The Sinai Temple is a
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
synagogue
A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...
located at 10400
Wilshire Boulevard
Wilshire Boulevard ( wɪɫ.ʃɚ is a prominent boulevard in the Los Angeles area of Southern California, extending from Ocean Avenue (Santa Monica), Ocean Avenue in the city of Santa Monica, California, Santa Monica east to Grand Avenue (Lo ...
,
Westwood,
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
,
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, in the United States. Sinai Temple is the oldest and largest Conservative congregation in the greater Los Angeles area.
Architect
Sidney Eisenshtat designed the current synagogue building, constructed in 1956 and expanded in 1998.
Since June 2023, the co-senior
rabbi
A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...
s are Rabbi Nicole Guzik and Rabbi Erez Sherman, and the Rabbi Emeritus is
David Wolpe. The current Head of School at Sinai Akiba Academy, the affiliated Educational Institution is Dr. Lauren Plant.
History
Begun in 1906, Sinai Temple was established as the first Conservative congregation in
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
. 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
Figueroa Street is a major north-south street in Los Angeles County, California, spanning from the Los Angeles neighborhood of Wilmington, Los Angeles, Wilmington north to Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, Eagle Rock. A short, unconnected continuation of ...
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
The Los Angeles Convention Center is a convention center located in the southwest section of Downtown Los Angeles, Downtown Los Angeles, California, United States. It hosts multiple annual conventions and has often been used as a filming locat ...
. That building then became the
Welsh Presbyterian Church, and was named a
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments are sites which have been designated by the Los Angeles, California, Cultural Heritage Commission as worthy of preservation based on architectural, historic and cultural criteria.
History
The Historic-Cul ...
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
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hil ...
and the
Westside of Los Angeles, in 1960, Sinai Temple constructed its third facility at its current location at the corner of
Wilshire Boulevard
Wilshire Boulevard ( wɪɫ.ʃɚ is a prominent boulevard in the Los Angeles area of Southern California, extending from Ocean Avenue (Santa Monica), Ocean Avenue in the city of Santa Monica, California, Santa Monica east to Grand Avenue (Lo ...
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
Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...
.
The building was expanded in 1998, under the supervision of architect Mehrdad Yazdani and Dworsky Associates.
In 1986, Akiba Academy, which had rented facilities for its kindergarten through eighth grade program at Sinai Temple since its inception in 1968,
merged with Sinai Temple and became known as
Sinai Akiba Academy. The school is affiliated with the
Solomon Schechter Day School Association and is the longest-accredited Jewish day school in the California Association of Independent School. Now merged with the Early Childhood Center, it runs Preschool-8th grade.
Sinai Temple owns and operates
Mount Sinai Memorial Parks and Mortuaries, a large Jewish cemetery in the
Hollywood Hills
The Hollywood Hills is a residential neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. It borders Studio City, Universal City and Burbank on the north, Griffith Park on the north and east, Los Feliz on the southeast, Hollyw ...
, which the temple acquired in 1967 from the neighboring
Forest Lawn Memorial Park. In 1997 Mount Sinai dedicated a second cemetery location in
Simi Valley
Simi Valley (; Chumash: ''Shimiyi'') is a city in the valley of the same name in southeastern Ventura County, California, United States. It is from Downtown Los Angeles, making it part of the Greater Los Angeles Area. Simi Valley borders Th ...
.
Notable people and events

David Wolpe, Sinai Temple's former senior rabbi, is an author and leader of the Conservative movement. In 2008, a ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
'' article named him the most influential pulpit rabbi in the United States.
Other notable clergy of Sinai Temple have included Rabbi
David Lieber, who later headed the
University of Judaism;
cantor
A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. Cantor as a profession generally refers to those leading a Jewish congregation, although it also applies to the lead singer or choir director in Christian contexts. ...
and composer
Meir Finkelstein;
Rabbi
Sherre Hirsch,
and emeritus Rabbi
Zvi Dershowitz.
Rabbi Laurence Scheindlin, former headmaster of Sinai Akiba Academy, came to the school in 1977, when it had 170 students. As of 2010 the school had 560 students. He has published a number of articles on emotions and spiritual education. In 2009 Rabbi Scheindlin became the first school head to be elected president of the Solomon Schechter Day School Association, the national association of day schools that identify with Conservative Judaism.
"Friday Night Live", a lively, music-driven
Shabbat
Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...
service intended to attract younger congregants, was initially developed by Rabbi Wolpe and musician Craig Taubman at Sinai Temple;
the concept is now replicated in other synagogues around the world.
In June 2006, a Friday Night Live service at Sinai Temple saw an appearance by
evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
Christian minister and author
Rick Warren
Richard Duane Warren (born January 28, 1954) is an American evangelical Christian pastor and author. He is the founder of Saddleback Church, an evangelical Baptists, Baptist megachurch in Lake Forest, California. Since 2022, he serves as execut ...
, Warren's first appearance as featured speaker in a synagogue.
Sinai Temple has been notably impacted by the wave of
Persian Jews
Iranian Jews, (; ) also Persian Jews ( ) or Parsim, constitute one of the oldest communities of the Jewish diaspora. Dating back to the History of ancient Israel and Judah, biblical era, they originate from the Jews who relocated to Iran (his ...
who immigrated to the United States after the 1979
Islamic Revolution in Iran. Prior to this event, the congregation had been overwhelmingly composed of
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. They traditionally speak Yiddish, a language ...
of Eastern European heritage. As many Persian Jews emigrated to Los Angeles, a substantial number joined Sinai Temple; over time the Persian Jews became more fully integrated into the congregation, which is now made up of about even proportions of Ashkenazim and Persians.
Jimmy Delshad became the first Persian Jew to become president of Sinai Temple in 1990; in 2007 he was elected as mayor of Beverly Hills.
In 1999, Sinai Temple was the site of a "
second bar mitzvah" for actor
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in '' The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. ...
, then age 83.
Also in 1999, the 14th
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama (, ; ) is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The term is part of the full title "Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama" (圣 识一切 瓦齐尔达喇 达赖 喇嘛) given by Altan Khan, the first Shu ...
spoke to an overflow audience as part of the World Festival of Sacred Music.
In Popular Culture
Sinai Temple was a filming location for the 2024
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
romantic comedy
Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...
TV series ''
Nobody Wants This'', in which it doubled for the
synagogue
A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...
where main character Noah Roklov (
Adam Brody
Adam Jared Brody (born December 15, 1979) is an American actor. His breakout role was as Seth Cohen on the Fox television series '' The O.C.'' (2003–2007). For his performance as Noah in the Netflix romantic comedy series '' Nobody Wants T ...
) serves as a
rabbi
A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...
.
Sinai Temple is mentioned in dialogue during the 2024 movie ''
Thelma'', starring
June Squibb
June Louise Squibb (born November 6, 1929) is an American actress. She began her career by making her Broadway (theatre), Broadway debut in the musical ''Gypsy (musical), Gypsy'' (1959). Her film debut was in Woody Allen's romantic comedy ''Alice ...
in the title role. When Thelma is trying to place how she knows another older lady she meets at a gas station, the other woman asks, "did you go to Sinai?" and Thelma replies, "no, we were at
Beth Am."
References
External links
*
{{Westwood, Los Angeles
Synagogues in Los Angeles
Conservative synagogues in California
Westwood, Los Angeles
Wilshire Boulevard
Ashkenazi synagogues in the United Kingdom
Sephardi synagogues in the United States
Conservative Jewish day schools
Jewish day schools in California
Schools in Los Angeles
Ashkenazi Jewish culture in Los Angeles
Iranian-Jewish culture in the United States
Sephardi Jewish culture in California
Jewish organizations established in 1906
1906 establishments in California
1956 establishments in California
Synagogues completed in 1956
Modernist architecture in California
Modernist synagogues
Synagogues completed in 1925
Synagogues completed in 1998
20th-century synagogues in the United States