Rabbi Cynthia Jane Minster graduated from Wellesley College with a BA in Peace & Justice Studies. Her career took her from a public health consultancy firm to labor union organizing, to marketing, to software development. While working in advertising, she met the creative director who made it possible for her to pursue her dreams: her husband, Chung-Mau Cheng.
Her entire life, Cynthia felt most at home and most at peace in Jewish prayer and Jewish community. Growing up, she was a choir member, B’nai Mitzvah tutor, and youth group leader. Then, institutional classism and homophobia led her away from organized religion. Finding Rabbi Mordecai Finley and his unique synergy of rational intellectual history and spiritual practice reignited Cynthia’s soul. Cynthia served as the student rabbi and as a religious school teacher at Temple Beth David (TBD) of Temple City as well as the student chaplain at Methodist Hospital of Southern California. Cynthia also attended Davvenen’ Leadership Training Institute (DLTI), was a Shalom Hartman Institute iEngage Student Clergy Fellow, and a CLAL Leading Through Innovation participant.
Rabbi Minster continues to share Jewish spirituality, focusing on inner wellbeing, healthy interpersonal relationships and reaching towards God.
Email: cminster@gmail.com