Riverdale Temple

Last updated

Riverdale Temple
Religion
Affiliation Reform Judaism
Ecclesiastical or organisational status Synagogue
Leadership
  • Rabbi Thomas Gardner
  • Rabbi Judith S. Lewis (Emerita)
  • Rabbi Stephen D. Franklin (Emeritus)
StatusActive
Location
Location4545 Independence Avenue, Riverdale, the Bronx, New York City, New York 10471
CountryUnited States
New York City - Bronx.PNG
Red pog.svg
Location in the Bronx, New York City
Geographic coordinates 40°53′31″N73°54′47″W / 40.89194°N 73.91306°W / 40.89194; -73.91306
Architecture
TypeSynagogue
Date established1947 (as a congregation)
Website
riverdaletemple.org

The Riverdale Temple is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 4545 Independence Avenue, in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City, New York, United States. [1] The congregation was founded in 1947. [2]

Contents

In 2009, the rabbi was Judith S. Lewis. [1] In July 2015, Rabbi Lewis retired and was succeeded by Rabbi Thomas Gardner.

Terrorism plot

In 2009, a group of four American Muslims planned to blow up the temple. [3] After a six-week trial, the four were convicted on conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles. In 2011, the men were sentenced in the District Court to 25 years in prison each. On appeal to the Federal Court, their sentences were upheld. In July 2023, a judge ordered compassionate release for three of the four men, with time served, being eleven years. The judge declared their 25-year sentences ‘unduly harsh and unjust’. [4] [5]

On May 30, 2009, New York Governor David Paterson announced he would give the Riverdale Jewish Center and the Riverdale Temple $25,000 each to improve their security. The money came from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and primarily involved the installation of alarms and surveillance equipment. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salanter Akiba Riverdale Academy</span> School in New York City , New York, United States

Salanter Akiba Riverdale Academy, better known by the acronym, SAR Academy, is a coeducational, private Modern Orthodox Jewish day school. The school is located in the Riverdale section of the New York City borough of the Bronx.

The Hebrew Benevolent Congregation Temple bombing occurred on October 12, 1958, in Atlanta, Georgia. The Hebrew Benevolent Congregation Temple, on Peachtree Street, housed a Reform Jewish congregation. The building was damaged extensively by the dynamite-fueled explosion, although no one was injured. Five suspects were arrested almost immediately after the bombing. One of them, George Bright, was tried twice. His first trial ended with a hung jury and his second with an acquittal. As a result of Bright's acquittal, the other suspects were not tried, and no one was ever convicted of the bombing.

The Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, commonly called The Bayit, is an Open Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue at 3700 Henry Hudson Parkway in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City, New York, United States.

The Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale (CSAIR) is a Conservative, egalitarian congregation and synagogue located in Riverdale, The Bronx, in New York City, New York, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple Beth Israel (Eugene, Oregon)</span> Synagogue in Eugene, Oregon

Temple Beth Israel is a Reconstructionist synagogue located at 1175 East 29th Avenue in Eugene, Oregon, in the United States. Founded in the early 1930s as a Conservative congregation, Beth Israel was for many decades the only synagogue in Eugene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terrorism in the United States</span> Systematic or threatened use of violence to create a general climate of fear

In the United States, a common definition of terrorism is the systematic or threatened use of violence in order to create a general climate of fear to intimidate a population or government and thereby effect political, religious, or ideological change. This article serves as a list and a compilation of acts of terrorism, attempts to commit acts of terrorism, and other such items which pertain to terrorist activities which are engaged in by non-state actors or spies who are acting in the interests of state actors or persons who are acting without the approval of foreign governments within the domestic borders of the United States.

Robert Fuller is an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation who has worked in counter-terrorism. He has questioned suspected terrorists, been a handler of informants in the U.S., and testified in both federal court and Guantanamo military commission trials.

The Riverdale Jewish Center, abbreviated as RJC, is an Modern Orthodox synagogue located at 3700 Independence Avenue, in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City, New York, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 Bronx terrorism plot</span> Foiled terrorism plot

On May 20, 2009, US law enforcement arrested four men in connection with a fake plot concocted by a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) informant to shoot down military airplanes flying out of an Air National Guard base in Newburgh, New York, and blow up two synagogues in the Riverdale community of the Bronx using weapons supplied by the FBI. The group was led by Shahed Hussain, a Pakistani criminal who was working for the FBI to avoid deportation for having defrauded the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. Hussain has never been charged in the United States with any terrorism related offenses and was paid nearly US$100,000 by the FBI for his work on this plot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Masjid al-Ikhlas</span>

Masjid al-Ikhlas, also referred to as The Islamic Learning Center of Orange County, is a mosque in Newburgh, New York.

Salahuddin Mustafa Muhammad was the American imam of the Masjid al-Ikhlas mosque in Newburgh, New York. He was also the Muslim chaplain of Bard College and had been a chaplain for the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision since 1985.

Jonathan I. Rosenblatt is an American Modern Orthodox rabbi, teacher, lecturer, and counselor.

The 2005 Los Angeles bomb plot was a 2005 effort by a group of ex-convicts calling themselves Jamiyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh to bomb several military bases, a number of synagogues, and an Israeli consulate in California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congregation M'kor Shalom</span> Former Reform Jewish synagogue in New Jersey, US

Congregation M'kor Shalom was a Reform Jewish synagogue located at 850 Evesham Road, Cherry Hill, Camden County, New Jersey, in the United States.

Congregation Or Chadash was a Reform Jewish LGBT-oriented congregation that was located at 5959 North Sheridan Road, Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois, in the United States.

<i>The Newburgh Sting</i> 2014 American film

The Newburgh Sting is a 2014 documentary film about the Federal Bureau of Investigation's sting operation on four Muslim men involved in the 2009 Bronx terrorism plot. Beginning in 2008, an FBI informant, Shaheed Hussain, recorded hours of conversations with the men who were ultimately arrested and convicted of planting three non-functional bombs next to two synagogues in Riverdale, Bronx and for planning to use Stinger missiles to shoot down United States military cargo planes near Newburgh, New York. The documentary shows that the four men were coaxed into participating in the plot by an FBI informant and offered incentives including $250,000. The men's lawyers, including Sam Braverman, who is featured prominently in the film, argue that this was a case of entrapment. Also featured in the film is Michael German, a former undercover FBI agent and a current fellow in the Brennan Center for Justice's Liberty and National Security program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pittsburgh synagogue shooting</span> 2018 massacre in Pennsylvania

The Pittsburgh synagogue shooting was an antisemitic terrorist attack that took place at the Tree of Life – Or L'Simcha Congregation synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The congregation, along with New Light Congregation and Congregation Dor Hadash, which also worshipped in the building, was attacked during Shabbat morning services on October 27, 2018. The perpetrator killed eleven people and wounded six, including several Holocaust survivors. It was the deadliest attack on any Jewish community in the United States.

On the morning of October 8, 2000, the eve of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish year, two Molotov cocktails were thrown, but did not ignite, at the door of the Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale (CSAIR) in the Bronx in New York City. Two Palestinian men were arrested and found guilty for the attack, and were the first suspects to be prosecuted under recently-enacted New York's Hate Crimes Act of 2000. Mazin Assi was found guilty on seven counts of weapons possession, harassment and attempted arson, along with hate crimes violations and received 15 years in prison. The getaway driver Mohammed Alfaqih was found guilty on one count of criminal mischief and sentenced to four years in prison.

References

  1. 1 2 Freedman, Samuel G. (May 30, 2009). "Two Rabbis Find They're Separated Only by Doctrine". The New York Times .
  2. Olitzky, Kerry M.; Raphael, Marc Lee (June 30, 1996). The American Synagogue: A Historical Dictionary and Sourcebook. Greenwood Press. p. 224.
  3. Hernandez, Javier C.; Chan, Sewell (May 21, 2009). "N.Y. Bomb Plot Suspects Acted Alone, Police Say". The New York Times .
  4. Larkin, Gary (August 6, 2023). "Three of the 'Newburgh Four' who plotted to blow up Riverdale temples have been released". The Riverdale Press. Retrieved December 30, 2023.
  5. Reilly, Patrick (July 28, 2023). "3 of 'Newburgh Four' convicted in 2009 New York synagogue bombing plot to be released, judge rules while blaming FBI". New York Post . New York, N.Y.
  6. "Targeted Bronx synagogues to get security funds". Jewish Telegraphic Agency . June 2, 2009. Archived from the original on May 10, 2012.