Temple Sinai - Denver, Colorado

Rabbi Richard S. Rheins, Senior Rabbi

Born on June 2, 1958, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Rabbi Richard Rheins spent most of his youth in Indianapolis, Indiana. He earned his BA from Indiana University in 1980, earned his Masters degree in 1988, and was ordained Rabbi from Hebrew Union College in 1989.

From 1989 to 1995, Rabbi Rheins served as Associate Rabbi at Temple Beth El in Chappaqua, New York, with Rabbi Chaim Stern z''l, the editor of the Reform movement's prayer books.

In 1992, he was selected by the Central Conference of American Rabbis to serve on the Responsa Committee and he has authored a number of responsa as well as other scholarly articles.

In 1995, Rabbi Rheins was named by Temple David of Monroeville, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, to succeed their Rabbi of 35 years, Jason Edelstein. In his ten years there, the congregation grew both in its membership as well as in the number of programs and services it offered to the community. During his tenure, he received many community honors and served on the boards of several organizations. He was especially active in communal interfaith efforts.

In July 2005, Rabbi Rheins was named to succeed Rabbi Raymond Zwerin, the founding Rabbi of Temple Sinai. He brings to Denver his passion, commitment, and devotion to God and the Jewish people in order to build upon the considerable legacy that Rabbi Zwerin and the members of Temple Sinai have created during this congregation's first 38 years.

Rabbi Rheins is married to Rabbi Susan Miller Rheins. They have three sons, Joshua, Samuel, and Jakob.
 

Rabbi Jay TelRav, Assistant Rabbi

Rabbi Jay TelRav hails from West Bloomfield, Michigan and  has been in constant movement since graduating from the University of Michigan in 1998 with a B.A in psychology.  After spending two years volunteering and learning in Israel, he returned to the Detroit area to work for JARC, a Jewish not-for-profit organization serving the needs of people with developmental disabilities.  In 2002-2003, he  headed back to Israel for the first year of seminary at the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion and continued serving individuals in their homes by visiting elderly clients of Yad Sarah who were home-bound.

During his four years, on the New York campus of HUC, Rabbi TelRav continued to address the needs of the community by volunteering regularly with the soup kitchens of HUC and Hoboken.  In addition, he taught religious school to the children of Temple B’nai Jeshurun in Short Hills, NJ and Hebrew to adults in his Brooklyn neighborhood.  Rabbi TelRav has also served as a chaplain in many forms including the United States Navy, with the hospice patients of Jewish Family Service and for the Boy Scouts of the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico.  He held student pulpits located in Woodstock, VT, Midland, MI and Waterloo, Ontario.

He was ordained as a rabbi on the NY campus of HUC in May of 2007.  Rabbi TelRav is married to Julie TelRav.

Rabbi Raymond A. Zwerin, Rabbi Emeritus

Rabbi Raymond Zwerin was ordained as a Rabbi from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, in 1964. In 1989 he received a Doctor of Divinity degree from HUC-JIR. He is the founding rabbi of Temple Sinai, and has been serving in the Denver community since 1964.

Rabbi Zwerin was co-founder and president of A.R.E. Publishing, Inc., a major producer of creative Jewish educational materials for children and adults. He is a past Executive Board member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and past president of the Midwest Association of Reform Rabbis, and the Rocky Mountain Rabbinic Council. In Denver, Rabbi Zwerin is a founder of Theodor Herzl Jewish Day School of Denver and a founder of Babi Yar Park Memorial to the Holocaust and was active in the cause of Soviet Jewry.

He is the author of a dozen books for children and teachers and the editor of over 400 titles.  His latest book contains his High Holy Day sermons and is entitled, Forty Years of Wondering.

Together with his wife Rikki, Rabbi Zwerin has two married children, Ron (Julie) and Dina (Darren Boivin) and four grandchildren, Noah Asher Boivin, Elizabeth Rose Zwerin, Ethan Reuben Boivin and Bradley Ryan Zwerin. He is an avid Colorado Rockies fan and can be seen at the ball games with several people surrounding him listening to his commentary on the game.

Bryan Zive, Music Director

Bryan began performing and leading prayer services in 2003 and has since played in such cities as Los Angeles, CA, Pittsburgh, PA, St.  Louis, MO, Indianapolis, IN, Jerusalem, Israel and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  In addition, Bryan has been head songleader and music director at URJ Camp Swig-Newman and Goldman Union Camp Institute.

Bryan and his Jewish Rock Band Kol Echad, have recorded two in-studio albums the latest titled, "It's No Dream", which was released in March 2008 to rave reviews by clergy, educators, songleaders and community members.  One of its tracks, "Rock and Redeemer", was included on the URJ Transcontinental Music's NFTY Ruach 5769 album. You can listen to and purchase Bryan's music at www.bryanzive.com.

Bryan graduated from The Ohio State University with a degrees in Jewish Studies and Ethnomusicology.  He and his wonderful dog Lailah are loving Denver and looking forward to many great years in Temple Sinai's warm and welcoming community!

Ruth W. Cohen, Executive Director

Ruth W. Cohen joined the Temple Sinai family in 2000.  She has been in the field of Temple Administration since 1992, where she stumbled into the position at Temple Beth Abraham in Oakland, California.  Since then she has served as Executive Director at Congregation Or VeShalom, a traditional, sephardic synagogue in Atlanta, Georgia, and Peninsula Temple Beth El, a reform synagogue in San Mateo, California.

Ruth first gained her passion as a Jewish communal professional at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple Camps in Malibu, California. She began her experience as a counselor and eventually became the Program Director of Camp Hess Kramer. Her experience in Jewish camping, along with her Masters in Public Administration has been a huge plus understanding the synagogue world.

While Denver has become a special home for Ruth, her husband Jack, and children Madeline and Ross, they have not completely left their roots of California – on days over 40 degrees, the entire family can be seen in shorts and t-shirts, although the rest of Denver is shivering.

Amy Becker, Assistant Executive Director

Amy Becker found her passion working in the Jewishcommunity in 1989 when she became the Regional Director of the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization. Working with youth, fundrising and programming soon became her love.

Amy began her long devotion of working at Temple Sinai in 1994.  At this time she was hired as the Director of Program Development.  Among many other accomplishments, she successfully organized the volunteer program for the Temple and established a Chavurah recruitment program and the Temple’s Chavurah Council. Her biggest success was bringing Denver’s first Mitzvah Day program to the community along with a committee of committed volunteers.

Amy’s desire for working with children was always strong.  In 2000, she was hired by Temple Sinai as the Preschool Director. Amy enjoyed working with the staff, children and parents. Among her accomplishments, she and the staff were awarded national accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Amy was named the Assistant Executive Director in June, 2007.
Amy and her husband Jeffrey are Denver natives. They enoy evey moment of family time with their twins, Corey and Chelsea.


Dr. Steve Glickman, Director of Education

Dr. Steven Glickman grew up in the Chicago area where his family’s affection for the Bears and the Cubs taught him much about perseverance through adversity.  Steve attended the University of Illinois where he earned a degree in advertising.  During the summer before his senior year at college, Steve realized that his love for the written word was too powerful to ignore and decided to pursue a teaching career in the university world.

Having been a mountain-loving flatlander all his life, Steve came out west in 1989 to attend graduate school at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in English.  Early on his academic job search, Steve jumped on an opportunity to become the principal of the Colorado Agency for Jewish Education’s Denver Hebrew High School.  For the next seven years, Steve’s passion for Judaism and Jewish education took off.

Steve joined the Temple Sinai family in June 2006.  He brings a wealth of experience and a bottomless well of energy to the congregation.

Steve is married to Laurel Glickman, a hospice social worker and the most beautiful woman in the world.

 
Michelle Schwartz, Assistant Director of Education

From a very young age This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it has been actively involved in the Denver Jewish community. As a teenager she thrived as member in United Synagogue Youth Group where she discovered a true love for the intricacies of Jewish religion. After graduating from the University of Colorado at Boulder, Michelle accepted a position as the Youth Director for Rodef Shalom and the Hebrew Educational Alliance working mostly with the middle and high schoolers.

In 1995, Michelle joined the Temple Sinai community as both a religious school teacher and independent tutor. She taught grades 6 through 10 and developed the impressive structure of the B’Nei Mitzvah and Confirmation programs.  She focused her energy on bringing more life and deeper meaning to Jewish study in young adults. During this time, Michelle also solidified her place as a noted B’Nei Mitzvah tutor in the Sinai community. In June of 2008, Michelle accepted the Assistant Director of Education position where she continues to develop exceptional education programming.

Michelle is a Denver native married to Brian Schwartz and the mother of two little girls, Macey and Avery. She loves spending quality time with family and friends and baking goodies.


Lisa Thorner, Director of Programming and Volunteer Development

Lisa Thorner joined the Temple Sinai staff in January of 2009 as the Director of Programming and Volunteer Recruitment.  In addition to planning and implementing programs, Lisa is responsible for encouraging volunteer participation.  Lisa has extensive experience in event planning and brings an abundance of energy to Temple Sinai. 

Prior to Temple Sinai, Lisa spent 17 years working in college Athletics.  She worked at the Western Athletic Conference from 1997-2007 where she served as the Assistant Commissioner for Championships and the Senior Woman Administra­tor. While at the WAC, Lisa was responsible for planning championships for 17 different sports.  Prior to the WAC, she spent five years as the Assistant Director of Media Relations at San Diego State University.

Lisa loves to interact and work with people and has a vast experience in event planning and development.  She has planned events, both large and small and helped plan annual fundraisers for The Gathering Place and Mylifeline.org.

Lisa graduated for the University of Colorado, Boulder with a degree in Journalism.  Lisa is a Denver native and is the proud mother of two boys, Josh and Zach.

Elyse Adlen, Preschool Director

Elyse Adlen grew up in the Los Angeles area, where she began teaching at Temple Judea’s religious school in high school. She completed her BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of California, Santa Barbara while teaching in preschool and assisting in elementary schools.

She taught full time through the Los Angeles Unified School District Intern Program and substituted in charter schools while working on her Education licensure at California State University, Northridge. She is continuing her Master’s Degree in Education at Regis University.

Elyse moved to Denver with her husband, Nathan, in 2001. In keeping with her philosophy that all children will learn in a safe and loving environment, she coordinated the education program at the University of Denver Bridge Project for five years.  She is excited to be working with preschoolers again at a school.  Elyse and Nate have two children, Lucy and Ezra.



Josh Gold, Youth Director

Josh Gold, a Denver native, grew up at Temple Sinai and gained his passion for Judaism while on the Confirmation trip.  As a teenager, Josh was actively involved in B’nai Brith Youth Organization and later involved with TSYG.  After graduating with a degree in Technical Journalism from Colorado State University, Josh worked at Hillel at Arizona State University as a program associate. 

After a year in Arizona, Josh and his wife moved back to Denver to be closer to their families.  He accepted the Youth Director position at BMH-BJ Congregation where he also served as the Program Director.  After a two and a half year stint, Josh came back to Temple Sinai to give back to the synagogue where his Jewish journey began.  In addition to leading the youth groups at Temple Sinai, he is currently working on his Masters in Nonprofit Management from Regis University. 

Josh is married to Pamela Gold, and they live with their son Brayden in Aurora.

Lynne Roll, Receptionist/Secretary

Lynne Roll was born in San Bernardino, CA, graduated high school in Hawaii, B.A. in English from DU.  Has lived in CA, Panama Canal Zone, CO, SD, & VA. Research Analyst Denver Research Institute 17 years.  Joined Temple staff in 1991, walks to work.  Seeks the answers to life's important questions intermittently.  Oldest of eight children, many nieces & nephews.  Went to Bosnia- Herzegovina for her 60th to prove something.  Coexists with husband Jim Rule, sons Jacob & Daniel, 2 dogs, 1 snake, and 3 tarantulas.  Hobbies: napping, TV, reading, writing, napping.

Julia Morales, Support Bookkeeper/Secretary

Larry Martin, Head Custodian

Larry Martin for the last sixteen years, is known for his bright smile, colorful stories, and contagious laugh. After serving in the Air Force during his youth, Larry went on to have six children and seventeen grandchildren! Larry loves sports, especially the Broncos, and he also enjoys playing the slot machines in Blackhawk.  Larry loves nothing more than a good steak or barbecue and spends many weekends grilling and throwing parties for his family and friends. Always helpful, always friendly, Larry Martin is an irreplaceable member of our Temple Sinai staff!