In 1951, Temple Sinai opened a new school building and hired Cantor Nathan Chaitovsky.

It was arguably the year the synagogue went multigenerational, as kids now had a daily home, and members of all ages now had a cantor who would welcome them onto the bimah to help lead services.

Over the next 50 years, Temple Sinai continued to grow, reaching over 1,000 member families and moving out from West Oak Lane to suburban Dresher. Chaitovsky did not fuel that growth alone, but he was a big reason people felt so welcomed at the Conservative shul, according to its current rabbi, Adam Wohlberg.

“He was transformative for the synagogue in that he brought in so many of the young people to sing with him. He brought in so many people to the bimah on Shabbat mornings,” Wohlberg told Philadelphia Jewish Exponent. “They came themselves to be part of the services, and they cared so much about the synagogue because of his influence.”

Chaitovsky, originally from Lithuania, retired in 2000 but stayed in touch with his congregation.

In September 2025, he passed away at age 100. In his memory, Temple Sinai is hosting a musical tribute to him on Sunday, Jan. 4, at 11 a.m.

Rabbi Wohlberg started at Temple Sinai two years after Chaitovsky retired, but he’s the one who organized the tribute. He always knew that the older clergyman had been instrumental in building the synagogue.

Temple Sinai started in a former food market in Philadelphia’s West Oak Lane neighborhood, grew to the point where over 250 people came for High Holiday services and eventually hired its own rabbi, Sidney Greenberg. That was in the 1940s. Later in the decade, after a fundraising campaign, members broke ground on a new building.

By the time Chaitovsky arrived in 1951, he and the school became the final building block for the synagogue’s future.

“People will often tell me that Rabbi Greenberg and Cantor Chaitovsky were the impetus for people to join the synagogue,” Wohlberg said.

Greenberg and Chaitovsky served for so long that they officiated bar and bat mitzvahs, weddings and next-generation bar and bat mitzvahs within the same family.

“I think it’s immensely important to have a rabbi and cantor who developed relationships with individuals and couples and families over a long period of time,” Wohlberg said.

Chaitovsky also started youth and adult choirs during his time at Temple Sinai. His students included Hollywood screenwriter Josh Singer, who won an Oscar for the 2015 film “Spotlight.”

To plan the tribute, Wohlberg reached out to the cantor’s son, Rabbi Yaakov Chaitovsky, and to Cantor Arlyne Unger, who grew up with Chaitovsky, spent 20 years at Beth Tikvah B’nai Jeshurun in Erdenheim and now serves at Darchei Noam in Ambler.

Unger also reached out to members whom she recalled being part of the cantor’s choirs. The tribute will feature words from his son and songs from his choir alumni.

“He also had a choir of adults who would sing with him. They felt empowered to liturgical expression because he would train them and sing with them,” Wohlberg said. “Because people had that opportunity, they thought they were an important and valuable piece of the services that took place in the synagogue.”

When Wohlberg started in 2002, Chaitovsky had reached emeritus status. But the newer rabbi remembers him in the pews for services, though he always gave his successor, Cantor Stephen Freedman, the space to be himself.

The rabbi also recalls going up to Chaitovsky and talking about sports. For some reason, this surprised him.

“I found him to be both fun and funny as well as very knowledgeable, and I was surprised when I learned that he enjoyed watching sports on TV. He was sort of an old-world cantor who came from Lithuania and was very traditional in his practice,” the rabbi said, laughing. “I didn’t anticipate that that was one of his hobbies or interests.”

jsaffren@midatlanticmedia.com