Rabbi
Michael Friedland
Rabbi Michael Friedland has been the spiritual leader of Sinai
Synagogue since 1996. He and his family came 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 and especially for us as Jews living in the multi-ethnic
richness of the United States. Conservatism gives the Jewish people the
best opportunity to maintain our religious integrity while we share
in our country's ethnic diversity." 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 organized a conference of Conservative rabbis from
isolated Jewish community's in the Midwestern United States.
While Rabbi Friedland longs for the coming of the Messiah, he would take a
World Series championship for his beloved White Sox or another Super Bowl
win for the Bears in the interim.
Rabbi gives Invocation at Indiana House of Representatives on February 22, 2005.
There was a meeting of Jewish leaders from around the state organized by the
Indianapolis Jewish Communal Relations Council.
