Rabbi Stuart Pollack serves as Temple Har Sinai’s religious leader, the 26th rabbi in the congregation’s long history.
Prior to accepting the position at Har Sinai in 1999, Pollack was religious leader of Temple Tifereth Israel in Malden, MA, for 17 years. He resides in Yardley, PA, with his wife, Robin, and children — Max and Eli. The rabbi spent 10 years of his childhood in Lansdale, PA, where his father was a rabbi at Temple Shalom, before his family relocated to Paterson, NJ.
As a young man, he resisted following in his father’s footsteps. In fact, he says, he went through a “rebellious stage” during his younger years. It wasn’t until he had almost completed his bachelor’s degree in psychology and philosophy from Pennsylvania State University in University Park, PA, that he decided to enter the rabbinate. He was president of the Hillel at Penn State and was graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.
Pollack also attended the Jewish Community High School of Gratz College, then in Philadelphia, and was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City. He received a master of science degree in education and counseling from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and participated in a Minister in Vicinity Program at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, Pollack studied for a doctor of ministry degree at Boston University, where he was a student of Elie Wiesel, and was an adjunct professor of Jewish Studies at Tufts University in Medford, MA.
Rabbi Pollack believes the primary ingredients necessity for the rabbinate are humility and humor. Although much of his job revolves around times of crisis, he also believes in emphasizing every simha, the good times.
Cantor Emily Pincus
Cantor Emily Pincus fell in love with Judaism at an early age. As a religious school student at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York City, she earned a reputation as the heaviest Bible Baseball hitter in her grade. But at age 9, she heard herself singing in the shower and decided that she sounded pretty good. So she kept singing, joined the choir at her school, and performed leading roles in high school musical productions. She then attended Brown University, where she spent many Shabbats enjoying the warmth of Jewish community at Hillel. Exploring ways to serve the community, she interned at the Providence Public Defenders Office and worked for Legal Aid and at a home for abused and neglected girls.
After college, she embarked on an operatic singing career, which led her from the Manhattan School of Music in New York to the Escuela Superior de Canto in Madrid, and to performances with various opera companies, including L’Antologia de la Zarzuela (Madrid), Opera Festival of New Jersey, L’Opera Francais de New York, Tulsa Opera, El Paso Opera, and Sarasota Opera. Like many other singers, she also worked as a paid soloist and chorister in synagogues. Gradually, she came to realize that her true vocation was not that of a diva but that of service to the Jewish community. She became aware that she could use her voice to help people observe Judaism and to celebrate life cycle events in a meaningful and beautiful way.
She then entered the cantorial training program of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, in New York. She graduated in 2008, after garnering numerous awards and scholarships in the performance of both traditional hazzanut and contemporary Jewish music. She now lives in Metuchen with her husband Drew, stepchildren Alexie and Bennet, and the family’s newest blessing (2/18/09), Nathaniel.
President Martin E. Kline
Martin E. Kline was born in Trenton and raised in Yardley, Pa., where he has resided for 41 years. An attorney with a Lawrence-based general practice emphasizing litigation and small business, he is a graduate of Widener University. He most recently served as temple Treasurer for four years and as recording secretary from 2000-2002.
Martin’s family has had membership in Har Sinai Congregation since 1922 when his grandparents, Harry and Ethel Kline, joined. His grandfather also served as a Temple Trustee in the 1930s-40s. His father, Eugene L. Kline, was president of Har Sinai from 1974-76.
Martin and his wife, Janice Selinger Kline, have two children. Their daughter, Lesley, just graduated from Lafayette College with a degree in anthropology and sociology and a minor in English. Their son, Howard is in his third year studying law at the University of Pittsburgh.
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Rabbi Stuart Pollack serves as Temple Har Sinai’s religious leader, the 26th rabbi in the congregation’s long history.
Cantor Emily Pincus fell in love with Judaism at an early age. As a religious school student at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York City, she earned a reputation as the heaviest Bible Baseball hitter in her grade. But at age 9, she heard herself singing in the shower and decided that she sounded pretty good. So she kept singing, joined the choir at her school, and performed leading roles in high school musical productions. She then attended Brown University, where she spent many Shabbats enjoying the warmth of Jewish community at Hillel. Exploring ways to serve the community, she interned at the Providence Public Defenders Office and worked for Legal Aid and at a home for abused and neglected girls. 