Jewish Center | |
---|---|
Religion | |
Affiliation | Modern Orthodox Judaism |
Ecclesiastical or organizational status | Synagogue |
Leadership |
|
Status | Active |
Location | |
Location | 131 West 86th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York 10024 |
Country | United States |
Location in Manhattan | |
Geographic coordinates | 40°47′14″N73°58′24″W / 40.78722°N 73.97333°W |
Architecture | |
Type | Synagogue |
Style | Neo-Classical |
Date established | 1918 (as a congregation) |
Completed | 1918 |
Website | |
jewishcenter |
The Jewish Center is a Modern Orthodox Jewish synagogue located at 131 West 86th Street, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, in New York City, New York, United States.
The synagogue was founded in 1918 by prosperous Jews moving into the Upper West Side of Manhattan, a neighborhood that was just being built along the new IRT subway line. As there was no Ashkenazi synagogue that could meet their needs, the Jews moving there decided to build a traditional Orthodox Synagogue in their neighborhood. The large synagogue is in a tall Neo-Classical building at 131 West 86th Street that contains a large number of social halls, classrooms, auditoriums and offices in addition to the Neo-Classical main sanctuary. [1] The synagogue was the first in America to be built not only to serve as spiritual home to its members, but also as a cultural, social and recreational home. The synagogue's members affectionately refer to the synagogue as "The first Shul with a Pool." [2] It continues to support a variety of educational and social programming.
The first rabbi was Mordecai Kaplan, who left in 1921 because his positions were too reform oriented and radical for the Orthodox congregation. [3] The congregation then hired Rabbi Dr. Leo Jung, who later became involved in the founding and support of almost every major Orthodox organization in the United States and abroad, including the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, Agudath Israel, Torah Umesorah, Bais Yaakov movement (in Poland and the United States) and Chabad. Following Rabbi Jung's retirement and assumption of the role of Rabbi Emeritus, Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm, later president of Yeshiva University, took over the pulpit in 1959. The fourth rabbi was Rabbi Isaac Bernstein, an Irish scholar. Rabbi Jacob J. Schacter was rabbi from 1981 to 2000, and now serves as Senior Scholar at The Center for the Jewish Future at Yeshiva University. Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, founding rabbi of The Jewish Center Young Leadership minyan, and who became the fifth president of Yeshiva University in 2017, was the sixth rabbi of the Center before making aliyah in 2008.
The current rabbi, since June 2008, is Rabbi Dr. Yosie Levine, an alumnus of Columbia University and Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He served as Rabbinic Intern, Assistant Rabbi and Associate Rabbi, before becoming rabbi when Rabbi Berman made aliyah. He is currently the co-chair of the Manhattan Eruv, and is active in numerous communal organizations including AIPAC, the Beth Din of America and UJA-Federation of New York, where he is a former Board Member. [4]
Mordecai Menahem Kaplan was an American Modern Orthodox rabbi, writer, Jewish educator, professor, theologian, philosopher, activist, and religious leader who founded the Reconstructionist movement of Judaism along with his son-in-law Ira Eisenstein. He has been described as a "towering figure" in the recent history of Judaism for his influential work in adapting it to modern society, contending that Judaism should be a unifying and creative force by stressing the cultural and historical character of the religion as well as theological doctrine.
Reconstructionist Judaism is a Jewish movement based on the concepts developed by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan (1881–1983) that views Judaism as a progressively evolving civilization rather than just a religion. The movement originated as a semi-organized stream within Conservative Judaism, developed between the late 1920s and the 1940s before seceding in 1955, and established a rabbinical college in 1967. Reconstructionist Judaism is recognized by many scholars as one of the five major streams of Judaism in America alongside Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Humanistic.
Modern Orthodox Judaism is a movement within Orthodox Judaism that attempts to synthesize Jewish values and the observance of Jewish law with the modern world.
Norman Lamm was an American Modern Orthodox rabbi, scholar, academic administrator, author, and Jewish community leader. He was the Chancellor of Yeshiva University until he announced his retirement on July 1, 2013.
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Congregation Beth Israel is a Modern Orthodox synagogue in Berkeley, California, in the United States. Established in 1924 as the Berkeley Hebrew Center, it traces its origins to the First Hebrew Congregation of Berkeley, founded in 1909. It was Berkeley's first synagogue and remains its oldest. Lay-led for four decades, it hired its first rabbi, Saul Berman, in 1963.
Congregation Beth Israel, commonly referred to as the West Side Jewish Center or, in more recent years, the Hudson Yards Synagogue, is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 347 West 34th Street, in the Garment District of Manhattan, in New York City, New York, in the United States. Established in 1890, the congregation completed its current building near Penn Station in 1925.
Jacob J. Schacter is an American Orthodox rabbi. Schacter, a historian of intellectual trends in Orthodox Judaism, is University Professor of Jewish History and Jewish Thought and Senior Scholar at the Center for the Jewish Future at Yeshiva University.
Jack Cohen was an Israeli-American Reconstructionist rabbi, educator, philosopher and author. Cohen held a PhD from Columbia University in the philosophy of education. In 1943 he was ordained as a rabbi by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS) and, soon after, started to teach courses there. Cohen was one of the distinguished students of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, and was one of the founders of Kehillat Mevakshei Derech, a synagogue in Israel. Cohen was Honorary Chairman at Kaplan Center for Jewish Peoplehood and director of the Hillel Foundation at the Hebrew University for 23 years.
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