Rabbi Sarah Reines’ journey to the rabbinate began in the towering stacks of Temple Emanu-El’s old, wood-paneled library. As a child, she spent hours among the books, reading about different religions. There, she first encountered midrash, rabbinic commentaries on the Bible, as well as the Israel-Palestine conflict.
“My love of Jewish learning began in the Stettenheim Library,” Rabbi Reines recalled from her Temple Emanu-El office.
Rabbi Reines grew up at Temple Emanu-El. Her mother, Miriam, also grew up at the temple and later taught in the Religious School. Her father, Borah, was a longtime teacher in the temple’s Religious School. While her parents prepared for their classes, she would go to the library.
As a child, Rabbi Reines was involved in many facets of temple life. “Temple Emanu-El felt like my parents’ place and my place,” she said. She sang in the choir under Cantor Arthur Wolfson and participated in the temple’s theater program. Dr. Ronald B. Sobel, Senior Rabbi Emeritus, officiated at her baby naming. She was also married at the temple.
“Temple Emanu-El always felt like my living room,” she said. “Despite its size, I never felt small there.”
When Rabbi Reines was growing up, Rabbi Linda Henry Goodman was hired as the temple’s first woman in the clergy.
“That signaled that women could become rabbis,” she said. That early example stayed with her.
When she began considering the rabbinate in college, Rabbi Reines reached out to the temple’s clergy. During her year of study in Israel, she wrote long aerograms to Dr. David M. Posner z”l, Senior Rabbi Emeritus.
After graduating from rabbinical school, Rabbi Reines served at Central Synagogue for 14 years. She also worked as an independent rabbi before serving at Temple Shaaray Tefila on the Upper East Side. She later became a full-time rabbi at Temple Emanu-El in June 2022.
When Rabbi Reines looks at the congregation from the bimah, she sees many familiar faces, including teachers, classmates, and her mother.
“It feels very natural,” she said.
For Rabbi Reines, what makes Temple Emanu-El special are the relationships she has built.
“A synagogue is mostly about the people. That is what has always made me feel like I had a place of belonging here,” she said. “It is also why I felt comfortable coming back. People, to me, are what make Temple Emanu-El home.”
