A World of Possibility | Sara Albert Brings a Lifelong Love of Temple to the Presidency

Temple Emanu-El has been part of Sara Albert’s life since the day she was born, when Rabbi Gerald Klein visited the baby daughter of Cynthia and Lester Melnick in the hospital.

Sara fondly shares the family legend: “My mom had no idea who he was, this tall man with bushy eyebrows. That visit cemented my connection to Temple on Day One.”

Her Temple heart only grew stronger over the years. She became an adult member with her husband, Mark, when they got married; named children Claire and Josef at Temple and experienced all their life-cycle events; and entered Temple volunteer life when she pulled back from a full-time legal career.

On June 1, Sara is scheduled to become Temple’s 72nd president. “I see what I’m about to embark on not as a job, but as a bit of a calling. It’s such an incredible privilege to be asked to be able to give to this community.”

What was it like growing up at Temple?
I had what I would call a less-than-kosher Jewish upbringing. My mother was not Jewish, and my father played golf on Sundays, so my mother took care of my religious education. I didn’t have a lot of foundational knowledge, but I did have a strong cultural connection. When my daughter was a toddler, we went to the Mini School on Saturday mornings and that’s really where I started my Jewish learning.

In a sense, you’ve had a lifetime of training to become Temple president. Tell us about your involvement in leadership.
I was eager to get involved and I had a passion for social justice. At the time, there weren’t many portals to getting involved, and there weren’t too many openings for social justice work. My rst big opportunity was that someone asked Cathy Gilberg and me to start the parents’ association for the religious school. From there, Suzi Greenman asked Maddy Unterberg and me to start a volunteer committee. We did a big volunteer fair. Everything snowballed from those couple of opportunities I was thrilled to have.

People just like to be asked!
It felt so good to be tapped. I try to be sensitive to how important it is to be asked, even for people who have been around Temple a long time. When I had that rst opportunity at Temple, it felt like my home. It was the perfect step for me when I was raising my kids. Temple has been such an important partner in my kids’ lives. The kind of values I knew they were getting here supported the values we wanted.

You also helped establish Temple’s community garden in 2012, and, more recently, cochaired the bylaws task force. The congregation unanimously approved the new bylaws and new governance structure. Congrats!
I was learning the entire time we were going through the bylaws process. People who did not necessarily start from a place of consensus — through conversation, relationships and analysis — came to a consensus that everyone supported. There was an amazing weaving of many different perspectives and history, professional expertise and the desire to do the best thing for Temple.

Outside of Temple, you’ve had a rich and varied professional life, ranging from corporate law to agricultural and food law — and a 10-year stint living in Spain right after college. How have those experiences informed your leadership style?
Throughout my career, I’ve been able to connect with really diverse constituencies of people. Trying to figure out what it was like to work and live in a foreign country has given me enormous empathy for immigrants in our community.
I’ve also seen a lot of change for women; I’ve learned about having to squelch and then understand when it was time to stretch. Through the dual identities of being in a professional setting and navigating the world as a mom, I learned how to manage multiple priorities and always keep my values front and center.

We’re excited that Mark Kleinman has been nominated to be your successor.
Mark has qualities that will make him a great partner: he is very thoughtful and of the highest integrity. He has a deep understanding and connection to Temple’s history and an overall vision for the future — qualities that he’ll be able to bring to lead Temple.

What’s on your to-do list?
First, we need to solidify the governance transition. We have a brand new Leadership Council with a lot of vision and plans for what we want to do. Putting esh on those bones will be a really important focus this rst year in particular. Also, we’ll be learning to govern with our board now that matches the structure set in the bylaws. It’s kind of like walking off a cliff. We’re about to find out what all this will feel like.

Originally published in the May/June 2025 edition of The Window.