Rabbi Noah Diamondstein joined the Temple Sinai clergy team in the summer of 2020, having been freshly ordained from the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion. He has had wide ranging experiences as a scholar of Judaism—from handling primary source documents from early 20th Century rabbis who wrote about the Mourners’ Kaddish, to teaching the leadership of Jerusalem’s Women of the Wall movement to blow shofar, to serving as a rabbinic intern at a Jewish Social Justice non-profit organization. His rabbinic thesis is entitled “A Tale of Two Liturgies: Placing Liturgical Development in the Reform and Conservative Movements in Conversation,” and focused on the differences and similarities between the ways these two Liberal Jewish movements approach the work of creating new prayer books.

This project was meaningful for him, given that he was raised simultaneously in both the Conservative and Reform Movements. Noah was brought up in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where he was bar mitzvah-ed at the Conservative synagogue. Alongside this experience, he attended URJ Camp Harlam, eventually serving on the staff and leading the Jewish Life department as Head Songleader over two non-consecutive summers. His experience at camp was one of the chief shapers of his Reform Jewish identity. As a result of these dual, and often dueling, identities, Noah spends much of his intellectual energy on navigating what it means to do Reform Judaism using the model of “Choice-Through-Knowledge.”

Noah is also a published Jewish musician! His first album, entitled “Ashira L’Adonai,” was released in January of 2019 and produced by none other than Dan Nichols! He was featured as an Emerging Artist on Jewish Rock Radio, and spent much of his final year before coming to Temple Sinai as a guest service leader or artist-in-residence in Jewish communities across the country. His musical work has helped him to fine-tune his skills as a service leader, and has taught him the power of leaving your ego at the door for the sake of holding space for the group. You can find his music on Spotify, Youtube, or on his website: noahdiamondstein.com. On that website, in addition to his music, you can also read about Noah’s approach to the rabbinate and to Judaism, and where he stands on various topics relevant to today’s Jewish community, from intermarriage to Israel to God and commandedness.

 

Contact

Noah Diamondstein
Associate Rabbi
ndiamondstein@templesinaidc.org
(202) 363-6394 x 232