Rabbi Jon Roos has served as Senior Rabbi at Temple Sinai since 2010. Jon is most enthusiastic about teaching Judaism to Temple Sinai members at every age and every stage of their lives. Each year he offers an adult education class focused on traditional Jewish sources. He also teaches the 10th grade confirmation class. Jon is the leader of the Temple Sinai staff team and loves the opportunity to work with an amazing set of clergy who do great things individually and as a group. Jon is committed to Jewish social justice work at Temple Sinai and in the wider community where he focuses particularly on issues of immigration and refugee rights.
Jon was ordained as a rabbi from the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in 2002 with special awards for best sermon delivered, outstanding contributions to women and Judaism and outstanding academic achievement. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and received a Masters degree in American History from the University of Maryland at College Park. He is a member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) and previously served congregations in Tinton Falls, New Jersey and Albany, New York. Jon’s love for Judaism and Jewish community is founded on his family’s deep involvement in his childhood temple (Beth Am of Randolph, Mass.), great experiences in his USY youth group, and many amazing summers at Camp Bauercrest in Amesbury, Mass.
In addition to leading worship services, teaching at all levels, and guiding the staff team of Temple Sinai, Roos is available for individual meetings, pastoral counseling and support with any ritual or Jewish matters.
Rachel Rhodes
(202) 363-6394 x 208
Cantor Rachel Rhodes is thrilled to be the cantor at Temple Sinai since July of 2023. She deeply believes in the power of music to form community and transform lives. Whether working with kids in the youth choir or adults preparing to read from Torah, Cantor Rhodes loves making Jewish music accessible for all.
Cantor Rhodes works closely with all musical happenings at Temple Sinai. If you are interested in singing with the choir, participating in the congregational band, chanting Torah, or simply learning more about Jewish music, please get in touch! Cantor Rhodes also participates fully in all lifecycle events at Temple Sinai and revels in being present with families at the most important moments of their lives.
Cantor Rhodes was ordained in 2014 from Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music at the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. She was awarded the Izzy Goldstein z’l award for Excelling at Chazzanut during her time in school. Her thesis was about inspiring the Jewish Environmental movement through song. Cantor Rhodes then moved to Falls Church, VA where she served at Temple Rodef Shalom for 9 years.
She lives in Bethesda, MD with her husband Dov and her sons Oren and Lev.
Rabbi Hannah Goldstein
Rabbi Hannah Goldstein has been at Temple Sinai since 2013. In addition to leading services and officiating at lifecycle events, Rabbi Goldstein is deeply committed to the education and social justice work of the congregation. She loves teaching learners of all ages from nursery school through 7th grade b’nei mitzvah preparation, to teens and adults.
Hannah is also deeply committed to repairing the world through her work with Temple Sinai’s Davis Center for Social Justice. This includes mobilizing congregants to participate in non-partisan GOTV work, supporting the Green Team and Multiracial Sinai, advocating for Reproductive Health and Right, and working with the Washington Interfaith Network (WIN) on local issues. Hannah has served on the Mayor’s Interfaith Council in DC, and is currently serving on the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism. She is also a member of the Washington Interfaith Network strategy team.
Hannah received her rabbinic ordination at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in New York in 2013. She completed a Masters in Religious Education at HUC-JIR in the spring of 2011. Hannah grew up in Andover, Massachusetts and attended Brandeis University.
Hannah lives in Chevy Chase, DC with her husband, Josh, and their daughters, Bella, Eve, and Sophie.
Cantor Rebecca Robins is Director of Temple Sinai’s religious school and superintends the congregational youth educational programs. She is especially passionate about making sure our children, teens, their families and our teachers feel a sense of significance and belonging at Temple Sinai. Rebecca is part of our pastoral care team and helps members of all ages with counseling and support during times of illness and need. She also leads High Holiday Services and Tot Shabbat services.
Rebecca (also known as “CR”) came to Temple Sinai in 2012. A passion for music, teaching, learning and working with people on life’s journey sent her to cantorial school the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion where she was ordained as cantor in 2008. While at HUC-JIR, Cantor Robins served congregations in Edison, NJ, Katonah, NY and Falls Church, VA. After being ordained she served Congregation Sinai in Milwaukee, WI as Cantor-Educator.
Originally from Long Island, NY, CR holds a BM in Music Education and Vocal Performance from the Crane School of Music, State University of New York College at Potsdam in Potsdam, NY. She began her career in education as a K-8 music teacher at Lyncourt School in Syracuse, NY. CR is a member of the American Conference of Cantors (ACC), and the Association of Reform Jewish Educators (ARJE), and serves as chairperson of the DMV’s Reform Synagogue Musicians professional group. She lives with her husband Zerek (a member of MMC, Sinai’s band), and their son Gus in Rockville, Maryland. When not at Sinai, they can be found exploring, doing projects, baking cupcakes, and having as much fun as possible.
Cantor Laura Croen
Laura Croen served as senior cantor at Temple Sinai from 1994 to her retirement in 2023. She was the Temple’s first ordained cantor.
A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Laura received her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Master of Music degree from Eastman School of Music (Rochester, New York), and Master of Sacred Music Degree and Ordination from the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, New York (1988). From 1988-1994, she served as the first female cantor at Leo Baeck Temple in Los Angeles, CA.
Cantor Croen has sung at numerous national and international musical events. She was featured on “The Artistry of the Cantor,” WNPR (Live Radio Concert); she performed as a solo artist in “Kol Zimrah” – a concert honoring Roberta Peters (Town Hall-New York); she has appeared as soloist at the Music Center at Strathmore and she is one of the featured Cantors on Dr. Jose Bowen’s two CDs, A” Klezmir Shabbat” and “Jazz Shabbat Service;” Cantor Croen has been a longtime member of the American Conference of Cantors (ACC), and served on the Ethics Committee for many years.
One of her favorite “Washington experiences” was leading the lighting of the Chanukah menorah on the President’s desk in the Oval office and teaching President Bill Clinton how to play dreidel.
Cantor Croen lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with her husband Mark Erlich.
Rabbi Mindy Avra Portnoy (z”l)
Rabbi Mindy Avra Portnoy was one of the first women to graduate from Yale University in 1973 and went on to become one of the first women rabbis when she was ordained from Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in 1980. Her commitment to breaking barriers for Jewish women continued throughout her career.
A few years after joining Temple Sinai in 1986, Rabbi Portnoy launched the “Adult B’nei Mitzvah” program, which sought to give adults the opportunity to go through the B’nei Mitzvah process—especially women who had been excluded from that Jewish tradition as children. Over her 40-year career at Temple Sinai, American University, and Temple Beth El, Rabbi Portnoy impacted thousands of lives, and that impact will be felt for many years to come.
Rabbi Fred N. Reiner
Fred N. Reiner served as Senior Rabbi of Temple Sinai, Washington, DC, from 1985 through June 2010, and is now Rabbi Emeritus.
During his tenure, the congregation doubled in size to nearly 1200 households, added a nursery school, expanded its religious school, enlarged its building, deepened its commitment to social justice through the creation of Sinai House, and enriched its ritual, educational, and programmatic offerings.
In the Washington Jewish community, Rabbi Reiner served as president of the Washington Board of Rabbis and as president of the Mid-Atlantic region of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR).
Nationally he serves on the Hebrew Union College President’s Rabbinic Council. He began and chaired the CCAR Atid Legacy Society, for bequests and planned gifts, and also served on the Board of Trustees of the national CCAR, chaired its committees on Aging and Nominations, and co-chaired its Hesed Fund.
Through his career Rabbi Reiner has provided leadership nationally and in the Washington area on issues of reproductive rights, church-state separation, housing, aging, and D.C. voting rights.
A volume of his sermons and writings, Standing at Sinai, was published in 2011. After many years of research, Rabbi Reiner is working on a biography of the nineteenth-century biblical scholar, Christian David Ginsburg. He regularly presents research papers at annual meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature-American Academy of Religion in the areas of Masoretic studies, Midrash, and Bible translation, among other topics. He has published articles in the British Library Journal, Masoretic Studies, Biblical Archaeology Review, Moment, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and Open Theology.
Rabbi Reiner was born and grew up in Chicago, Illinois. He received his B.A. from the University of California–Berkeley in 1968, during Berkeley’s Free Speech Movement. At graduation he received the annual student leadership award for his work in student-faculty relations and in developing new programs and curricula for undergraduate education. In 1973, he was ordained and received an M.A. in Hebrew Letters degree from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. He received a Doctor of Divinity degree in 1998.
After serving as director of admissions at Hebrew Union College for two years, Rabbi Reiner served Temple Beth Sholom in Topeka, Kansas, 1975-1982, during which time he also was Jewish chaplain at the Menninger Foundation and studied in its Department of Religion and Psychiatry. From 1982-85, he served congregations in the Chicago area.
After his retirement he served for 15 years as adjunct professor at Wesley Theological Seminary. In retirement he has also studied and practiced bookbinding. He and his wife enjoy traveling and classical music.
Rabbi Reiner was married to Sherry Levy-Reiner from 1973 until her death in 2013. Their son, Rabbi David Levy Reiner, is rabbi of Congregation Shir Shalom in Ridgefield, Connecticut. In 2016 Rabbi Reiner married Susan Michelson Liss, a Washington public interest attorney. They share 8 grandchildren and reside in Chevy Chase, Maryland.