PNK Learning Center

The Temple Sinai library maintains a complete and current online catalog available here.

The stunning artwork as you enter the library.

The PNK Learning Center excels in many areas, containing an excellent fiction and an especially strong reference collection. Holocaust Studies, books on Modern Israel, and resources for studying classical Jewish texts are also featured prominently. Volumes on art, music, sports, and a large collection of biographies can also be discovered in the library. A Jewish genealogical section enables members to research their family histories. Of special note is the collection relating to Jewish Law endowed by the family of Steven Eichel, a young lawyer at Sinai whose untimely death is memorialized by the ever-expanding Jewish Law Library. The Sinai library is a rich resource for research and enjoyment, and is one of the most serene and pleasant places in the region to enjoy a book or a meaningful conversation. The collection is available to all Sinai members as well as guests from the general community.

Membership in the Temple Sinai Library Guild at $25 yearly, allows Sinai members to purchase books for the collection and to sponsor regularly scheduled book reviews. Volunteers from the congregation are always welcome to serve on the Library Committee or to assist Rabbi Natan with technical services. We are always in need of help covering and cataloging new titles! 

In addition to the adult library, we also have an attached library dedicated to children and youth literature. It is the setting for story time for preschool and NOAR youngsters and, each year, the library conducts a Reading Program for elementary-age NOAR students. The program is designed to introduce children to the fascinating world of Jewish books and to give them a head start in Jewish literacy.

Endowments & Online Catalog

The Temple Sinai library maintains a complete and current online catalog available here. Below is a list and description of the endowments that specifically support the library collection as well as library events.

ROSE AND MARVIN SUGARMAN LIBRARY FUND (1989) – To enhance, augment and enrich the Rabbi Philip N. Kranz Learning Center resources, library collections and programs at Temple Sinai.

DEITCH FAMILY LIBRARY RESOURCE FUND (2000) – To provide resources for the benefit of the Rabbi Philip N. Kranz Learning Center, including fixtures, equipment, programming, books or other means to augment the Learning Center services.

RABBI KRANZ INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH LEARNING FUND (2000) – To provide activities and resources for adult education materials, speakers, and other services, including an annual Institute for Jewish Learning.

STEVEN EICHEL JEWISH LAW LIBRARY ENDOWMENT FUND (2003) – To provide resources for the organization and benefit of the Temple Sinai Jewish Law Library.

FRED W. NICHOLS LIBRARY ENDOWMENT FUND (2011) – To enhance, augment and enrich the Rabbi Philip N. Kranz Learning Center resources, library collections and programs at Temple Sinai. 

Please click here to see a full list of Temple Sinai's Endowments. 

Library Guild

Join the Kranz Learning Center Library Guild! Temple Sinai’s exclusive Library Guild helps to fund the curation of the book and film collections while ensuring our catalog has the latest contributions to Jewish literature. In addition, funds from the Library Guild membership contribute to new experiential children’s programming that brings Jewish literature off the page and into life. Membership costs $25 and includes one year of membership, the support of children’s programming that brings to life Jewish literature, recognition in Sinai mailings, as well as the opportunity to dedicate a book in the library in honor of a simcha or in memory of a loved one

Register for the Library Guild here or email Rabbi Natan Trief with questions.

Birthday Book Club

We invite you to support the PNK Learning Center by making your child a member of the Birthday Book Club. All you have to do is make an $18 (chai) donation to the library in your child's honor. Your child will be invited to select a book to be placed in our Learning Center. Your child may be the first person to check out the book! Honoring your child's birthday in this manner is a double mitzvah - it encourages the honoree to read, and it also provides the Kranz Learning Center with a lasting gift that others can enjoy.

Sign up here for the Birthday Book Club or contact Rabbi Natan Trief.