Sinai Synagogue: From Orthodox Founding to Conservative Congregation

Established June 1932 as an Orthodox congregation · present building dedicated 11 June 1950 · Conservative and egalitarian since the 1980s

Founding: Sinai Synagogue was established in June 1932 as an Orthodox congregation. That is the whole of its beginning as its own published history — Michael Brown's "A Short History of Sinai Synagogue of South Bend 1932–Present," carried on the congregation's website — records it; the published history does not name the founders or the congregation's meeting places before 1950, and no other source consulted supplies them.

The 1940s: The congregation's life in its second decade is documented in community memory. Rabbi Maurice Parzen was Sinai's rabbi in the 1940s — he is named as such in the Jewish Post of 19 March 1943 — and in 1943 he privately taught Gloria (Resnick) Wolvos, whose family had moved to South Bend from St. Paul in 1941, for her Bat Mitzvah at Sinai, the first Bat Mitzvah in South Bend, at a time when women could not touch the Torah. Wolvos told the story in the Michiana Jewish Historical Society's and Jewish Federation's "Telling Our Stories" oral-history series in 2014.

The LaSalle Avenue building: Sinai's current home, at 1102 East LaSalle Avenue at Eddy Street, was dedicated on 11 June 1950. Brown's history gives the construction's completion as April 1951 — both dates as he prints them, the dedication preceding the completion.

The Conservative turn: In the 1980s Sinai became a Conservative, egalitarian synagogue. It is a member of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and describes itself today as an inclusive, egalitarian congregation in the Masorti (Conservative) movement.

Today: Sinai holds daily minyans, weekly Shabbat-morning community luncheons, and religious and Hebrew education; its website, in its note honoring its retiring rabbi, speaks of nearly 200 members. Rabbi Michael Friedland retired in July 2026 after thirty years as the congregation's rabbi and was honored as Rabbi Emeritus. The members elected Rabbi Tyson Herberger as his successor in the summer of 2026, and he began in September.

Sources:

1. Sinai Synagogue, "About" page including Michael Brown, "A Short History of Sinai Synagogue of South Bend 1932–Present" (sinaisynagogue.org/about) — the 1932 founding, the 1950 dedication and 1951 completion, the 1980s change, and the congregation today, including Rabbi Friedland's retirement and Rabbi Herberger's election.
2. Michiana Jewish Historical Society / Jewish Federation, "Telling Our Stories" oral history (2014) — Gloria Wolvos, Rabbi Parzen, and the 1943 Bat Mitzvah; Jewish Post & Opinion, 19 March 1943 — Rabbi Maurice Parzen of Sinai.
3. University of Notre Dame Campus Ministry and Saint Mary's College places-of-worship listings — the 1102 East LaSalle Avenue address.