Menu   

Mission, Statement of Inclusion, & History

MISSION STATEMENT


Sinai Temple is dedicated to providing a welcoming and caring community for its members, devoted to Jewish learning and support for Israel and the Jewish people, and committed to improving ourselves and the world through a growing relationship with God from generation to generation.

We are committed to the principles and values of Conservative Judaism and we welcome Jews of all backgrounds and affiliations to observe life cycle events, and pursue our mission through prayer, rituals, learning, music and the other gifts God has given us.

SINAI TEMPLE STATEMENT OF INCLUSION


Sinai Temple’s mission statement articulates, “Sinai Temple is dedicated to providing a welcoming and caring community for its members.” Therefore, Sinai Temple is committed to creating a safe, welcoming, egalitarian, and spiritually engaging environment that meets the needs of our varied, diverse community. We strive to ensure each member is seen and accepted. Regardless of skin color, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability, family make-up, political affiliation or life stage, Sinai Temple takes pride in providing a home for Jews to cultivate strong Jewish identities and a love for Israel. Our unique voices add to the strength of our congregation. Sinai Temple clergy, staff and congregants model B’tzelem Elohim, that each human being is made in the image of God. This value is reflected and practiced in all prayer settings, educational programs, social adult and youth events, Sinai Temple Religious School, and Sinai Akiba Academy. In Pirke Avot 2:10, Rabbi Eliezer teaches, “Let other people’s dignity be as precious as your own.” Sinai Temple works every day to invoke this principle, honoring the dignity of our richly diverse community.

HISTORY


In 1906, Sinai Temple was established as the first Conservative congregation in Southern California. From 1906 until 1925, housed at the corner of 12th and Valencia, just west of what is now the Los Angeles Convention Center, the congregation quickly outgrew its first facility. Land was bought at 4th and New Hampshire in the Mid-Wilshire district just east of Hancock Park, and High Holy Days were celebrated in 1925 in the skeleton of the developing new facility. The westward movement of the Jewish community of Los Angeles led to the acquisition and development of the current site at Wilshire and Beverly Glen in Westwood in 1956. On S’lichot 1960, services were enjoyed in our new sanctuary, with the first school facilities and Kohn Chapel completed in 1969. The recent building expansion, completed in September 1998, resulted in vastly improved school and banquet facilities. Throughout the twentieth century and into this new millennium, Sinai Temple continues to flourish as a leader of modern Conservative Jewish life and thought. In our diverse community, we have several different kinds of worship services, with our main sanctuary attracting an average of one-thousand people on Shabbat mornings. We are a congregation of spiritual seekers, loving tradition, embracing modernity, animated by the Jewish mission of improving the world.

Thank you for visiting – we invite your membership and hope you will decide to join us.

history1history2