Clergy & Staff
Rabbi David Edleson, D.Div.
Rabbi David Edleson sees Judaism as a vibrant, flourishing way of life that balances individuality with connection, community, cultural roots, and spiritual tradition. David works to balance emerging forms of Jewish expression with the riches of traditional Jewish worship to create both ancient and new services, like the Jewish people.
David grew up in rural Georgia and always felt drawn to Jewish traditions. In high school, he began studying Judaism more seriously, falling in love with the smart judicious reasoning of the rabbis as well as the audacity of the Jewish reformists and organizers. After college, he and his partner Tim spent two years in Jerusalem, where David taught Jewish student leaders from around the world at the Kiryat Moriah Education Center near Jerusalem.
While in Jerusalem, he began his rabbinic studies at the Hebrew Union College, from which he received his ordination in New York in 1990. During his years in rabbinical school, he was a founding member of TaMaR, the Reform Zionist Youth Movement, and of Hinenu, the gay rabbinical student organization that was pivotal in the successful fight for the ordination of LGBT clergy in the Reform movement.
David served 25 years as the rabbi for the Hebrew Association of the Deaf in New York and also teaches religion, ethics, and literature on the college level, and served as the first Dean of Cook Commons at Middlebury College. He received his honorary Doctor of Divinity from Hebrew Union College in 2015 and worked as the spiritual leader at the Bethlehem Hebrew Congregation in New Hampshire from 2016 until joining Temple Sinai in 2018.
Cantor Ada Luisa Sinacore
“Sing to G-D a new song, sing to G-D, all the earth.” -Psalm 96:1
From Exodus to Psalms to Isaiah, Jewish texts teach the importance of Jewish music-making, particularly communal singing. Cantor Ada Luisa Sinacore feels blessed to be part of this chain of tradition, of leading Jewish music with joy and compassion, timbrel and guitar in hand. She views music-making as a means of fostering communal connection through education, diversity, and a rootedness in Jewish tradition and practice.
A Montreal native and McGill University graduate, Cantor Sinacore spent the bulk of her professional career working in educational settings, including Hillel Montreal, prior to beginning her seminary training. While studying at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, she has had the pleasure of teaching (in both French and English) across North America, including Central Synagogue and Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom. She was blessed to be ordained by the college as a rabbi in 2024 and a cantor in 2026.
A consummate advocate for (re)creating Jewish ritual, Cantor Sinacore has worked with preeminent Jewish scholars on the subject, such as Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD, and Rabbi Vanessa L. Ochs, PhD, on understanding the function of ritual in contemporary Reform space. For her rabbinic thesis, Cantor Sinacore built, with the participation of Jewish communities across the United States, a memorial Tallit for Covid-19. Collaborating with contemporary liturgists and composers, she premiered 10 newly commissioned Jewish rituals/musical compositions in her cantorial senior recital. You may view the program here, and a recording of the recital here.
In recognition of her innovative community work and outstanding scholarship, Cantor Sinacore has been the recipient of the Reuben Peretz Abelson Prize, JCF Community Leadership Award, the Atara Merit Scholarship, the Elissa Froman Social Change Fellowship, the URJ Graduate Fellowship, and the Tisch Fellowship. She was also featured in a CBC documentary about women and religious music entitled Daughters of the Voice.
Cantor Sinacore is so honored and pleased to be joining the Temple Sinai community as their cantor in 2026.
Stacie Gabert | Executive Director
A member of Temple Sinai since 2009, and with two kids in our Religious School, Stacie knows the community well, shares our mission, and is a knowledgeable, welcoming presence in the office. Stacie grew up in Merrimack, NH and moved to this area in 1994. She has a business degree from Champlain College and nearly 20 years of experience in business administration and operations, bookkeeping and accounting, customer service and vendor relations, and event planning. Her other areas of expertise include human resource operations, committee and board support, and marketing. Stacie is a Senior Member of the National Association for Temple Administrators (NATA)and has a Certificate in Jewish Leadership. Stacie is on the NATA Board and is currently pursuing her Executive Master’s in Jewish Professional Studies at Spertus Institute. She lives in Milton with her two boys.
Cantorial Soloists
Aimee Loiter, Ed.M. | Education Director
A lifelong educator, Aimee began her career teaching second grade in New Orleans, Louisiana. She has served students from primary grades through graduate school as a teacher and administrator in both traditional and non-traditional education settings. Aimee holds undergraduate degrees in History, Psychology, and Women’s Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Master’s degree in Education from Harvard University. Aimee and her husband Jeff have been members of Temple Sinai since moving to Vermont in 2006. The Loiter children, Zach and Talia, completed their religious school education and celebrated their b’nei mitzvot at Temple Sinai. Fun fact: During COVID, Aimee rekindled her love of woodworking, constructing outdoor furniture and building custom storage units for her home. She is happy to report that all 10 of her fingers are present and accounted for after her most recent projects.
Jean Elizabeth| Executive Assistant
Jean Elizabeth has been a research lab technician and manager, national park ranger, project manager, social worker, and executive assistant to several non-profit organizations. She has lived in Winooski since 2011, sharing her home with her partner, Richard Backer, and pup, Maebelle (aka Mayhem), enjoying perennial favorites of hiking, canoeing, and camping, and is a well-known swing and country 2-step social dancer and instructor. Jean Elizabeth is an astute observer and takes care of the details, jumps in whenever and wherever needed, and finds deep satisfaction in assisting others and the pursuit of Tikkun Olam.
Jean Elizabeth (yes, both names) is a native Floridian who worked her way up the East Coast through college and professional roles to find a better climate in which to live, and Vermont suits her well. Her favorite part of Judaism is exploring its history, traditions, and evolving interpretations and diverse perspectives through Torah study. She has attended Rodeph Shalom in Philadelphia, PA; Congregation Mishkan Israel in Hamden, CT; and Congregation Shir Shalom in Woodstock, VT, where she taught in their Hebrew School and served on their boards. Her undergraduate studies were in Biology and Philosophy at Eastern University, and in graduate-level Environmental Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, earning an M.A. in Religion from Yale University, concentrating in Environmental Ethics.
Wendy Valastro | Keyboard Accompanist
Wendy has been a member of Temple Sinai since first coming to Vermont in 1982. She has directed the choir, played keyboard for services, served on the board, and been a Temple Sinai educator, teaching music and dance to the children in religious school. Currently, an elementary school music teacher, Wendy’s 38 years of teaching encompass music education and kindergarten through third grade.
In addition to her public school teaching, Wendy has been music director and cast member in shows for Lyric Theatre and Stowe Theatre Guild as well as the founder and director of a summer musical theatre camp for children called Kidshow, now in its 35th year. A graduate of the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and the University of Michigan, she and her husband James are the parents of two delightful daughters, two cats, a dog, and a fish.
Aimee Hutton | Young Families Program Coordinator
Aimee joined Temple Sinai in 2012 when she and her family moved to Vermont from the DC area. The following year, she started and led a Tot Shabbat program at Temple Sinai. Since then, Aimee has taught in the religious school, sang in the choir, filled in as a cantorial soloist, participated in the Purim spiel: Have Yourself a Merry Little Purim, and served on the strategic planning committee. A decade after starting the Tot Shabbat program, Aimee is delighted to be leading the expanded Young Families Program to encourage the youngest members and their families to explore our vibrant Jewish community at Temple Sinai!
Aimee holds a Bachelor’s degree from Grinnell College, where she majored in Russian Language with a minor in Linguistics. She spent a semester studying in Saint Petersburg and a year after graduation working in Moscow. She met her husband and had her first daughter in the DC area but loves being a Vermonter now! Aimee and her husband, Adam, have two daughters, Becca and Cordelia as well as a dog, Pepper.
Pastoral Care
If you ever feel you need to talk to the rabbi for spiritual counseling or advice, please contact the Clergy (put confidential in the subject header) or the Executive Assistant or call 802.862.5125.