The synagogue is located adjacent to the Worcester Jewish Community Center, where Temple Sinai acquired property for its permanent home in 1962.

[4] In February 2014, Rabbi Valerie Cohen, spiritual leader since 2003 at Jackson, Mississippi's Beth Israel Congregation accepted an offer to replace Berger at the end of his contract in June 2014.

[5] A near-unanimous vote in favor of ratifying Rabbi Cohen's contract was held during a special congregational meeting at the May Street campus on March 9, 2014.

The congregation's third home, its largest, was completed and consecrated at 280 May Street in 1949, though it was significantly expanded in 1961 to accommodate a burgeoning religious school enrollment of nearly 1,000 students.

At a congregational meeting on May 30, 2013, the sale of the building at 280 May Street to the Worcester State University Foundation was approved by Temple Emanuel membership.

In 1921, they began holding services (in a Modern Orthodox style) above Easton's tea room at Harrington Corner in downtown Worcester.

[15][16] The congregation gradually adopted Reform practices and affiliated officially with the national movement, under the leadership of Rabbi Levi Olan, in 1937.

[7] In his retirement, Klein went on to serve (part-time) as the first Rabbi of Temple Beth-El in Las Cruces, New Mexico until 1984 when he and his wife Rose returned to Worcester.

[21] Also of note, Klein was the great-grandfather of Hollywood actress Alisan Porter (Curly Sue) who won season 10 of NBC's The Voice.

"[26][27] Temple Emanuel was the site, on August 25, 1967, of the funeral for Dr. Gregory C. Pincus, an American biologist and researcher who co-invented the birth-control pill.

[10] On April 19, 1989, the funeral for Abbie Hoffman, the famous 1960's radical, founder of the Yippies and member of the Chicago Seven who had died at the age of 52 one week earlier, was held in Temple Emanuel's Persky sanctuary.

In attendance were basketball star Bill Walton, folk singer Pete Seeger, movie producer Bert Schneider,[29] fellow Yippie Aron Kay, Republican political consultant Jay Severin,[30] Hoffman's cousin and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Sydney Schanberg, and Jerry Rubin, fellow Chicago Seven member.

Watson, executive director of the Henry Lee Willis Community Center in Worcester, is believed to be the first black person to serve as president of a synagogue in the United States.

[33][34] Longmeadow native Rabbi Matthew L. Berger served as Temple Emanuel's ninth and last spiritual leader from July 2009 through June 2013.

The first 6 rows of pews were removed to make room for an extended, lower bimah (speaker's platform) that was intended to create a more intimate atmosphere and enable the congregation to use the space more frequently.

[citation needed] Temple Emanuel was unique among American Reform synagogues in that for most of its history, it offered its members and the Worcester Jewish community the opportunity to attend a worship service seven days per week.

In 1962, Sinai moved to a 42-acre estate the congregation had purchased at 661 Salisbury Street, holding services and religious school in a large mansion.

For example, Sinai members shed traditional religious garments like Kippot (skullcaps) and Tallitot (prayer shawls), though those customs returned over the years.