Tucked into a residential hillside on Ridge Road in Hamden, Connecticut, Congregation Mishkan Israel has served Greater New Haven as a center of Jewish worship, learning and community since 1840. The congregation is the oldest continuously operating Jewish house of worship in Connecticut, the second oldest in New England, and the fourteenth oldest in the United States. Today it carries that long history into a 21st-century expression of Reform Judaism, blending traditional prayer and Hebrew study with a deeply communal approach to social action, education and family life.
185 Years on Ridge Road
Members and visitors step into a mid-century building that President Alan Sturtz calls "our extraordinary mid-century model jewelbox." The sanctuary, rotunda, social halls, education center, library, music suite and a small chapel together form the spiritual home of roughly 400 member families. The building has been the congregation's address for more than six decades, long enough to hold the memories of bar and bat mitzvahs, weddings, funerals, holiday celebrations and ordinary Shabbat evenings across several generations. The community chose the name Mishkan Israel, Hebrew for "Dwelling of Israel," when it was founded in 1840, and the same impulse to gather, study and dwell together is what still draws families to its doors.
Rabbi Daniel Schaefer, who grew up at CMI, returned in 2024 to become the congregation's spiritual leader. He is the fourth sitting rabbi since Rabbi Robert Goldburg took the pulpit in 1948. The cantor at the time of Cantor Sierra Fox's installation in 2026, Cantor Fox, was ordained in May 2025 by Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion and holds a Master's of Sacred Music. Together with Rabbi Emeritus Herbert N. Brockman, who served for 32 years before his retirement in 2017, and Cantor Emeritus Arthur Giglio, who concluded 15 years of service, the clergy team blends the freshness of a new chapter with the continuity of deep institutional memory.
Clergy and Professional Staff
Rabbi Daniel Schaefer is a graduate of the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College, where he earned his M.A. in Jewish Studies. Before joining Mishkan Israel he served as the Interim Director for Jewish Life at Georgetown University and as Assistant Rabbi at Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline, Massachusetts. He grew up in Cheshire, Connecticut, and studied History and Jewish Studies at Stanford University, where his honors thesis examined visions of American Judaism before World War II. He also studied at Mechon Hadar, the Hartman Institute, the Jewish Theological Seminary, and Hebrew Union College, and he served in AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps. He is passionate about Torah study, experiential learning, spiritual exploration and building multi-generational Jewish community.
Cantor Sierra Fox was ordained in May 2025 by Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, where she also received her Master's of Sacred Music. She graduated with highest honors from Syracuse University with a Bachelor's of Music in Vocal Performance and Religion & Society. Her senior thesis, "Sound-Informed Spirituality, Spirituality-Informed Sound: Exploring the Sonic World through Science and Mysticism," culminated in a recital that explored the scientific and mystical origins of sound across a wide range of styles. She completed a cantorial internship under Cantor Azi Schwartz at Park Avenue Synagogue in New York City, and previously served as a Tisch/Star Summer Cantorial Intern at Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn.
Rabbi Emeritus Herbert N. Brockman is a seventh-generation rabbi who chose the liberal tradition of Reform Judaism after growing up in a richly Orthodox home. He graduated from Ohio University and attended Hebrew Union College, where he earned a Bachelor and a Master of Hebrew Letters, and went on to receive a Ph.D. from the Ecumenical Institute of St. Mary's Seminary and University of Baltimore. Hebrew Union College awarded him the Doctor of Divinity after 25 years in the rabbinate. He is also certified in divorce mediation, teaches at Yale Divinity School, serves on the board of the Interfaith Cooperative Ministries and Hartford Seminary, and has been described as a champion of compassion and justice.
Cantor Emeritus Arthur Giglio is a graduate of the H.L. Miller Cantorial School at the Jewish Theological Seminary, with a Master of Sacred Music and Diploma of Hazzan, and Bachelor and Master of Music Education degrees from Manhattan School of Music.
The professional team is led by Jody Barstein Dietch, Executive Director, who has more than eighteen years of experience in Greater New Haven and Fairfield County. Michelle Goldstein directs the Religious School and is a long-time teacher in the program and a special education teacher in a local public school system. Jennifer Verrier, M.Ed., directs the early childhood center and has been an early childhood educator for more than twenty years, most recently at Temple Israel in New Rochelle, New York.
A Shabbat Rhythm
Friday nights belong to Kabbalat Shabbat. Services begin at 6:00 p.m. in the sanctuary and are streamed online for those who cannot attend in person. Cantor Fox and the volunteer musicians often called the Oy Street Band lend a contemporary edge, while classical melodies and English readings keep the service rooted in Reform tradition. On occasional Fridays a special Stuffed Animal Parade brings the youngest worshippers to the bimah. After the service, the community shares an Oneg Shabbat with food and conversation.
Saturday morning opens with Torah Study at 9:00 a.m., led by Rabbi Steve Steinberg in person and on Zoom. No prior experience is required, and the discussion is wide open to curious learners. Shabbat morning services follow at 10:30 a.m. and include B'Mitzvah ceremonies throughout the year, when students lead the congregation in prayer after a year of preparation with the clergy.
The High Holy Days unfold across many distinct services. Rosh Hashanah brings a Young Family Service for children from birth through kindergarten, a Youth Program for grades 1 and up, a traditional Morning Service, a Family Service, and an Erev Rosh Hashanah service on the night before. Yom Kippur opens with Kol Nidre, then a Young Family Service, a Morning Service, a Youth Program, a Reflection Service, a Family Service, study sessions led by the Confronting Racism group and by Professor Shelly Kagan of Yale, an Afternoon Service, and the climactic Yizkor and Ne'ilah service that closes the day. For Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, Simchat Torah and the rest of the festival calendar, the congregation gathers in the sanctuary and frequently shares meals together; the annual Simchat Torah Pizza Truck Dinner is a long-running favorite.
Religious School: Pre-K Through Grade 7
The CMI Religious School grounds its work in the words of Deuteronomy 6:7: "And you shall teach them to your children." Its mission is to instill strong Jewish identities, knowledge of Hebrew language and prayer, a connection to the State of Israel, a sense of social responsibility, respect for all people, and a life-long love of Jewish learning. Three of the current teachers grew up at CMI themselves, a tangible example of the multi-generational continuity the program seeks to build.
Classes meet on Sundays from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon, with grades 3 through 7 also meeting on Tuesdays from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. for Hebrew School. Pre-K and Kindergarten students learn about Jewish values through concepts such as self-esteem, forgiveness, tzedakah, kindness, helping the Earth, Jews around the world, and emotions and feelings; they are introduced to Hebrew letters and their sounds, and they encounter a different Jewish holiday each month. Grades 1 and 2 build on those foundations with work on Hebrew vowels, one-syllable Hebrew words, and basic prayers such as the Sh'ma, alongside study of the Creation, Adam and Eve, and Noah stories.
Grades 3 and 4 explore values through concepts like racism, equality and equity, forgiveness, homelessness, life-cycle events, the Greater New Haven Jewish community, self-image, and gratitude. They use the Mitkadem Hebrew program to become fluent Hebrew readers. Grades 5 and 6 tackle anti-Semitism, prejudice, identity, bias, the Holocaust, justice, immigration, the environment and gratitude, again using Mitkadem alongside sections of Torah, Facing Ourselves and curriculum from Teaching Tolerance. Grades 7 and 8 engage values through questioning, focusing on who or what is God, how students relate to their Judaism, how their Judaism relates to the world, why be good, and what they can do. Seventh graders concentrate on Shabbat morning prayers in preparation for B'Mitzvah; eighth graders have the opportunity to serve as madrichim, guides and role models in younger classrooms.
All grades include a family education component. Parents learn alongside their children and separately from them with the clergy and faculty. Preschool and Kindergarten host Tot Programs and a Parent Connection; first and second grade families meet through Parent Connection; third and fourth grade families explore Jewish life cycles, including a wedding vow renewal ceremony, and the ADL's Julia's Star program; fifth and sixth grade families engage the ADL's Confronting Anti-Semitism program, B'Mitzvah preparation, and life-cycle study, including the wedding vow renewal ceremony.
For students who need additional support, the school created Yad b'Yad, Hebrew for "hand-in-hand." During part of their class time, these children work one-on-one or in small groups with experienced teachers. By invitation, older students may travel to Washington, D.C. to participate in the Religious Action Center's L'Taken Seminar, where they study social justice issues and share their views with congressional leaders on Capitol Hill.
The B'Mitzvah Year
Becoming a B'Mitzvah at Mishkan Israel is a multi-stage process that begins in the religious school, deepens through Hebrew reading, and culminates in a year of study with the Rabbi and Cantor in preparation to lead the CMI community in a Shabbat morning service. The Cantor teaches the prayers and melodies; the Rabbi works with each student on Torah and Haftarah reading and on a personal D'var Torah. The program emphasizes confidence, public speaking, and a positive Jewish identity. The congregation only officiates at the B'Mitzvah of members enrolled in the religious school, and High Holy Day tickets are part of every membership.
The Learning Tree Early Childhood Center
Housed in the same building as the congregation, The Learning Tree Early Childhood Center of Mishkan Israel is licensed by the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood and serves children from six weeks to five years, including pre-kindergarten. It is a Jewish preschool open to children of all faiths, offering full-day and half-day programs with three- or five-day enrollment options and year-round registration. Half-day hours run 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and the school is open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Teachers follow the developmental guidelines of the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood and design responsive, supportive classroom activities that meet the needs of young children. The school's philosophy treats each child as both a unique individual and a member of a wider community. Throughout the curriculum, collaboration, kindness and empathy are emphasized, with morning circles, art projects, music, and a focus on social and emotional growth. Family traditions are honored, and parents and caregivers are invited into decision-making and events, ensuring that the school is an extension of the home as well as a foundation for early learning.
Lifelong Learning for Adults
Adult study is woven through the week. Rabbi Steve Steinberg teaches two Sunday morning classes during Religious School hours: Liturgical Hebrew at 10:30 a.m., which introduces the sacred form of the Hebrew language used in Jewish prayers, Torah readings and blessings, and Modern Judaism at 11:00 a.m., a survey of contemporary Jewish thought. The CMI Book Club meets monthly on Wednesdays at noon to discuss a Jewish-themed title; recent picks include Rabbi Angela Buchdahl's Heart of a Stranger. A weekly Saturday morning Torah Study at 9:00 a.m. invites learners at every level to study the parashat hashavua, with Rabbi Steinberg leading both in person and on Zoom.
Throughout the year, the Adult Education Committee hosts special presentations. Recent and upcoming sessions include a panel on Jewish burial practices through three rabbinic lenses, featuring Rabbi Schaefer alongside Rabbi Barak Bader of Westville Synagogue and Rabbi Eric Woodward of Beth El-Keser Israel, a special report on Israeli parliamentary elections held at Temple Beth Sholom, and a program with congregant Dr. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, the Yale leadership scholar, on his book Trump's Ten Commandments. The CMI Library, organized by a team of volunteers, holds an expanding collection of fiction and non-fiction with a Judaic focus, for adults and children alike.
The Brotherhood of Men & Women
CMI's Brotherhood of Men and Women, known as the BMW, functions as a service auxiliary of the synagogue, acting on the principles of chavurah (fellowship), g'milut chasadim (acts of loving kindness) and tzedakah (righteous giving). Every Sunday morning that Religious School is in session, the Brotherhood opens its Coffee Shop in the rotunda from 9:00 a.m. to noon, pouring coffee and serving bagels and doughnuts to families, teachers and visitors. All proceeds are directed to Religious School Scholarships.
The Brotherhood also hosts an annual Deli Night, presents the Alan Lakin Award of Merit to an outstanding member of the CMI community, makes annual gifts through its Tzedakah Committee to social service organizations in and beyond the synagogue's walls, and contributes periodic capital gifts. The BMW Board is open to new ideas and welcomes new volunteers, who can reach the group at brotherhood@cmihamden.org.
Small Interest Groups and Rosh Chodesh
Members lead a constellation of small groups that turn shared interests into weekly or monthly gatherings. The most established is Rosh Chodesh, Hebrew for "head of the month," a celebration of the new moon and the start of each Hebrew month. In biblical times Rosh Chodesh was a day of festive meals and refraining from business; in later tradition it became a special holiday for women. At CMI the intergenerational group meets monthly from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. and welcomes female-identifying and non-binary individuals thirteen and older to bond through discussion, song, poetry, storytelling, art, dance, and food. Programs are themed around the interests of members and rotate among speakers, leaders, and activities such as "Living a Balanced Life/Self Care Is Not Selfish."
Other groups meet under the heading of Interest Groups, and the community invites new groups to form whenever a member identifies a need. Chevra Hands gathers quilters, knitters and crocheters; postcard-writing campaigns invite members to write to Texas communities affected by barriers to voting; and book lovers, hikers, social-justice activists, and music-makers find each other through bulletin-board notices and weekly e-news. The Oy Street Band, a group of congregational musicians, plays at services and special events.
Tikkun Olam: Repairing the World
From its founding in 1840, CMI has been committed to the work of Tikkun Olam, the repair and healing of the world. A Tikkun Olam umbrella committee, established under the leadership of board member Nancy Moss-Racusin, coordinates the work of roughly a dozen committees, each applying Jewish values to a particular area of community life. Confronting Racism hosts study sessions, including an annual Yom Kippur discussion, and partners with organizations such as CONECT to bring speakers like State Senator Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox to the congregation. Life is Delicious prepares and serves food in the wider community, and the Pe'ah Garden grows produce for local food pantries. The Social Action Committee connects members with regional needs, and Chevra Hands makes blankets, quilts and other handcrafted gifts for those in need.
The Chesed Team, a group of congregants working with Rabbi Schaefer and Cantor Fox, focuses inward. Its purpose is twofold: to help congregants feel that they belong to a caring community that provides practical and emotional support, and to give members a way to connect with one another through acts of loving kindness. Volunteers provide rides to and from services, visit those who are homebound or in care facilities, deliver food to those who are ill, bereaved or healing, write cards, run errands, take members to medical appointments, and lead card-making projects for younger members who want to be involved. New members are welcome at any level of commitment, from an ongoing role to an occasional hour.
Music at CMI
Music is woven into the rhythm of every Shabbat and festival. Cantor Fox leads worship, teaching the melodies the congregation carries through the year, and a High Holy Day Choir joins her for the Days of Awe. The Cantor also teaches B'Mitzvah students and directs the annual Cantor's Concert, a themed recital that draws on her background in science and Jewish mysticism. The next concert, "Sound, Science, and Spirituality," explores the sonic world as a force of creation and change through the lenses of science and Jewish mystical texts.
Congregational musicians, including a pianist and music director, plus a rotating group affectionately known as the Oy Street Band, add instrumental texture to services. The library of music at CMI is supported by a pair of named funds: the Isador E. Offenbach Musical Service Fund, which underwrites an annual special musical service, and the Dr. Louis H. Nahum and Stella K. Nahum Music Fund, which provides music during the High Holy Days.
Raising the Roof: A Historic Building Campaign
The CMI building is, in the words of the Board of Trustees, an architecturally significant mid-century structure whose roof has come to the end of its serviceable life. The Raise the Roof campaign was launched to restore the building "to its former glory." In December 2024 the congregation received a $200,000 preservation grant from the National Fund for Sacred Places, funded by the Lilly Foundation and administered by Partners for Sacred Places, in support of the roof restoration. In the program's 30-year history, only a small number of synagogues have received this kind of award.
The community has turned the campaign into a creative congregational project called Mishkanopoly, designed by CMI teens Naomi and Lilo. Members can underwrite the cost of an entire room, or purchase "shingles" at $18 each. The Sanctuary, at 10,000 square feet, is the largest of the underwriting opportunities at $180,000; the Gift Shop, the smallest, has already been sponsored by an 11th grader named Benjamin who used his bar mitzvah money to pay for the piece of roof above that small but important slice of CMI. Other available spaces include the Education Center, hallways, social halls, rotunda, chapel, sanctuary lobby, storage, music suite, library, kitchen, lounge, bride's room, rabbi's chambers, and the boys' and girls' bathrooms. Donations are matched through the National Fund grant.
The Cemetery
Congregation Mishkan Israel Cemetery sits at 701 Whalley Avenue, on the corner of Jewell Street in New Haven. The grounds include a chapel where Rabbi Schaefer and Cantor Fox lead an annual Memorial Service each September to honor and remember loved ones who are no longer with the community. A separate Cemetery Fund, overseen by the Board of Trustees, supports the maintenance and administration of cemetery grounds and the chapel. The cemetery is one of two physical locations under CMI's care, alongside the main synagogue building on Ridge Road.
Membership and Belonging
CMI welcomes interfaith families and people of any race, background, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or ability. The community includes people raised Jewish, those who chose Judaism later in life, and those in relationships with Jewish partners. Some members grew up speaking Hebrew and reading Torah, while others are encountering Jewish practice for the first time as adults. The Membership Committee and staff are available year-round to answer questions, give tours of the building and grounds, introduce prospective members to congregants, and welcome newcomers at services.
Each year, before the High Holy Days, CMI hosts an Open House for prospective members, including a potluck dinner and Shabbat Under the Stars on the patio. Membership sustains the clergy, the building, the religious school, the early childhood center, and the full calendar of programming. High Holy Day tickets are part of every membership, and no one is turned away based on the ability to pay the full amount. The congregation operates under a published Code of Ethics and relies on annual membership commitments, building and endowment funds, restricted donation funds, and one-time campaigns such as Raise the Roof to support its work.
Becoming Part of CMI
Visitors and prospective members are warmly received at any service or program. The office is open Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Worshippers may join in person at 785 Ridge Road or online via the livestream, which is offered on Friday nights and during major holidays. For a first visit, the sanctuary is accessible and the bimah welcomes B'Mitzvah families, returning alumni, and those new to Jewish prayer alike. Shabbat evening services begin at 6:00 p.m. and typically conclude within an hour, followed by an Oneg; Saturday morning services begin at 10:30 a.m. and include B'Mitzvah ceremonies throughout the year.
Anyone interested in learning more may reach the office at (203) 288-3877 or by email at shalom@cmihamden.org. Those interested in The Learning Tree Early Childhood Center may reach Jennifer Verrier at (203) 288-2375 or by email at jverrier@cmihamden.org. The Brotherhood of Men and Women can be reached at brotherhood@cmihamden.org. Giving is available online through the congregation's secure portal, and livestream worship and events can be accessed at the congregation's livestream page.