Rabbi ILANA SYMONS

SARATOGA SPRINGS– Temple Sinai has welcomed Rabbi Ilana Symons to lead the congregation. Symons began leading religious services at Temple Sinai the Shabbat of July 5-6.

The new rabbi is a Monroeville, Penn., native, and was ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion on Sunday, May 5.

“Baruchot haba-ot is the traditional Hebrew phrase of welcome; literally, it means blessed is the one who has come,” said Beth Sabo Novik, president of the Temple Sinai Board of Trustees.

The daughter of two rabbis, Symons received her bachelor’s degree from New York University, where she majored in philosophy, with double minors in multifaith and spiritual leadership and Hebrew and Judaic studies.

Symons reports that her studies intertwined the two major threads in her life, art and Judaism, she said.

“This is the task of the rabbi and the artist,” Symons said in a Jewish Chronicle news article announcing her new position in Saratoga Springs. “Transform the mundane into the holy.”

Symons follows co-Rabbis Jonathan Rubenstein and Linda Motzkin, as a permanent rabbi for the Reform congregation. The two had served for 36 years as spiritual leaders until their retirement at the end of December 2022.

“Temple Sinai is thrilled to be welcoming Rabbi Ilana,” Sabo Novik said. “She feels so right for us. Rabbi Ilana has a warmhearted intelligence that fits Temple Sinai’s past and I’m confident she will guide us well into the future. Her interest in the relationship between Judaism and art is reminiscent of Rabbi Linda and her warmheartedness and sense of humor is a lot like Rabbi Jonathan. We are so blessed to have found her.”

Rabbi David Katz served as the Temple Sinai interim rabbi during the past year as the congregation searched for its new permanent rabbi. “Rabbi Katz was a great interim rabbi,” Sabo Novik said. “He helped teach us who we are and showed us different ways of being an organization that effectively serves its congregation. He modeled core Jewish values, always calling on the sick and bereaved, was quick to apologize and worked hard for Temple Sinai.”

“I am beyond thrilled to join the Temple Sinai community,” Symons said in a message to the congregation. “I cannot wait to get to know each of you and partner together in this sacred work.”

As the rabbi’s arrival marked the end of the one-year search committee effort to identify a new permanent rabbi, Sabo Novik said, “We extend a heartfelt todah rabba to the members of the search committee for their dedication, hard work, and thoughtfulness (including Barry Bader, Caroline Bobick, Julie Fink-Sullivan, Ben Gordon, Sid Hellman, Beth Novik, David Watsky, and Sandy Welter, and past committee members Leslie Hurst and Jerry Silverman).”

Information about the congregation may be obtained at www.saratogasinai.org or by contacting the Temple Sinai office at [email protected].

 

About Temple Sinai

Located in the historical district of downtown Saratoga Springs New York, Temple Sinai is a Reform synagogue that began in the early 1960’s as a study group of a dozen families. Their love of learning nurtured a growing cadre of interested individuals and, in 1965, Temple Sinai was established as Saratoga’s Reform synagogue.

Since that time, the congregation has grown to include more than 210 families and individual members representing a diversity of lifestyles, professions and religious observances, as well as an ever-widening geographic locale. Members of interfaith families, the LGBTQ+ community, young families and seniors all feel welcome and at home here.

For more information, visit www.saratogasinai.org or contact the Temple Sinai office at [email protected].

 

Photo caption: Rabbi Ilana Symons receives her ordination by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion on May 5, 2024. Courtesy photo.