Our Voices

My husband and I have lived a rather nomadic life. We first met in New York City and spent the early years of our marriage in Pennsylvania. We’ve lived in Princeton, NJ, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan (twice), in Burlingame, and now, in Washington, DC.  

Six homes. 28 years. And one PTS.

PTS was part of Jeff’s life long before I met him. He grew up in Millbrae and his family had belonged to the close-knit, caring PTS community for as long as he could remember. His grandparents, Mickey and Ben, helped out with Bingo nights: She made snacks and he sold pull tabs (akin to lottery tickets; an early PTS fundraiser). Sandy, Jeff’s mother, was the first female temple president. It was at PTS where Jeff forged bonds with lifelong friends Brian Hafter (who also became a PTS president) and Rick Steinberg (now a rabbi in Southern California, who married us).

When Jeff and I were engaged, we flew out to California where we attended a Friday night service and were honored at an oneg that followed. I couldn’t believe how many people were there to celebrate us. Hundreds of people who’d known Jeff from childhood, including Rabbi Raiskin, PTS’s founding rabbi, and David Nigel, Jeff’s Sunday School teacher (who would later be our daughter’s as well). It would be the first of many joyous occasions I would experience at PTS.

My children were blessed in the sanctuary as babies, preschool graduates, and b’nai mitzvah (on the same bimah where their father had had his bar mitzvah and confirmation). Mickey and Ben were honored for their 70th anniversary (where Rabbi Raiskin patiently allowed Ben to speak for as long as he wanted – what felt like almost 20 minutes!). Sandy proudly read from the Haftarah every year on Yom Kippur.

And we’ve been with the PTS community to mark many sad milestones as well, including memorials for Jeff’s grandparents, parents, and several dear, dear family friends.

All of us Obersteins have formed these dear, dear friendships within this special community.  When Dan and Sandra Feder arrived on the scene (Jeff’s mother was on the committee that hired him), Jeff and I became close to them as a couple and remain so; getting together in Northern California and in DC, where their eldest daughter and her husband live a neighborhood over from us.

It's been 14 years since Jeff and I left Burlingame for New York City. Just before the pandemic, we moved again. This time to DC. We had no time to find a temple here before we were under quarantine. In September of 2020, we were invited to attend High Holy Day services at PTS via Zoom. The service was warm, meaningful, beautiful - and flawlessly orchestrated online. At a time when we all felt so isolated, it was heartwarming to look through the names in the chat and to recognize dozens of them. And later, when people were back to attending services in person, we would tune in from across the country, three hours ahead of you, and instantly feel a sense of familiarity to see “our” sanctuary, where so much of our lives had transpired, and to see some of the many people who have been such a big part of them. Despite our nomadic existence, we felt connected. Through six homes, and over 28 years, PTS has been a constant for us. And now we’re delighted to be some of the first long-distance members of the temple where so many of our memories were made.

Read more about Peninsula Temple Sholom’s new Out-of-Towner membership at sholom.org/membershiptypes.