Discover Brookline's Jewish Community and How it Has Changed
Fast Facts About The Brookline Jewish Community
Around 1911, enough Jews had moved westward, from Boston’s older Jewish neighborhoods to Brookline’s open spaces, to begin the town's first minyan (congregational quorum). Many of these Jewish adventurers were moving, too, from the Orthodoxy they (or their parents) had brought from Eastern Europe. By the 1920s, Brookline had two synagogues, and by the 1930’s, the town was known as a Jewish religious center, with a total of 8,000 Jewish citizens.  Today, Brookline is a hub of the Jewish community and is the home to eight synagogues. Jewish people comprise over 35% of the population of Brookline, with around 20,300 of their 58,732 citizens identifying as Jewish. Strolling up Harvard Street in the Coolidge Corner area, one can encounter Kosher pizza and Chinese food restaurants, falafel shops, Kosher bakeries and Judaica art galleries. Temple Ohabei Shalom, a Byzantine-Romanesque building, built in 1928, is widely considered to be one of the nation’s great domed religious structures.
About Temple Sinai
"Temple Sinai is a small, friendly Reform Jewish congregation located in the heart of Coolidge Corner. Members come from throughout the Boston area, including Brookline, Newton, Jamaica Plain, Cambridge, Wellesley, West Roxbury, and beyond. We come from all walks of life and embody diverse Jewish backgrounds, belief, and practice. At Temple Sinai, everyone is welcome to participate in temple life, no matter what their approach to embracing Judaism or degree of Jewish literacy. We are respectful of each individual’s relative commitment to leading a Jewish life, and are always happy to welcome your involvement.
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Our religious school and adult education programs promote reflection and learning along with a deep sense of community. We are egalitarian in our approach to leadership and worship, and most of us enjoy a personal relationship with our rabbi. Children are welcome at all services and are frequently welcomed to help on the bima. Most of all, we are a caring and unpretentious congregation, intimate yet not intrusive." -Temple Sinai Website
How Temple Sinai's Religious School Curriculum Has Evolved
Our curriculum still and always has focused on the basics of Torah, Hebrew reading and comprehension skills, prayer, social action, and Jewish values. We cultivate a hands-on approach to learning, with parents taking an active role with children at family events and Shabbat services.
Probably the biggest change I’ve seen is the emphasis on social justice. This year in Grade Six, for example, we have a new curriculum, ‘American Civic Engagement through a Jewish Lens.’ Each class includes a Torah study component that is framed through the lens of American civics. The students have explored how Jewish tradition can guide and shape our response to the unprecedented time in history in which we now find ourselves. Recently they learned how Moses was unable to enter into the Promised Land. This led to a discussion about the importance of transferring power peacefully among individuals. In addition, they read about how Moses’ father-in- law Jethro suggested setting up a hierarchy of judges to establish a system of jurisprudence in the desert. This was taught in conjunction with a lesson on the United States Supreme Court.
Other sessions have included discussions about the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice, Louis Brandeis, and how he assisted the tenement garment workers in New York City in their fight for workers’ rights. They learned about Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Jewish upbringing, and how that affected her judicial role in her words.
Our students just embarked upon a unit on the Civil Rights movement, exploring the important and historic friendship between Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. They learned about philanthropist Julius Rosenwald, President of Sears Roebuck, who, along with Booker T. Washington of the Tuskegee Institute, built state-of-the-art schools for African American children across the South during the early 20th century. They have explored individuals of color in the Bible, such as the Queen of Sheba and Tziporah, and their contributions to our sacred story. Diversity is something to be celebrated!
We strive to create an interest in lifelong Jewish learning and ways to be Jewish - working on issues such as climate change, ethics, inclusion, racial justice and more.
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-Heidi Smith Hyde, Director of Education at Temple Sinai