From Twelve Families on Shavuot Eve to a 270-Family Congregation
In 1966, twelve Jewish families in Burlington sat down on the eve of Shavuot - the festival that commemorates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai - and decided to organize a new congregation. The coincidence of the holiday with their decision gave the group its name, and Temple Sinai became the first Reform Temple in the state of Vermont. For its first two decades the congregation was remarkably mobile, holding services in members' homes, schools, and hotel conference rooms, until Faith Methodist Church on Dorset Street shared its building starting in 1974. In November 1985 the Congregation of Temple Sinai dedicated its permanent home at 500 Swift Street in South Burlington, and a second building dedication followed in 1998, adding a larger social hall, additional classrooms, dedicated office space, and a beautified sanctuary.
Sixty years after that first meeting, more than 270 families belong to Temple Sinai. Rabbi David Edleson, who has led the congregation since 2018, describes it as "a proudly Reform egalitarian congregation that weaves a lot of tradition into our services and our practices," focused on "celebrating Jewish life and resilience." The congregation is part of the Union for Reform Judaism, works with Jewish Communities of Vermont, and holds that "support for a safe and prosperous State of Israel is an important part of our Jewish identity."
Worship on Friday Nights and Saturday Mornings
Worship at Temple Sinai is "spirited, in both English and Hebrew, with lots of music, and a mixture of traditional and approachable." Three regular weekly touchstones anchor Shabbat at the temple.
Kabbalat Shabbat gathers Friday evenings at 6:30 PM in the sanctuary and on Zoom, with a Zoom link posted in the calendar and a passcode available by calling the temple office at 802.862.5125. The service, literally "welcoming the Sabbath," is participatory and varied. Music ranges from traditional Reform melodies to folk and rock - sometimes led by Dahg, the congregation's own rock band - and the teaching pairs ancient texts with modern life. An Oneg (literally "the joy of Shabbat," but idiomatically "good food and conversation") follows every Friday evening.
Shacharit, the Shabbat Morning Service, begins Saturday at 9:30 AM and runs about an hour. Prayed from Mishkan T'filah, the prayer book of the Reform movement, and chanted mostly in Hebrew, the service is intimate and music-filled. It is offered in person and on Zoom. On mornings when a B'nai Mitzvah is being celebrated the service runs longer.
Torah Study meets Saturday at 10:30 AM in person and on Zoom. Through discussion, learners wrestle with that week's Torah portion and its meaning in their modern lives, drawing on traditional and modern scholarship to probe layers of meaning. Torah Study is paused on B'nai Mitzvah mornings.
Twice a month the rhythm expands for families. On the first Saturday of each month from 10:30 to 11:15 AM, Young Families Coordinator Aimee Hutton leads a Young Families Shabbat - singing, dancing, playful Torah stories, then kiddush, challah, and schmoozing. On the third Saturday from 4:00 to 6:00 PM, the same coordinator leads Young Families Havdalah, singing, dancing, crafts, stories, and a pot-luck nosh as the community says goodbye to Shabbat. The congregation also holds occasional Havdalah services throughout the year, and each spring its Avodah group hosts a sunset Havdalah at the top of Mt. Philo in Charlotte.
Clergy and Staff Who Shape the Community
Rabbi David Edleson, D.Div., joined Temple Sinai in 2018 after serving as spiritual leader at Bethlehem Hebrew Congregation in New Hampshire. A graduate of Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion (ordinated 1990), Edleson spent twenty-five years as the rabbi for the Hebrew Association of the Deaf in New York and was a founding member of both TaMaR, the Reform Zionist Youth Movement, and Hinenu, the gay rabbinical student organization that was pivotal in the successful fight for the ordination of LGBT clergy in the Reform movement. He also served as the first Dean of Cook Commons at Middlebury College and received an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Hebrew Union College in 2015. His sermons, posted on the temple's sermons page, weave current events, Torah, and personal reflection - from a Yom HaShoah reflection on the Haggadah's Vehi She'amda to a Parashat BaMidbar talk connecting the Israelites' census-taking to Temple Sinai's own Dorot Capital Campaign.
Cantor Ada Luisa Sinacore joined the congregation as cantor in 2026, having been ordained by Hebrew Union College as a rabbi in 2024 and as a cantor in 2026. A Montreal native and McGill University graduate who has taught in French and English across North America - including Central Synagogue and Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom - she brings "timbrel and guitar" to Jewish music-making and views it as a means of fostering communal connection. Her cantorial senior recital premiered ten newly commissioned Jewish rituals and musical compositions. Among her honors are the Reuben Peretz Abelson Prize, the JCF Community Leadership Award, the Atara Merit Scholarship, the Elissa Froman Social Change Fellowship, the URJ Graduate Fellowship, and the Tisch Fellowship. Cantor Sinacore leads the Selichot service each year before Rosh Hashanah, co-teaches the Held by Tradition series on Jewish approaches to death and mourning, and meets teens in the Plan It with the Cantor series.
Stacie Gabert serves as Executive Director and brings nearly twenty years of experience in business administration, operations, bookkeeping, accounting, customer service, vendor relations, event planning, and human resources. A temple member since 2009 with two children in the religious school, she holds a business degree from Champlain College, a Certificate in Jewish Leadership, and is a Senior Member of the National Association for Temple Administrators, currently pursuing an Executive Master's in Jewish Professional Studies at Spertus Institute.
Aimee Loiter, Ed.M., is the Education Director. A lifelong educator who began her career teaching second grade in New Orleans, she has served students from primary grades through graduate school as teacher and administrator. Aimee holds undergraduate degrees in History, Psychology, and Women's Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a Master's in Education from Harvard, and has been a temple member with her family since 2006.
Aimee Hutton leads the Young Families Program. She joined Temple Sinai in 2012 when her family moved to Vermont from the DC area and started the Tot Shabbat program the following year. A decade later she leads the expanded Young Families Program, sings in the choir, fills in as a cantorial soloist, and teaches in the religious school. She holds a Bachelor's from Grinnell College in Russian Language with a minor in Linguistics.
Wendy Valastro plays keyboard for services and has been a temple member since first coming to Vermont in 1982. She has directed the choir, served on the board, and taught music and dance in the religious school. A graduate of the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and the University of Michigan, Wendy is also an elementary school music teacher and the founder and director of Kidshow, a summer musical theatre camp now in its thirty-fifth year.
Mark Leopold, Dayna Lorentz, and Aimee Hutton serve as cantorial soloists alongside the cantor. Jean Elizabeth Shockley, MA.R., a former research lab technician, national park ranger, project manager, social worker, and executive assistant with an M.A. in Religion from Yale, serves as Executive Assistant.
The Religious School: Tuition-Free, Once a Week, K-7
Temple Sinai's Religious School is available to all synagogue members tuition free and meets once a week on Thursday afternoons from 4:00 to 6:00 PM, September through May. The program is rooted in inclusivity, joy, and meaningful Jewish learning: students of all genders read from the Torah, take aliyot, and help lead services; families sit together; and women and men serve as clergy and lay leaders.
The school serves children from kindergarten through seventh grade in cohorts of K-1, 2-3, 4-5, 6, and 7. Each year carries a thematic thread (the current year explores Jewish art and artists) and each grade has developmentally appropriate goals in Jewish holidays, prayer and synagogue skills, Jewish values, TaNaKh literacy, and community life. Hebrew is taught in face-to-face sessions at three pathways - Aleph Bet decoding in Hebrew 1, prayer fluency and blessings in Hebrew 2, and advanced fluency with Torah cantillation basics in Hebrew 3 - so students learn at the level that fits them.
The school partners with families on a clear path to the bimah. Bar and Bat Mitzvah readiness includes tutoring options, a family guide, and staff who meet each learner where they are. Children joining after fourth grade may be asked to study outside religious school to catch up.
Young Families, Teens, and Young Adults
Aimee Hutton's Young Families Program is the entry point for the youngest members and their families. In addition to Young Families Shabbat and Young Families Havdalah, the program offers Singalongs in the Sukkah, Tot Shabbat, Singalong in the Sukkah (co-sponsored with PJ Library), and Sukkot celebrations with crafts and stories - all designed for singing, dancing, and kid-friendly welcome.
Kirvah, the congregation's young adults' group for people in their twenties and thirties, hosts pizza nights, the Sukkah-and-pizza Kirvah gatherings, and social events built around the rhythms of the Jewish calendar.
Teen programming takes shape through the Cantor. Plan It with the Cantor gathers teens over pizza to talk about what they want to explore - a class, a hangout series, a project, or something nobody has thought of yet. The Cantor also leads short youth services and Tikkun Olam projects during the High Holy Days for ages seven to twelve, and hosts teen discussions and hangs on Yom Kippur afternoon.
Adult Learning, Library, and Book Groups
Adults at Temple Sinai learn in many rooms. The Jewish History Book Club meets Wednesdays at 11:00 AM on Zoom and in person, working through titles that connect Jewish history, language, and culture - the current selection is Michael Wex's Born to Kvetch. Multi-session book groups are a regular rhythm: a two-part Dara Horn Book Group on A Final Solution to the Jewish Problem: A Love Song to the Living, led by Rabbi Edleson, asks participants to test the author's argument that American culture prefers dead Jews to living ones. A two-part Badenheim 1939 Book Group on Aharon Appelfeld's novel uses the book's unsettling calm to examine how communities recognize or fail to recognize danger as it approaches.
Longer series sit alongside the book groups. You Shall Be a Blessing: A Course for Jewish Parents is a six-week series for parents of young children, taught by Rabbi Edleson and parents in the congregation, pairing Jewish texts and practices with concrete parenting questions around identity, belonging, God, blessing, Shabbat, antisemitism, resilience, and loss. Held by Tradition: A Jewish Approach to Death, Dying & Bereavement is a four-part series - on wills and estate planning, Jewish rituals around death, planning a Jewish funeral, and ethical wills - co-facilitated by Sisterhood, Avodah, Cantor Sinacore, and Rabbi Edleson. God in Search of Man, a study of Abraham Joshua Heschel through a brunch-and-learn, independent reading, and Zoom discussion, opens in person and reconvenes in the spring. An Israeli Elections Brunch and Learn with Rabbi Edleson reads the political landscape and its ripple effects for American Jewish communities.
The Library has been refreshed with both classics and new works in Jewish thought, history, and culture; new titles are added each week, and members can browse the full list online. Beyond the temple, the Adult Education page points to the URJ's online Hebrew courses (Learn to Read Hebrew for Adults and Reading Hebrew Prayers), the Shalom Hartman Institute's Israel resources, podcasts such as Identity/Crisis, Unorthodox, Torah from JTS, On the Other Hand with Rabbi Rick Jacobs, and People of the Pod, plus apps like Read and Write Hebrew by Yodea and Birkon Mikdash M'at.
Life Cycle: From Baby Naming to Death and Mourning
Temple Sinai walks with members across the arc of Jewish life. Rabbi Edleson meets with couples to create personalized Jewish weddings under the chuppah, with the ketubah, the blessings over wine, the exchange of rings, the Seven Blessings, and the breaking of the glass. As a Reform community, Temple Sinai and Rabbi Edleson welcome all couples in which one or both people are Jewish, who love each other and are committed to creating a home in which Judaism is celebrated and any children are raised in the Jewish tradition. The temple also marks baby namings, B'nai Mitzvah, and Confirmation.
When a loved one dies, the temple offers a cemetery memorial service each year before the High Holy Days at Lakeview Cemetery in Burlington, and the Chaverim Committee visits those who are ill or homebound, makes shiva calls, attends a minyan, sends a card, and prepares meals. The four-part Held by Tradition series walks through getting one's affairs in order, planning a Jewish funeral, Jewish mourning practices, and the Jewish tradition of ethical wills.
The Dorot Capital Campaign and the Building
In March 2025 the congregation publicly launched Dorot, its $3 million capital campaign - dorot meaning "generations" in Hebrew. The campaign supports a new roof, a renovated kitchen, expanded scholarships for Jewish camp, funds for teen and member trips to Israel, and the resources to hire additional clergy as the congregation grows. Within months of launch, gracious donors had pushed total giving past the $3 million mark, and the congregation is now within roughly $200,000 of its goal.
The building itself continues to host the rhythm of Jewish life. The sanctuary holds the morning and evening services and the High Holy Days; the social hall hosts Onegs, community meetings, and the annual meeting and bagel breakfast; the classrooms serve the religious school and adult classes; and the wood-paneled lobby holds the Tree of Life, with engraved leaves ($125) and rocks ($600) honoring teachers, mentors, births, weddings, anniversaries, and milestones. The Memorial Wall in the sanctuary holds bronze memorial plaques ($300) inscribed with English and Hebrew dates and recalled each year on the yahrzeit.
Tikkun Olam: Food Drives, Reverse Tashlich, and Halt H8
Temple Sinai's commitment to Tikkun Olam - repair of the world - shows up in specific, hands-on ways. The annual High Holy Days Food Drive donates to the South Burlington Food Shelf; the most recent drive delivered 1,002 pounds of food and supplies. Each year before Rosh Hashanah the congregation joins Ohavi Zedek for the 5th Annual Reverse Tashlich, a community waterway cleanup at Burlington's Urban Reserve that begins with a brief centering ritual connecting the environmental work to the spirit of Tashlich.
The temple's Halt H8 Campaign is an initiative dedicated to confronting and combating antisemitism, with a downloadable community toolkit available through the temple. Inside the building, the Social Action Committee organizes community activities and workshops, the Chaverim Committee delivers loving kindness through visits, shiva calls, minyan attendance, cards, and meals, and the Sisterhood and Avodah auxiliaries sponsor educational programs and charitable events throughout the year.
High Holy Days at Temple Sinai
The High Holy Days at Temple Sinai fill the building. Selichot opens the season with an evening of music and prayer the Saturday night before Rosh Hashanah. Erev Rosh Hashanah uses Mishkan HaNefesh with ASL interpreters in person and on Zoom. Rosh Hashanah morning fills the sanctuary with the sound of the shofar, Torah reading by teen and adult readers, and music from the adult and youth choirs, acapella groups, and beloved High Holy Day melodies. Tashlich on the River meets at the Winooski Falls Overlook. Young Families Rosh Hashanah and Kol Nidre open Yom Kippur, followed by the Yom Kippur Morning Service, Community Yizkor, Minchah, Neilah and Song Session, and a Break Fast. A Cemetery Memorial at Lakeview Cemetery is held in the days before. Yom HaShoah is observed with a congregational reflection.
Sisterhood, Avodah, and the Kirvah Group
Sisterhood is a women's group within the congregation, hosting the Myer's Bagels Schmooze at Myer's Bagels on Shelburne Road and co-sponsoring programs like the Wills and Estate Planning Presentation. Avodah, the men's group, co-sponsors many of those same programs and hosts the Avodah Havdalah on Mt. Philo. Kirvah, the group for people in their twenties and thirties, brings young adults together for pizza in the Sukkah, social events, and a place to build friendships within a larger Jewish community.
Joining, Volunteering, and Giving
Becoming a member starts with a conversation and a membership form, both available through the temple office. Members support Temple Sinai's general operations through annual commitments, and additional gifts flow through a Building Fund, Program Fund, Education Fund, Spiritual Fund, Board Discretionary Fund, and Rabbi's Discretionary Fund. Online giving is available through the ShulCloud member portal and through PayPal, and planned giving options include bequests, life insurance beneficiary designations, retirement account beneficiary designations, retained life estates, bargain sales, and the IRA charitable rollover (QCD).
Volunteering is woven into the rhythm of the congregation. Members host Oneg Shabbat to mark family milestones - B'nai Mitzvot, Yahrzeit observances, baby namings, weddings - and light candles or recite the Kiddush during the service if they wish. Others facilitate Zoom services (contact the Executive Director), help the Social Action Committee, join the Chaverim Committee to bring loving kindness to members in need, or lend a hand to one of the temple's many standing committees. A weekly newsletter and the temple's calendar keep members in touch with what is happening.
Temple Sinai sits at 500 Swift Street in South Burlington, with the office open Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The phone number is 802.862.5125, the email is info@templesinaivt.org, and Zoom links for services, Torah Study, and many meetings appear in the calendar listing of each event.