“I can bring music, and I can bring teaching to the service, and I think people really appreciate my voice, and I think they appreciate that we can all participate and sing,” said Colman Reaboi, Temple Sinai ‘s newest rabbi and cantor.
Rabbi/Cantor Colman Reaboi joined Temple Sinai of Cinnaminson this summer, a move that felt like a whirlwind.
“My interview with Temple Sinai, we really hit it off,” he recalled. “We found that we have a lot of common ground.”
Reaboi believes in creating thriving communities based on the Jewish values of Kavod – respect, caring, responsibility and community – according to Temple Sinai’s website.
Reaboi was formerly the rabbi and cantor at Congregation Agudath Achim in Massachusetts. He and his wife Tara are Moorestown residents who hope to become part of their congregants’ lives and have congregants become part of theirs.
“I’ve never been in this part of the country before, so I didn’t know what, really, to expect,” Reaboi said. “I was really pleased to see how down to earth everyone is here. It’s a very family-oriented area.”
Reaboi received his Cantorial certification from the Cantors Assembly in New York in 2012 and his Rabbinic ordination in 2023. He also served as a religious school director; B’nai Mitzvah tutor; and Ba’al Kriah, a Torah reader.
“It was 2022 that I decided to become a rabbi, so I entered an online seminary called the Jewish Spiritual Leaders Institute (JSLI) and I received my rabbinic degree,” Reaboi explained. “I’ve been a rabbi for a little over a year. Although I had been serving a congregation in Massachusetts as a rabbi, I just was not ordained, so I feel special that I am now both a rabbi and a cantor.”
In Judaism, a cantor is a trained vocalist and member of the clergy who leads the congregation in song and prayer, teaches music to children and adults and officiates at major life cycle events, according to www.berklee.edu.
“I can bring music and I can bring teaching to the service, and I think people really appreciate my voice,” Reaboi noted. “And I think they appreciate that we can all participate and sing …
“On Friday nights, we always have a very lively service full of music and discussion and praying, of course, and on Saturday, we either have a traditional service or we will have what we call a Torah Spark …”
During a Torah Spark in person and on Zoom, attendees find meaning, inspiration and spiritual light in the weekly Torah Portion.
“We sit down, and we learn on some Saturdays instead of having a service, which seems very nice, and it really is a very nice community,” Reaboi emphasized. “(People) have come up and helped my wife and I settle in very nicely … They’re very generous here.
“My wife and I, we’ve lived in the South, we’ve lived in New England, and we have not really experienced the kind of hospitality that we have here.”
Reaboi said he teaches Judaism and religion through love and kindness.
“Our doors are welcome to anyone,” he pointed out. “You don’t even have to be Jewish. You’re going to be greeted at the door, you’ll get a prayer book and a greeting, and you probably won’t be sitting by yourself.”
Temple Sinai is an egalitarian, conservative synagogue committed to the following:
- Hachnasat Orchim: A warm and accepting congregation devoted to diversity among members
- L’dor V’dor: A comfortable environment dedicated to the continuity of Jewish life through education, study of Torah, worship and the celebration of Jewish customs and traditions
- Kehillah: Serving the Jewish community, the wider community and the state of Israel through acts of Tikkun Olam (repairing the world), and Gemilut Chasadim (acts of living kindness) to those in need
“We’re not just a religious institution but we are a family,” Reaboi observed. “ … For us, helping others is as important as praying. I like to think of it as, when people go out there and they do good, it’s like they’re praying with their feet.”
