, where he served under Rabbi Arthur Lelyveld for six years before coming to Temple Sinai. Like Temple Sinai's previous rabbis, Broude passionately supported liberal causes, opposing U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, and taking part in marches during the Civil Rights Movement. Although he was a Reform rabbi, he had gone to an Orthodox yeshiva as a boy, and religiously he was in many ways more traditional than his predecessors. He re-introduced ritual into the synagogue, but more contentiously opposed intermarriage. His immediate predecessor, Stern, had officiated at intermarriages "under certain conditions". Broude initially did so as well, under "extenuating circumstances" (e.g. if the bride were pregnant). His position later hardened, and he refused to perform such marriages under any circumstances. He even refused to allow other rabbis who would be willing to do so officiate at intermarriages at Temple Sinai. The issue eventually came to a congregational vote in 1972, which supported Broude, although the debate was never completely settled. Broude was, however, not opposed to all religious innovations. Under his leadership, Temple Sinai began holding monthly fine arts performances as part of the Friday night service, in place of the usual sermon. In December 1970, the Temple's fine arts committee commissioned an original dance work from Anna Halprin and her multi-racial dance troupe. For the next two months Broude met weekly with Halprin, educating her regarding the Friday night prayers. The completed work, titled Kadosh, included a candlelight vigil, and dancers tearing their clothes and shouting questions at Broude that reframed the classic question about God and The Holocaust in terms of the Vietnam War: "How can there be a God if He allows all the suffering of the Vietnam War to continue?" The performance engendered passionate responses from the congregation; according to Broude "I don't know if anyone was neutral. Half thought it was fantastic, half thought it was terrible!" Broude also argued that the congregation should remain in downtown Oakland, and in 1975, convinced them to stay. He retired in 1989, the year the buildings survived the Loma Prieta earthquake. After his retirement from Temple Sinai he remained active, filling in at synagogues mostly in the Bay Area, and teaching. He also wrote an autobiography, and a one-man show based on it called "Listening for the Voice", which he performed at a number of East Bay synagogues, including, in 2009, at Temple Sinai. Rabbi Broude died on January 24, 2020, at the age of 95, three days after suffering a stroke at his wife, Judith's, funeral. ==Chester era: 1989–2011==

Steven Chester, a graduate of UCLA, and ordained by HUC in 1971, became rabbi in 1989. The synagogue survived the Oakland firestorm of 1991 mostly unscathed, Suzanne Singer joined Temple Sinai in 2003, after graduating from HUC in Los Angeles. Before becoming a rabbi, Singer had for two decades been a producer of television programs and documentaries, winning two Emmy Awards. In 2005 she became interim rabbi of Temple Beth El of Riverside, California, and later its permanent rabbi. Jacqueline Mates-Muchin, a San Francisco native, graduated from HUC in New York in 2002. She is the first Chinese-American rabbi in the world. After serving as an assistant rabbi in Buffalo, New York, she joined Temple Sinai in 2005. To accommodate the large number of people attending on the High Holy Days, since 2001 Temple Sinai has held its main High Holy Day services at Oakland's NRHP-listed Art Deco Paramount Theater. While it still holds smaller High Holy Day services in the sanctuary at 2808 Summit Street, the main services at the Paramount fill the entire 1,800 seats on the mezzanine of the theater, and most of the 1,200 seats in the balcony. In 2006, the congregation embarked on a campaign to create a new campus for Temple Sinai, to be located adjacent to the existing sanctuary and social hall. The $15 million project included "new offices, a larger chapel, a kitchen upgrade, outdoor sacred space, a new preschool with six classrooms and a 4,500-square-foot playground ... 10 additional classrooms for Midrasha teens and adult education, an art room, library, teen lounge and expanded parking." The L-shaped two-story school/office building would be , and accommodate approximately 100 children in the pre-school. The chapel, which would hold up to 250 people, would be an addition to the rear of the existing social hall. Groundbreaking took place in October 2007, and the building was completed in 2010. By December, 2009, Temple Sinai had raised almost $12 million from 651 households (70% of the congregation). Chester had planned to retire in June 2009, and the congregation embarked on a search for a new senior rabbi in 2008. Twenty-three candidates were narrowed down to one finalist, but in early December that individual informed the search committee that he was withdrawing his name from consideration. While the search was progressing, Chester had realized that, due to the 2008 financial crisis, he would have to keep working. After the main candidate withdrew, the synagogue's president approached Chester, asking if he would stay on for another term, which Chester agreed to do. Chester retired in June 2011, becoming (along with Broude) Rabbi Emeritus. == Present era: 2011–2021 ==

Andrew Straus joined Temple Sinai as senior rabbi in December 2011. A graduate of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC), he had previously served as assistant rabbi of Peninsula Temple Sholom in Burlingame, California, Temple Beth Sholom of New City, New York, and most recently for 13 years as rabbi of Temple Emanuel of Tempe, Arizona. Rabbi Straus resigned his position in 2014 by mutual consent with the board of trustees. He joined Central Synagogue in New York City as Interim Rabbi for one year. In January 2015, Rabbi Mates-Muchin was overwhelmingly elected senior rabbi. As of 2014, Temple Sinai, the East Bay's oldest synagogue, had nearly 1,000 member families. The full-time rabbis were Mates-Muchin and Yoni Regev, and the cantor was Ilene Keys. ==Notable congregants==

• Judah Leon Magnes, rabbi, first President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem == See also ==