Open hands can break our fall—Help others fight another day, so we can rise and say: “
*Chazak, chazak, v’nitchazeik!”*

-excerpt from “What is Strong?” from my album *Ashira L’Adonai*

Hey there, I’m Noah Diamondstein, Jewish Musician and Rabbi currently serving Temple Sinai in Washington, D.C.

Welcome! I’m so glad you got here, however it is you did. I’m Rabbi Noah Diamondstein, and I believe in the power of Jewish community and traditions, especially music and ritual, to change a person’s life. I believe this because I have lived it—my life has been shaped by the power of intentional community, and I aspire to bring that same life changing Judaism to all who I encounter in my rabbinate.

I joined the Temple Sinai, Washington D.C. clergy team in the summer of 2020. I’ve had wide ranging experiences as a Jewish teacher and leader—from handling primary source documents from influential early 20th Century rabbis in the archives of Rodef Shalom Congregation in Pittsburgh, to teaching the leadership of Jerusalem’s Women of the Wall movement to blow shofar, to serving as a rabbinic intern at a Jewish Social Justice non-profit organization, now to serving as a rabbi for one of the largest congregations in Washington D.C.

My rabbinic thesis is entitled “A Tale of Two Liturgies: Placing Liturgical Development in the Reform and Conservative Movements in Conversation,” and focused on the differences and similarities between the ways these two Liberal Jewish movements approach the work of creating new prayer books. This project was meaningful for me, given that I was raised simultaneously in both the Conservative and Reform Movements.

I am also a published Jewish musician. My first album, entitled “Ashira L’Adonai,” was released in January of 2019. My second project is a larger collection entitled My Whole Heart. It is comprised of 17 songs in four “chambers,” and came out over the last half of 5783 (2022).

I have been featured as an Emerging Artist on Jewish Rock Radio, been a guest service leader or artist-in-residence in Jewish communities across the country, all while I have continued to hone my leadership skills and style at my incredible home-base congregation. My musical work has helped me to fine-tune my skills as a service leader, and has taught me the power of leaving your ego at the door for the sake of holding space for the group.

I am a multi-instrumentalist who plays almost every instrument on my records, from guitar, to bass, to drums, to mandolin, to trumpet to vocals and more! My music crosses genres from folk to jazz to pop to rock, and my textual influences span liturgy, TaNaKh, and rabbinic texts. I strive to use music to bring people together, lift us out of our normal routines and into the realm of the spiritual, and to open our hearts and minds as we try to reach out for that which is beyond ourselves.

Explore my website to see and hear my work, thought and music. Again, I’m so glad you’re here!