There is no job more fulfilling to Lee Levitt than serving the community and enhancing congregational life.
“I feel like being an executive director of a congregation is my calling,” Levitt said.
In mid-May, Levitt began in that role at Temple Sinai, a Reform congregation in Washington, D.C.
“We are so pleased to welcome Lee to Temple Sinai,” Senior Rabbi Jon Roos said in a press release. “He brings a combination of temple experience and private sector experience along with a deep personal commitment to Jewish community and families.”
Levitt was welcomed at a May 16 Shabbat service at the shul. He is tasked with overseeing Temple Sinai’s overall management and day-to-day operations, including human resources, fundraising, finance, facilities, membership, communications and security, according to the press release.
He joins the community during a time of growth — Temple Sinai has continued to welcome new members and launched full-day programming at the Temple Sinai Nursery School, the press release read.
Levitt has taken the past few weeks to get to know the community.
“I’ve kind of been a sponge to everyone and everything — meeting people, understanding roles [and] responsibilities, how we do things,” he said. “I’ve been mostly learning about the organization and the people.”
Levitt comes to the nation’s capital from Pittsburgh, where he had worked for the past 35 years. Before beginning at Temple Sinai, he served as the executive director of Rodef Shalom Congregation in Pittsburgh for one year. Levitt was also the executive director of Congregation Beth Shalom in Pittsburgh from 2007 to 2010.
He was drawn to D.C. — Temple Sinai in particular — because he appreciated the synagogue’s culture of kindness and commitment to tikkun olam.
“Honestly, from the first time that I started communicating with the congregation and the search committee, [there] was this feeling of openness and welcomeness,” Levitt said. “[They emphasize] social justice efforts in what they do. The clergy is amazing [and so is] the professional staff. Everybody has been just open and welcoming.”
In his role, Levitt aims to keep this positive atmosphere while simultaneously focusing on “maintaining and exceeding safety and security” measures for the Temple Sinai community in light of the recent Capital Jewish Museum shooting and other antisemitic hate crimes.
He also said he hopes to work alongside fellow leaders in other community organizations: “I’m a big believer in collaboration to drive engagement.”
The staff of Temple Sinai are appreciative of Ellen Agler, the former executive director, for her 17 years of service. Under Agler’s leadership, Temple Sinai completed a “successful capital campaign with both new construction and renovation of existing spaces,” the press release said.
The congregation also expanded its social justice and pastoral care programs, as well as programming for families with toddlers and school-age children.
“Temple Sinai has worked hard to establish a really strong, open, welcoming foundation that I want to continue to build upon,” Levitt said. “I believe that we have amazing opportunities to support our community … and we continue to grow and thrive.”
