| A not so brief history of Congregation Sinai |
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The early years were spent moving locations, first in member's homes, then to a small house on Stevens Creek Blvd, and then to a home on Minnesota Ave. High Holiday services were conducted at the Montgomery Theater in the Civic Auditorium. Being a lay-lead minyan, the first services were conducted by Harry Katzen, Herman Lefkowitz, Marcus Liebster and Pincus Rudoy. They adopted the use of the Birnbaum Mahzor for High Holy Day services and the Birnbaum Daily Prayer book for Shabbat services. The traditional minyan continues to use the same prayer books.
A permanent home was obviously needed and land prices were quickly rising so the group under the leadership of the President Dan Cowans applied for a loan at Crocker Bank. The purchase price was $6,000 with the note being signed by Mel Cotton, Jerry Greenberg and David Hellman. Nathan Havlin was very helpful and influential with securing this loan. With daring and hope, a sign was erected on 1532 Willowbrae Ave. designating it as the future home of Congregation Sinai.
A communitywide event was held on May 15, 1954. The program included an invocation by Rabbi Joseph Gitin, cantorial selections by Joseph Cycowski and an address by Rabbi Elliott M. Burnstein of San Francisco. Founding member Emanuel Pearl contacted his friend Allan Walter of Allan Walter & Associates to draw up plans for a sanctuary-social hall on the Willowbrae property. Lillian Katzen designed the Aron Kodesh and Ner Tamid.
Thus the beginnings of Congregation Sinai blossomed. The first order of business was creating a religious school experience for the children. "There were no day schools in the area when we began the religious school program", says Rita Pearl. She was the school's first principal and served for four years. At that time, teachers (volunteers from the Sisterhood) were given a letter of appreciation in lieu of salaries. By 1957 there were 68 children enrolled in the program, which operated six classes. Teachers were given their first pay for their efforts at that time, and the salary was a mere $2.00 per session. Within the first couple of years there were up to 200 students enrolled in the religious school programs. As the programs continued to develop additional opportunities became available, including a confirmation class that was introduced in 1960.
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