The members and friends of Temple Mount Sinai will celebrate a special milestone in our 113-year history on September 9: the installation of a new spiritual leader for our community. On that evening, Rabbi Sandra Bellush will be formally welcomed as Temple Mount Sinai’s ninth rabbi and first woman rabbi, joining Rabbi Larry Bach in leading our growing congregation. Rabbi Sigma Faye Coran of Cincinnati will join Rabbis Bach and Bellush, and Rabbi Emeritus Ken Weiss, in conducting the historic installation during Friday night services.
Ordained in May 2011 at the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, Rabbi Bellush brings a wealth of experience to her new position. After a career in management consulting and investment banking in New York City, she pursued her Jewish studies first in the Sh’liach K’hilah training program in 2003-2004. There she met Ellen Goodman, one of our Temple’s lay leaders, and first heard about our congregation.
Rabbi Bellush went on to earn her Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters in 2010, receiving the Nathan Stern Prize for achieving the graduating class’s highest academic standing. While a student and rabbinic intern, she worked with six congregations, including a university Hillel group and taught at the Cincinnati Reform Jewish High School. At Hebrew Union College, she was awarded the Cora Kahn Prize for outstanding sermon delivery and oratory, a prize also earned by Rabbi Bach during his rabbinical training.
To celebrate the long-anticipated addition of a second rabbi, we will be welcoming Sandra and her husband Arnold with a fiesta: a festive dinner of Mexican specialties catered by The Greenery. El Paso’s entire Jewish community is invited to join us on this landmark occasion in Temple’s Schwartz Hall, following the Kabbalat Shabbat Service of Installation.
The dinner will include a Favorite Desserts Buffet, with our members bringing their own dessert specialty or family favorite. Volunteers are needed to contribute a dessert and to help with table decorations and set-up; please be in touch to offer your help. For payment information, please call the Temple at 532-5959.
