Temple Sinai confirmation class takes weekend trip to D.C.

Some members of the confirmation class make a stop at the White House: (left to right) Noah Levin, Jacob Meyerson, Nathan Kirshenbaum, Lauren Knasin, Becca Gupta and Rabbi Jeff Goldwasser. /COURTESY | TEMPLE SINAI

Over the weekend of Jan. 30 to Feb. 1, Rabbi Jeffrey Goldwasser of Temple Sinai in Cranston took five confirmation students on a trip to Washington, D.C. During those 48 hours, they heard a briefing at the Israeli Embassy about U.S.-Israel relations, visited the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center, participated in Shabbat services and dinner at Georgetown University and attended an NBA basketball game. They also visited the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, the Martin Luther King Memorial and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. It was quite a lot to pack into two days!

Despite the busy schedule, the students who went on the trip said that their favorite part of the trip was just being together.

They learned a lot at each place the group visited, but they also had the essential Jewish experience of being with other Jewish kids, sharing a special time together in an intentionally Jewish way. Rabbi Goldwasser said that this is an experience that is at the center of Temple Sinai’s congregation for people of all ages.

Goldwasser explained that at Temple Sinai the congregants learn,  sing,  worship and  take action as a group. He further explained that the congregants also draw strength just from the experience of being together – intentionally spending time together with others who share an identity, a set of values and the joy of being Jewish. “When we journey through this life together, we draw strength and enjoyment from one another,” he said.