Temple Israel is led by a devoted team of clergy, staff, and lay leaders committed to fostering a welcoming, inclusive, and spiritually enriching community.
Our Leadership
Rabbi Michael Howald
Rabbi Michael Howald has been the rabbi at Temple Israel since 2010. He received a master’s degree in Hebrew Letters and was ordained as a rabbi by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York in 2006.
He holds a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School. Before entering Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religions in 2001, he practiced law for 19 years in Los Angeles, California, rising from associate to partner at the firm he joined with right out of law school. When his small law firm merged into a much larger law firm in 2000, he reassessed his goals in life and decided, with the encouragement of his rabbi in California, that he wanted to pursue more spiritual pursuits.
Although he loved many aspects of practicing law, he felt he could contribute more to the world as a Rabbi than as an attorney. Before coming to Temple Israel, Rabbi Howald was the spiritual leader of Temple Beth El in Salinas, California. Salinas is the county seat of Monterey County, the home to Carmel, Big Sur and the only town in the United States ever sacked by pirates! When it comes to the Jewish world, however, nothing can compare to New York City, and when it comes to involvement in congregational life, nothing quite compares to the members of Temple Israel.
Among some of Rabbi Howald’s duties at Temple Israel are teaching, developing adult ed programs, directing the children’s religious school program, spiritual counseling, working with our youth, conversions, consecrations, weddings, and leading worship services.
Rabbi Howald has been married for over 40 wonderful and eventful years to Robin Bronzaft Howald. They have two grown sons, a wonderful daughter in law and a beautiful granddaughter. They love them all very much!
Cantor Suzanne Bernstein
Contor Suzanne Bernstein has served as the cantor of Temple Israel Reform Congregation of Staten Island from 1990 to 2006, and again from 2022 to the present. Ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1986, Cantor Bernstein has been teaching bnei mitzvah students at Temple Shaaray Tefilah on the upper east side of NYC since 2006. She has also been on the clergy team of congregations in Brooklyn, New Jersey and Long Island. When she is upstate at her home in Catskill, NY, she sometimes participates in services at Temple Israel of Catskill.
Her folksy, participatory style reflects the influence of her personal musical role models, Pete Seeger and Debbie Friedman. She was the subject of Harvey Wang’s delightful short documentary, “The Cantor’s Last Cantata.” https://filmfreeway.com/TheCantorsLastCantata
Cantor Bernstein has two adult daughters, Chaya and Miryam. She and Miryam have been doing Chanukah programs at Mohonk Mountain House for the past six years. Together, they have developed a show, “Women of Chelm,” which they performed recently in Greenwich Village, and which they hope to tour.
