| Nessah Synagogue | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Judaism |
| Location | |
| Location | 142 South Rexford Drive, Beverly Hills, California [1] |
| Geographic coordinates | 34°03′56″N118°23′38″W / 34.06568°N 118.39375°W |
| Architecture | |
| Style | Greek Revival |
| Founder | Rabbi David Shofet |
| Completed | 2002 |
| Website | |
| Website | |
The Nessah Synagogue is a Sephardic synagogue in Beverly Hills, California.
The synagogue was established in 1980 for the immigration of Persian Jews to Los Angeles County, shortly after the Iranian Revolution of 1979. [2] [3] It was founded by Rabbi David Shofet. [2] His father, Yedidia Shofet (1908-2005), had served as the Chief Rabbi of Iran from 1922 to 1980. [2]
Persian Jews from the congregation initially worshipped at Beth Jacob Congregation, a long-established Orthodox synagogue in Beverly Hills. [2] [3] Later, they met at the Saban Theatre, also in Beverly Hills. [3] Later, they moved into a building in Santa Monica, California. [3] The congregation moved into its current building (the former home of the First Church of Christ, Scientist [4] that now resides across the street) in 2002. [2] The building's remodeling was supervised by architect Hamid Gabbay. [5] It includes "Simcha Hall", a ballroom used for weddings, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Brit milah, fundraising events, etc. [6]
It acts as a large religious, educational and cultural center, where Hebrew and Iranian Jewish history is taught. [2] It organizes three weekly Torah classes, daily prayer services, lectures, and three Shabbat services. [2] A 2011 profile of Nessah Synagogue in Tablet Magazine found that the congregation serves an important function as a "community center" for the Persian Jews of Los Angeles and as a bridge between traditions rooted in Iran and the mainstream American lifestyle most of them now lead, and also noted that many members maintain affiliation both with Nessah and with another congregation with a more mixed membership, such as Sinai Temple or Stephen S. Wise Temple. [7]
Inside the synagogue, the Torah ark is a replica of the one in the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam. [8]
In the early mornings hours of Saturday, December 14, 2019, an individual broke in and vandalized the synagogue, damaging a number of Torah scrolls, but the Torah scrolls for ritual use had been locked up and were not damaged. [9] [10]
Simchat Torah, also spelled Simhat Torah, is a Jewish holiday that celebrates and marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle. Simchat Torah is a component of the Biblical Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret, which follows immediately after the festival of Sukkot in the month of Tishrei.
Torah reading is a Jewish religious tradition that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the scroll from the Torah ark, chanting the appropriate excerpt with special cantillation (trope), and returning the scroll(s) to the ark. It is also commonly called "laining".
Bahar Soomekh is an American former actress. She is best known for her roles in Crash and the Saw franchise.
Beit Ha'Chidush, abbreviated as BHC is a Progressive Jewish congregation, located in Amsterdam, in the North Holland region of The Netherlands. The congregation was founded in 1995 by predominately expatriate Jews with secular and religious backgrounds who wanted to create a welcoming, inspiring and renewed Jewish congregation.
The Portuguese Synagogue, also known as the Esnoga, or Snoge, is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at Mr. Visserplein 3 in Central Amsterdam, Amsterdam, in the North Holland region of The Netherlands. The synagogue was completed in 1675. Esnoga is the word for synagogue in Judaeo-Spanish, the traditional Judaeo-Spanish language of Sephardi Jews.
Yedidia Shofet was the former Chief Rabbi of Iran and the worldwide spiritual leader of Persian Jewry.
House of Ten Commandments, also called Bahrain Synagogue, is a synagogue located on Sasa'ah Avenue, in commercial district in Manama, Bahrain. House of the Ten Commandments is the oldest continuously operating synagogue in the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Yusef Hamadani Cohen was the Chief Rabbi of Iran and spiritual leader for the Jewish community of Iran between January 1994 and 2007.
30 Years After was founded in 2007 as a nonprofit, non-partisan organization for the Iranian-American Jewish community. The missions of the organization are education and political and community involvement.
The Sinai Temple is a Conservative synagogue located at 10400 Wilshire Boulevard, Westwood, Los Angeles, California, in the United States. The Sinai Temple congregation is the oldest and largest Conservative congregation in the greater Los Angeles area.
Shaarey Tphiloh is a Modern Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue located at 400 Deering Avenue, in Portland, Maine, in the United States. The congregation claims it is the oldest continuously operating synagogue in Portland. The name of the synagogue literally means "Gates of Prayer" in Hebrew.
Temple Kol Ami is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue located in Fort Mill, York County, South Carolina, in the United States. The congregation was founded in 2010, and is one of two Jewish congregations in York County, and one of eleven synagogues in the Charlotte metropolitan area.
Hakafot ; Hakafah —meaning "[to] circle" or "going around" in Hebrew—are a Jewish minhag (tradition) in which people walk or dance around a specific object, generally in a religious setting.
Jews in Los Angeles comprise approximately 17.5 percent of the city's population, and 7% of the county's population, making the Jewish community the largest in the world outside of New York City and Israel. As of 2015, over 700,000 Jews live in the County of Los Angeles, and 1.232 million Jews live in California overall. Jews have immigrated to Los Angeles since it was part of the Mexican state of Alta California, but most notably beginning at the end of the 19th century to the present day. The Jewish population rose from about 2,500 in 1900 to at least 700,000 in 2015. The large Jewish population has led to a significant impact on the culture of Los Angeles. The Jewish population of Los Angeles has seen a sharp increase in the past several decades, owing to internal migration of Jews from the East Coast, as well as immigration from Israel, France, the former Soviet Union, the UK, South Africa, and Latin America, and also due to the high birth rate of the Hasidic and Orthodox communities who comprise about 10% of the community's population.
Hamid Gabbay is an Iranian-born American architect. He was a professor at the University of Tehran and a prolific architect in Iran prior to the Iranian Revolution. Since he emigrated to the United States in 1978, he has designed many buildings and private residences in Beverly Hills, California.
David Shofet is an Iranian American rabbi. He is the founder and chief rabbi of the Nessah Synagogue in Beverly Hills, California.
Ezri Namvar is an Iranian-born Jewish American businessman, philanthropist and convicted criminal. He was the founder and chairman of Namco Capital Group, an asset management firm based in Los Angeles, California. In the wake of the financial crisis of 2007–08, he was sued by his investors, forced to declare bankruptcy, leading to "$1 billion in claims" from investors. He was jailed for seven years in 2011.
Jack Simcha Cohen (1936–2014) was an "18th consecutive communal rabbi in his family" and "the face of Orthodox Judaism" to a TV program "viewed by millions each week." He held positions in New York, New Jersey, California and Australia, with his "final position in the rabbinate" in Florida.
Timeline of attacks against synagogues in Israel documents anti-Semitic attacks and vandalism against synagogue buildings and property in Israel. Vandalism of synagogues is not uncommon in Israel.
The Ark Synagogue is a Liberal Judaism Synagogue situated in Northwood, in a northwest London suburb, in the London Borough of Hillingdon, in the United Kingdom. Since its foundation in 1964 it has become the largest Liberal Jewish Synagogue outside of central London with over 1100 adult and 300 younger members. Previously known as Northwood and Pinner Liberal Synagogue (NPLS), in December 2020 they adopted the name "The Ark Synagogue".