Rabbi Michael Friedland has been the spiritual leader of Sinai Synagogue since 1996. He and his family came to Sinai Synagogue after serving at the Moses Montefiore Synagogue in Appleton, Wisconsin, for five years. During that time Rabbi Friedland grew in his appreciation for the challenge of small traditional Jewish communities. ”When I left the seminary I thought I would serve in a synagogue similar to the type of congregation in which I grew up: thousand-family synagogues with many professionals on staff. But after serving in Appleton, Wisconsin, my wife and I realized that it was the smaller and more intimate Jewish congregations that we wanted to live in.”
Rabbi Friedland grew up in a large Reform synagogue in Chicago, but after studying at Brandeis University and Hebrew University as well as at the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem he became committed to the ideals and approach of Conservative Judaism. ”I believe that the Conservative/Masorti movement offers Jews the best way to bridge Torah and modernity. For us, who live as Jews in the multi-ethnic richness of the United States, it is especially meaningful. Conservatism gives the Jewish people the best opportunity to maintain our religious integrity while we share in our country’s religious and cultural diversity.” Rabbi Friedland has served as President of the United Religious Community, the interfaith organization serving South Bend and Mishawaka.
Rabbi Friedland graduated from the Conservative movement’s rabbinical school and the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1990. Rabbi Friedland has served as a mentor to rabbinical students who have spent their summers interning at Sinai Synagogue and has been recognized as a Mentor Rabbi by the Conservative Movement’s Rabbinical Association. He has also served as a member of the Rabbinical Assembly’s committee on small congregations and is one of the main organizers of a conference for Conservative rabbis who serve small and/or isolated Jewish communities in the United States. He has spoken in various venues around the world about innovation and development in small congregations.
Rabbi Friedland and his wife Lizzie Fagen are the proud parents of four children. While Rabbi Friedland longs for the coming of the Messiah, he would take another World Series championship for his beloved White Sox or another Super Bowl win for the Bears in the interim.
