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Installation Weekend

INstallation Weekend of Rabbi Ilana Baden

JANUARY 5-6, 2024

WORSHIP AND INSTALLATION CEREMONY -  JAN. 5, 2024 AT 7 PM

Temple Sinai will install Rabbi Ilana G. Baden as its settled Rabbi and Spiritual Leader on January 5, 2024 at 7 PM. during Friday night services. Rabbi Baden’s long-time mentor and friend, Rabbi Dr. Gary P. Zola, will officiate the installation during the congregation’s Friday night worship service. Dr. Zola is the Executive Director Emeritus of the American Jewish Archives (AJA) in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Rabbi Baden began her tenure at Temple Sinai this past July. Before then, she was the Senior Rabbi at Temple Chai in Long Grove, Illinois, where she served for eight years.   Prior to that, she served as Rabbi of Temple Beth El in Battle Creek, Director of Community Engagement at the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor, and Associate Rabbi at the historic Isaac M. Wise Temple in Cincinnati for more than 10 years.  Rabbi Baden also served as the Associate Rabbi at the Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation.

Rabbi Baden grew up in Libertyville, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago. She attended the University of Michigan, where she was an active leader in Hillel, and then embarked on her rabbinical training at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR). This coming March, Rabbi Baden will receive an honorary Doctorate of Divinity in recognition of her 25 years of service as a rabbi.

OPEN TO THE COMMUNITY.    REGISTER HERE

 

Lunch and Learn -  Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024 at 11:30 am

Dr. Gary P. Zola will lead a Lunch and Learn for members of the congregation after Shabbat morning services.  His topic will be, George Washington, Jews, and the Story of Religious Freedom in America.

In addition to serving as the Executive Director of the AJA, Dr. Zola was also the Edward M. Ackerman Family Distinguished Professor of the American Jewish Experience & Reform Jewish History at HUC-JIR. In his academic capacity, Professor Zola edited The Marcus Center's award-winning biannual publication, The American Jewish Archives Journal, one of only two academic periodicals focusing on the total historical experience of American Jewry.

In April 2011, Dr. Zola was appointed by President Barack Obama to the Commission for the Preservation of American Heritage Abroad. Dr. Zola is the first faculty member of Hebrew Union College to receive such an appointment by a U.S. president. In 2006, Dr. Zola became the first American Jewish historian and the first American rabbi to receive an appointment to the Academic Advisory Council of the congressionally recognized Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.

MEMBERS ONLY.   REGISTER HERE

 

HAVDALAH SERVICE AND CONGRATULATORY TOAST                   Saturday, JAN. 6, 2024 AT 7 PM

Temple Sinai Members and their guests are invited to attend a special Havdalah Service and Congratulatory Toast for Rabbi Baden at 7 PM on Saturday, January 6.

Charcuterie lite bites will be served, and entertainment will be provided by the "Stars of Jersey Boys."

Members No Charge, Member's Guests $36

REGISTER HERE

Sat, May 10 2025 12 Iyar 5785