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Kesher Israel (Washington, D.C.)

May 08, 2024

Not to be confused with Kesher Israel Congregation (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania).

Kesher Israel (Hebrew: קשר ישראל, lit. 'Kinship of Israel'), also known as the Georgetown Synagogue,[2] is a Modern Orthodox synagogue located in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The congregation was founded in 1911 and its worshipers have included prominent politicians, diplomats, jurists, journalists, and authors.

Kesher Israel
Hebrew: קשר ישראל
Kesher Israel in 2022
Religion
AffiliationModern Orthodox Judaism
Ecclesiastical or organizational statusSynagogue
StatusActive
Location
Location2801 N Street, Georgetown Historic District, NW Washington, D.C.
CountryUnited States
Location in Washington, D.C.
Geographic coordinates38°54′25″N 77°3′25″W / 38.90694°N 77.05694°W / 38.90694; -77.05694
Architecture
Architect(s)Julius Wenig
TypeSynagogue
StyleSpanish Colonial Revival
Date established1911 (as a congregation)
Completed1931
Website
kesher.org
Kesher Israel
Part ofGeorgetown Historic District (ID67000025)
Significant dates
Designated NHLDCPMay 28, 1967
Designated DCIHSNovember 8, 1964
[1]

History edit

In 1910, six local Jewish merchants organized the Georgetown Hebrew Benevolent Society, which began to conduct religious services above a storefront on M Street, NW.[2] A year later, this kernel, now numbering 50 families, founded Kesher Israel Congregation,[3] which thus became the seventh synagogue organized in the nation's capital.[4]: 13  In 1915, the congregation acquired, renovated, and began to meet in a premises at 2801 N Street, NW. The current synagogue building, which was constructed in 1931 on that site[3][5] with a construction budget of $28,000,[6] is a contributing property to the Georgetown Historic District, a National Historic Landmark, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[5]

The synagogue also administers two congregational cemeteries, one in Anacostia[7] and the other in Capitol Heights, Maryland.[8]

 
Kesher Israel's first building, in use between 1915 and 1931

Kesher Israel is the last of the city's original pre-war Orthodox synagogues located in walking distance of downtown Washington. Beginning in the 1950s, as the local Jewish community grew exponentially, all the others relocated uptown or to suburban Montgomery County, Maryland.[9] This demographic trend, coupled with the passing of the founding generation, reduced Kesher Israel's membership in the 1960s to the point where it was difficult to ensure a daily minyan. The synagogue, however, experienced a renaissance beginning in the late 1970s,[10] spurred by young urban professionals who were moving to Georgetown and nearby neighborhoods, including the West End, Foggy Bottom, Dupont Circle, Burleith, and even those further afield like Adams-Morgan, Kalorama and Rosslyn, across Key Bridge in Arlington County, Virginia.[11] As of 2016, its membership was approximately 250 families and singles.[12] Kesher Israel also attracts many students enrolled at nearby Georgetown University and George Washington University.[13]

Following the signing of the Camp David Accords in September 1978, members of the Israeli delegation to the subsequent Blair House negotiations, including Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan and Defense Minister Ezer Weizman, attended Kol Nidre services at the synagogue.[14]

Kesher Israel attracted national media attention during the 2000 U.S. presidential election when a member, Senator Joseph Lieberman, was selected as the Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States.[15][16] When the Senate scheduled important votes on Shabbat, Lieberman walked nearly 3 miles (5 km) from the synagogue to the United States Capitol, a trek he made over 25 times during his Senate career.[17]

Author Herman Wouk, who joined Kesher Israel upon relocating to Washington when he began to research his novels of World War II, called it "the best little shul in America"[18] and "a haven of true Yiddishkeit at the center of the finest neighborhood in Washington."[19] It was due to his long association with the community that Kesher Israel was commonly known in Washington as "Herman Wouk's synagogue."[20] Wouk recalled Kesher Israel one last time in his final book and memoir, Sailor and Fiddler: Reflections of a 100-Year-Old Author (2015), stating that “The little old synagogue at one end of N Street was our kind of shul.”[21]

Rabbinic leadership edit

Early years edit

 
Rabbi Jacob Aizer Dubrow (left) and Rabbi George Silverstone (center), photographed together with Rabbi Joshua Klaven (right) of Talmud Torah Congregation in Southwest Washington, ca. 1935

After it was founded, the Georgetown Hebrew Benevolent Association hired Elias Stolar as "minister and Hebrew teacher" and "recognized religious leader." Born in Russia in about 1881, he was referred to as "reverend," a widely used title at the time for synagogue functionaries who were not ordained rabbis.[22]

The synagogue's first spiritual leader was the Polish-born, British-trained Rabbi George (Gedaliah) Silverstone, who concurrently served Ohev Sholom Congregation (then located at 5th and I Streets, NW).[2] He remained with both congregations until he announced his intention to make aliyah to the Land of Israel in 1923.[9] While he made several return trips back to Washington after that, Rabbi Silverstone died in Jerusalem in 1944 and was buried on the Mount of Olives.

Rabbi Silverstone was a vice president of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis, a director of the Hebrew Sanitarium of Denver and the Hebrew Home for the Aged of Washington and a member of B'nai B'rith. He also founded the first Talmud Torah in Washington and many of his sermons refer to the poor state of Jewish education. An active Zionist, he attended the Sixth Zionist Congress in 1903 as a delegate from Belfast before he emigrated to the United States.

From 1925 to 1949 edit

The first rabbi named to lead Kesher Israel on an exclusive basis was Rabbi Jacob Aizer Dubrow, a Chabad hassid, who was appointed in 1925 and remained with the synagogue until his death in 1944 at the age of 64. Born in Žlobin in what is today Belarus, he was one of the original students of the fifth Lubavitcher rebbe, Sholom Dovber Schneersohn, at the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva in Lyubavichi, where he studied for seven years.[23] After receiving semikhah, Rabbi Dubrow became the melamed of the son of the Skverer rebbe before becoming a rosh yeshiva in a town near Kiev. He then served as a rabbi and posek in a number of Ukrainian shtetlekh before leaving for Baltimore in 1924.

Rabbi Dubrow's main focus was education. He instituted daily Talmud classes, both at the synagogue and at the Hebrew Home for the Aged, and an afternoon Talmud Torah for the synagogue's children, hiring Rabbi Oscar Summer as their teacher. He was also one of four Washington rabbis who initiated the establishment of the city's first Jewish day school, the Hebrew Academy of Greater Washington (now known as the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy). Rabbi Dubrow also organized a congregational hevra kadishah. He is remembered in Chabad for being instrumental in facilitating the wartime evacuation of the sixth Lubavitcher rebbe, Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, from German-occupied Warsaw in 1940 by interceding, together with several rabbinic colleagues, with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and a number of senators.[24]

Rabbi Dubrow's first wife died after their arrival in the United States. He was survived by his second wife, five daughters and his only son, who had remained in the Soviet Union and would fall in battle as a soldier in the Red Army near the close of the war. Another married daughter had predeceased him. During his funeral at Kesher Israel parts of Pennsylvania Avenue, two blocks away, had to be closed off in order to accommodate the crowds that came to pay their last respects. Rabbi Dubrow bequeathed in his will that his personal library of religious books was to be auctioned off after his death and the money raised be donated to help support the poor of Jerusalem. Mention of this final act of charity was etched into his gravestone. He was buried in Kesher Israel's Capitol Heights cemetery.[24]

Rabbi Dubrow was succeeded by Rabbi I. Meckler (1945–1946) and Rabbi Sidney Shulman (1946–1949).[9]

From 1950 to 1988 edit

Rabbi Philip L. Rabinowitz was appointed rabbi of Kesher Israel in 1950.[9] Born Jeruchom Fiszel Arje Rabinowicz in Łomża, Poland in 1920, he and his twin sister were the youngest of 13 children. With World War II on the horizon, he left home at the age of 18 to study at an American yeshiva, the Hebrew Theological College in Chicago, Illinois, where he would receive semikhah. His immigration to the United States was sponsored by his eldest brother, who had arrived in Chicago two years before he was born. Another brother emigrated to the Land of Israel in 1933 but his other relatives, including his parents, Rabbi Asher and Miriam Rabinowicz, were murdered in the Holocaust.

At Kesher Israel Rabbi Rabinowitz focused on three objectives: to study and teach Torah, sustain the daily minyanim and watch over the welfare of his community. His home was always open to anyone in need, even strangers, and he helped assure that the community was spiritually enriched.[19] He was instrumental in founding the Washington Beit Din (rabbinical court) and the Vaad HaKashrut, Greater Washington's kosher food supervisory body.[2]

 
Rabbi Rabinowitz's tombstone at the Eretz HaHayyim Cemetery near Beit Shemesh, Israel

On the evening of February 28, 1984, Rabbi Rabinowitz, a 63-year-old widower who lived alone,[25] was murdered in his West End home by an unknown assailant shortly after returning from Maariv.[26] His bludgeoned body was found the next morning on the floor of his small study by four congregants whose concern was raised by his atypical absence from that morning's incomplete Shaharit minyan (had he attended, he would have been the tenth). It is presumed that the rabbi knew his murderer because he was always careful to peek out the window pane in order to check the identity of whoever rang his doorbell before opening the door. Moreover, while the door was closed and unlocked, there was no evidence of forced entry or robbery.[27]

The case was never solved and remains open to this day.[28]

An estimated one-thousand mourners attended Rabbi Rabinowitz's funeral held on the morning of March 1 at the synagogue, including the Israeli ambassador, Dr. Meir Rosenne, who delivered one of the eulogies.[27] He was buried in Israel one day later next to his wife, who died unexpectedly from natural causes in 1978. He was survived by a son (named after his father), a daughter (named after his mother), several grandchildren, the brother in Chicago and another in Israel.[4]: 127 

An eruv encompassing Georgetown, adjacent neighborhoods and all of downtown Washington was established by the congregation in 1990 and named in Rabbi Rabinowitz's memory.[3][29] The Hebrew Academy, where he taught from 1958 to 1979, named its Kollel Beit Midrash in memory of the rabbi and annually presents its Rabbi Philip Rabinowitz Memorial Award for Excellence in Limudei Kodesh to outstanding students.[30]

Rabbi Rabinowitz was succeeded by Rabbi Rod Glogower (1985–1988).[31]

From 1989 to 2014 edit

See also: Barry Freundel

Rabbi Dr. Barry Freundel was named to the pulpit of Kesher Israel in 1989. He would soon develop a reputation as "a brilliant scholar,"[32] a "profound" orator[33] and an authority in several areas of halakha, including eruvim, which he assisted in constructing in a number of cities, including Washington.[34]

In early October 2014 the lay leadership of Kesher Israel and the National Capital Mikvah, an independent facility located in an adjacent synagogue building that Freundel had been instrumental in founding in 2005, delivered to the police a suspicious clock radio[35] that was placed in the mikvah shower room, disappeared and suddenly appeared again."Upon receiving information regarding potentially inappropriate activity, the board of directors quickly alerted the appropriate officials," the synagogue and mikvah boards wrote in a joint statement. "Throughout the investigation, we cooperated fully with law enforcement and will continue to do so."[36]

On October 14, Freundel was arrested for recording women showering using the clock radio, which was equipped with a hidden video camera.[37] He was suspended without pay upon his arrest[38] and then fired.[39] The synagogue board immediately directed its attention to the victims of his actions by arranging a support group led by a licensed psychologist and consultations with therapists,[40] as well as organizing a closed community meeting with Cathy L. Lanier, Washington's chief of police.[41]

On December 2, a student at Georgetown University Law Center, where Freundel taught a seminar on Jewish law,[42] filed a lawsuit against Kesher Israel, as well as Georgetown University and the National Capital Mikvah. The unnamed student, who had written a term paper on the mikvah, seeks class action status and claims that the defendants turned a blind eye and failed in their responsibility to protect students from the rabbi, whose behavior she claims, was becoming ever more bizarre and who was mistreating women subjected to his authority.[43] On December 18, a student at Towson University, where Freundel also taught, added her name to the lawsuit, claiming that Freundel encouraged her to take a "practice dunk" in the mikvah as part of her studies, even though she was not Jewish and had no interest in converting.[44] She was joined by another woman who had been converting to Judaism under Freundel's auspices and who had likewise been encouraged by Freundel to take a "practice dunk." They added the Rabbinical Council of America as a defendant as well.[45] In August 2016, the class action lawsuit was amended to add the Beth Din of America as a defendant, bring the total number of institutions named as defendants to four.[46]

The synagogue board responded with this statement: "Kesher Israel's leadership is deeply concerned about the harm caused by Rabbi Freundel's actions—of which we did not and could not have known—and for the personal welfare of all those individuals who may have been violated. The lawsuits that were recently filed are completely without merit. Our energies remain focused on working towards healing our community and building a vibrant future for Kesher Israel."[47]

Freundel ultimately pleaded guilty to 52 counts of voyeurism[48] and was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison and fined $13,000.[49]

On October 22, 2018, a class action lawsuit against Freundel and four religious organizations named as defendants – Kesher Israel, the National Capital Mikvah, the Rabbinical Council of America, and the Beth Din of America – was settled for $14.25 million.[50]

From 2015 edit

In July 2015 the congregation hired Rabbi Dr. Avidan Milevsky as its part-time interim spiritual leader.[51] Milevsky, an associate professor of psychology at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, was the author of five books and previously served as interim rabbi of Ner Tamid Greenspring Valley Congregation in Baltimore.[52] The Milevsky family made aliyah to Israel a year later.[53]

On March 16, 2017, the synagogue announced the appointment of a full-time replacement, Rabbi Hyim Shafner, who had been serving for the previous 13 years as a congregational rabbi in St. Louis. He formerly served for eight years as the Hillel chaplain at Washington University in St. Louis and, before then, worked for a year in the Jewish community in Mumbai, India.[54]

Kesher Israel was the target of an antisemitic incident on December 17, 2023, when a man from Toledo, Ohio illegally parked his U-Haul van on the sidewalk in front of the synagogue and then attempted to gain entry into the building while the rabbi was conducting a class. When he was unable to open the locked door, he shouted "gas the Jews" and sprayed a foul-smelling substance on two congregants who had exited the building.[55] The man was arrested by Metropolitan Police and charged with multiple offenses, including a hate crime. Earlier on the same day, multiple Jewish institutions and synagogues in Washington, including Kesher Israel, received bomb threats by email, which the police had deemed to be "non-credible."[56]

Notable past and present members edit

References edit

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External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kesher Israel.
  • Official website
  • Map of the Rabinowitz Memorial Eruv
  • Photograph of Rabbi Jacob Aizer Dubrow's grave
  • National Capital Mikvah website

May 08, 2024
kesher, israel, washington, confused, with, kesher, israel, congregation, harrisburg, pennsylvania, kesher, israel, hebrew, קשר, ישראל, kinship, israel, also, known, georgetown, synagogue, modern, orthodox, synagogue, located, georgetown, neighborhood, washing. Not to be confused with Kesher Israel Congregation Harrisburg Pennsylvania Kesher Israel Hebrew קשר ישראל lit Kinship of Israel also known as the Georgetown Synagogue 2 is a Modern Orthodox synagogue located in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington D C The congregation was founded in 1911 and its worshipers have included prominent politicians diplomats jurists journalists and authors Kesher IsraelHebrew קשר ישראלKesher Israel in 2022ReligionAffiliationModern Orthodox JudaismEcclesiastical or organizational statusSynagogueStatusActiveLocationLocation2801 N Street Georgetown Historic District NW Washington D C CountryUnited StatesLocation in Washington D C Geographic coordinates38 54 25 N 77 3 25 W 38 90694 N 77 05694 W 38 90694 77 05694ArchitectureArchitect s Julius WenigTypeSynagogueStyleSpanish Colonial RevivalDate established1911 as a congregation Completed1931Websitekesher wbr orgKesher IsraelU S National Historic Landmark DistrictContributing PropertyD C Inventory of Historic SitesPart ofGeorgetown Historic District ID67000025 Significant datesDesignated NHLDCPMay 28 1967Designated DCIHSNovember 8 1964 1 Contents 1 History 2 Rabbinic leadership 2 1 Early years 2 2 From 1925 to 1949 2 3 From 1950 to 1988 2 4 From 1989 to 2014 2 5 From 2015 3 Notable past and present members 4 References 5 External linksHistory editIn 1910 six local Jewish merchants organized the Georgetown Hebrew Benevolent Society which began to conduct religious services above a storefront on M Street NW 2 A year later this kernel now numbering 50 families founded Kesher Israel Congregation 3 which thus became the seventh synagogue organized in the nation s capital 4 13 In 1915 the congregation acquired renovated and began to meet in a premises at 2801 N Street NW The current synagogue building which was constructed in 1931 on that site 3 5 with a construction budget of 28 000 6 is a contributing property to the Georgetown Historic District a National Historic Landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places 5 The synagogue also administers two congregational cemeteries one in Anacostia 7 and the other in Capitol Heights Maryland 8 nbsp Kesher Israel s first building in use between 1915 and 1931 Kesher Israel is the last of the city s original pre war Orthodox synagogues located in walking distance of downtown Washington Beginning in the 1950s as the local Jewish community grew exponentially all the others relocated uptown or to suburban Montgomery County Maryland 9 This demographic trend coupled with the passing of the founding generation reduced Kesher Israel s membership in the 1960s to the point where it was difficult to ensure a daily minyan The synagogue however experienced a renaissance beginning in the late 1970s 10 spurred by young urban professionals who were moving to Georgetown and nearby neighborhoods including the West End Foggy Bottom Dupont Circle Burleith and even those further afield like Adams Morgan Kalorama and Rosslyn across Key Bridge in Arlington County Virginia 11 As of 2016 update its membership was approximately 250 families and singles 12 Kesher Israel also attracts many students enrolled at nearby Georgetown University and George Washington University 13 Following the signing of the Camp David Accords in September 1978 members of the Israeli delegation to the subsequent Blair House negotiations including Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan and Defense Minister Ezer Weizman attended Kol Nidre services at the synagogue 14 Kesher Israel attracted national media attention during the 2000 U S presidential election when a member Senator Joseph Lieberman was selected as the Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States 15 16 When the Senate scheduled important votes on Shabbat Lieberman walked nearly 3 miles 5 km from the synagogue to the United States Capitol a trek he made over 25 times during his Senate career 17 Author Herman Wouk who joined Kesher Israel upon relocating to Washington when he began to research his novels of World War II called it the best little shul in America 18 and a haven of true Yiddishkeit at the center of the finest neighborhood in Washington 19 It was due to his long association with the community that Kesher Israel was commonly known in Washington as Herman Wouk s synagogue 20 Wouk recalled Kesher Israel one last time in his final book and memoir Sailor and Fiddler Reflections of a 100 Year Old Author 2015 stating that The little old synagogue at one end of N Street was our kind of shul 21 Rabbinic leadership editEarly years edit nbsp Rabbi Jacob Aizer Dubrow left and Rabbi George Silverstone center photographed together with Rabbi Joshua Klaven right of Talmud Torah Congregation in Southwest Washington ca 1935 After it was founded the Georgetown Hebrew Benevolent Association hired Elias Stolar as minister and Hebrew teacher and recognized religious leader Born in Russia in about 1881 he was referred to as reverend a widely used title at the time for synagogue functionaries who were not ordained rabbis 22 The synagogue s first spiritual leader was the Polish born British trained Rabbi George Gedaliah Silverstone who concurrently served Ohev Sholom Congregation then located at 5th and I Streets NW 2 He remained with both congregations until he announced his intention to make aliyah to the Land of Israel in 1923 9 While he made several return trips back to Washington after that Rabbi Silverstone died in Jerusalem in 1944 and was buried on the Mount of Olives Rabbi Silverstone was a vice president of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis a director of the Hebrew Sanitarium of Denver and the Hebrew Home for the Aged of Washington and a member of B nai B rith He also founded the first Talmud Torah in Washington and many of his sermons refer to the poor state of Jewish education An active Zionist he attended the Sixth Zionist Congress in 1903 as a delegate from Belfast before he emigrated to the United States From 1925 to 1949 edit The first rabbi named to lead Kesher Israel on an exclusive basis was Rabbi Jacob Aizer Dubrow a Chabad hassid who was appointed in 1925 and remained with the synagogue until his death in 1944 at the age of 64 Born in Zlobin in what is today Belarus he was one of the original students of the fifth Lubavitcher rebbe Sholom Dovber Schneersohn at the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva in Lyubavichi where he studied for seven years 23 After receiving semikhah Rabbi Dubrow became the melamed of the son of the Skverer rebbe before becoming a rosh yeshiva in a town near Kiev He then served as a rabbi and posek in a number of Ukrainian shtetlekh before leaving for Baltimore in 1924 Rabbi Dubrow s main focus was education He instituted daily Talmud classes both at the synagogue and at the Hebrew Home for the Aged and an afternoon Talmud Torah for the synagogue s children hiring Rabbi Oscar Summer as their teacher He was also one of four Washington rabbis who initiated the establishment of the city s first Jewish day school the Hebrew Academy of Greater Washington now known as the Melvin J Berman Hebrew Academy Rabbi Dubrow also organized a congregational hevra kadishah He is remembered in Chabad for being instrumental in facilitating the wartime evacuation of the sixth Lubavitcher rebbe Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn from German occupied Warsaw in 1940 by interceding together with several rabbinic colleagues with President Franklin D Roosevelt and a number of senators 24 Rabbi Dubrow s first wife died after their arrival in the United States He was survived by his second wife five daughters and his only son who had remained in the Soviet Union and would fall in battle as a soldier in the Red Army near the close of the war Another married daughter had predeceased him During his funeral at Kesher Israel parts of Pennsylvania Avenue two blocks away had to be closed off in order to accommodate the crowds that came to pay their last respects Rabbi Dubrow bequeathed in his will that his personal library of religious books was to be auctioned off after his death and the money raised be donated to help support the poor of Jerusalem Mention of this final act of charity was etched into his gravestone He was buried in Kesher Israel s Capitol Heights cemetery 24 Rabbi Dubrow was succeeded by Rabbi I Meckler 1945 1946 and Rabbi Sidney Shulman 1946 1949 9 From 1950 to 1988 edit Rabbi Philip L Rabinowitz was appointed rabbi of Kesher Israel in 1950 9 Born Jeruchom Fiszel Arje Rabinowicz in Lomza Poland in 1920 he and his twin sister were the youngest of 13 children With World War II on the horizon he left home at the age of 18 to study at an American yeshiva the Hebrew Theological College in Chicago Illinois where he would receive semikhah His immigration to the United States was sponsored by his eldest brother who had arrived in Chicago two years before he was born Another brother emigrated to the Land of Israel in 1933 but his other relatives including his parents Rabbi Asher and Miriam Rabinowicz were murdered in the Holocaust At Kesher Israel Rabbi Rabinowitz focused on three objectives to study and teach Torah sustain the daily minyanim and watch over the welfare of his community His home was always open to anyone in need even strangers and he helped assure that the community was spiritually enriched 19 He was instrumental in founding the Washington Beit Din rabbinical court and the Vaad HaKashrut Greater Washington s kosher food supervisory body 2 nbsp Rabbi Rabinowitz s tombstone at the Eretz HaHayyim Cemetery near Beit Shemesh Israel On the evening of February 28 1984 Rabbi Rabinowitz a 63 year old widower who lived alone 25 was murdered in his West End home by an unknown assailant shortly after returning from Maariv 26 His bludgeoned body was found the next morning on the floor of his small study by four congregants whose concern was raised by his atypical absence from that morning s incomplete Shaharit minyan had he attended he would have been the tenth It is presumed that the rabbi knew his murderer because he was always careful to peek out the window pane in order to check the identity of whoever rang his doorbell before opening the door Moreover while the door was closed and unlocked there was no evidence of forced entry or robbery 27 The case was never solved and remains open to this day 28 An estimated one thousand mourners attended Rabbi Rabinowitz s funeral held on the morning of March 1 at the synagogue including the Israeli ambassador Dr Meir Rosenne who delivered one of the eulogies 27 He was buried in Israel one day later next to his wife who died unexpectedly from natural causes in 1978 He was survived by a son named after his father a daughter named after his mother several grandchildren the brother in Chicago and another in Israel 4 127 An eruv encompassing Georgetown adjacent neighborhoods and all of downtown Washington was established by the congregation in 1990 and named in Rabbi Rabinowitz s memory 3 29 The Hebrew Academy where he taught from 1958 to 1979 named its Kollel Beit Midrash in memory of the rabbi and annually presents its Rabbi Philip Rabinowitz Memorial Award for Excellence in Limudei Kodesh to outstanding students 30 Rabbi Rabinowitz was succeeded by Rabbi Rod Glogower 1985 1988 31 From 1989 to 2014 edit See also Barry Freundel Rabbi Dr Barry Freundel was named to the pulpit of Kesher Israel in 1989 He would soon develop a reputation as a brilliant scholar 32 a profound orator 33 and an authority in several areas of halakha including eruvim which he assisted in constructing in a number of cities including Washington 34 In early October 2014 the lay leadership of Kesher Israel and the National Capital Mikvah an independent facility located in an adjacent synagogue building that Freundel had been instrumental in founding in 2005 delivered to the police a suspicious clock radio 35 that was placed in the mikvah shower room disappeared and suddenly appeared again Upon receiving information regarding potentially inappropriate activity the board of directors quickly alerted the appropriate officials the synagogue and mikvah boards wrote in a joint statement Throughout the investigation we cooperated fully with law enforcement and will continue to do so 36 On October 14 Freundel was arrested for recording women showering using the clock radio which was equipped with a hidden video camera 37 He was suspended without pay upon his arrest 38 and then fired 39 The synagogue board immediately directed its attention to the victims of his actions by arranging a support group led by a licensed psychologist and consultations with therapists 40 as well as organizing a closed community meeting with Cathy L Lanier Washington s chief of police 41 On December 2 a student at Georgetown University Law Center where Freundel taught a seminar on Jewish law 42 filed a lawsuit against Kesher Israel as well as Georgetown University and the National Capital Mikvah The unnamed student who had written a term paper on the mikvah seeks class action status and claims that the defendants turned a blind eye and failed in their responsibility to protect students from the rabbi whose behavior she claims was becoming ever more bizarre and who was mistreating women subjected to his authority 43 On December 18 a student at Towson University where Freundel also taught added her name to the lawsuit claiming that Freundel encouraged her to take a practice dunk in the mikvah as part of her studies even though she was not Jewish and had no interest in converting 44 She was joined by another woman who had been converting to Judaism under Freundel s auspices and who had likewise been encouraged by Freundel to take a practice dunk They added the Rabbinical Council of America as a defendant as well 45 In August 2016 the class action lawsuit was amended to add the Beth Din of America as a defendant bring the total number of institutions named as defendants to four 46 The synagogue board responded with this statement Kesher Israel s leadership is deeply concerned about the harm caused by Rabbi Freundel s actions of which we did not and could not have known and for the personal welfare of all those individuals who may have been violated The lawsuits that were recently filed are completely without merit Our energies remain focused on working towards healing our community and building a vibrant future for Kesher Israel 47 Freundel ultimately pleaded guilty to 52 counts of voyeurism 48 and was sentenced to six and a half years in prison and fined 13 000 49 On October 22 2018 a class action lawsuit against Freundel and four religious organizations named as defendants Kesher Israel the National Capital Mikvah the Rabbinical Council of America and the Beth Din of America was settled for 14 25 million 50 From 2015 edit In July 2015 the congregation hired Rabbi Dr Avidan Milevsky as its part time interim spiritual leader 51 Milevsky an associate professor of psychology at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania was the author of five books and previously served as interim rabbi of Ner Tamid Greenspring Valley Congregation in Baltimore 52 The Milevsky family made aliyah to Israel a year later 53 On March 16 2017 the synagogue announced the appointment of a full time replacement Rabbi Hyim Shafner who had been serving for the previous 13 years as a congregational rabbi in St Louis He formerly served for eight years as the Hillel chaplain at Washington University in St Louis and before then worked for a year in the Jewish community in Mumbai India 54 Kesher Israel was the target of an antisemitic incident on December 17 2023 when a man from Toledo Ohio illegally parked his U Haul van on the sidewalk in front of the synagogue and then attempted to gain entry into the building while the rabbi was conducting a class When he was unable to open the locked door he shouted gas the Jews and sprayed a foul smelling substance on two congregants who had exited the building 55 The man was arrested by Metropolitan Police and charged with multiple offenses including a hate crime Earlier on the same day multiple Jewish institutions and synagogues in Washington including Kesher Israel received bomb threats by email which the police had deemed to be non credible 56 Notable past and present members editPeter Beinart 57 political pundit and former editor of The New Republic Laura Blumenfeld 58 journalist author and U S State Department official Dr Marshall Breger 59 Ford Reagan and George H W Bush administration official Alex Brummer 33 British journalist editor and author Warren Cikins 60 Kennedy and Johnson administration official and member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Dr Jaime Daremblum 61 62 former Costa Rican ambassador to the U S Peter Deutsch 63 former U S Representative from Florida Norman L Eisen 64 former U S ambassador to the Czech Republic David Epstein 27 former assistant U S attorney and Georgetown Law adjunct professor Eugene R Fidell 65 president of the National Institute of Military Justice Dan Glickman 63 former Secretary of Agriculture and U S Representative from Kansas Linda Gradstein 66 journalist and former correspondent for NPR Linda Greenhouse 65 Pulitzer Prize winning former Supreme Court correspondent of The New York Times Tova Herzl 67 former Israeli ambassador to South Africa ambassador to the Baltic states and congressional liaison at the Embassy of Israel in Washington Jeff Jacoby 68 journalist and syndicated newspaper columnist Lucette Lagnado 62 author and reporter for The Wall Street Journal Frederick M Lawrence 69 former president of Brandeis University Jack Lew 18 70 former United States Secretary of the Treasury Nathan Lewin 71 attorney former U S Department of Justice official and former contributing editor of The New Republic Joseph Lieberman former U S Senator from Connecticut and Hadassah Lieberman 18 15 16 17 72 73 74 Deborah Lipstadt 75 historian and diplomat Bethany Mandel 76 American conservative commentator Mark Mellman 73 77 78 Democratic pollster and political consultant Dr Jay Michaelson 79 writer and LGBT activist Alfred H Moses 80 former U S ambassador to Romania and Carter administration official Andrew H Schapiro 81 former U S ambassador to the Czech Republic Mitchell Silk 82 former Assistant Secretary of the United States Department of the Treasury for International Affairs Tevi Troy 83 presidential historian and former Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services Kenneth R Weinstein 77 president and CEO of the Hudson Institute Mindy Weisel 84 abstract visual artist and author Baruch Weiss 58 Washington attorney and former federal prosecutor Leon Wieseltier 18 33 63 74 author and former literary editor of The New Republic whose book Kaddish notes his attendance at Kesher Israel s daily minyanim during the eleven month mourning period following his father s death 61 85 Herman Wouk 33 60 61 63 68 Pulitzer Prize winning authorReferences edit Julius Wenig Architect Goethe Institut Retrieved November 25 2014 a b c d Olitzky Kerry M 1996 The American Synagogue A Historical Dictionary and Sourcebook Greenwood Publishing Group pp 91 93 ISBN 0 313 28856 9 a b c Goldberg Jeremy Through the Lens Jeremy Goldberg s Washington Retrieved October 26 2014 a b Garfinkle Martin 2005 The Jewish Community of Washington D C Arcadia Publishing ISBN 0 7385 4156 7 a b District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites PDF Government of the District of Columbia September 2004 Archived from the original PDF on April 30 2009 Retrieved April 20 2009 Building Permits The Washington Post December 21 1930 p R1 National Capital Hebrew Cemetery International Jewish Cemetery Project Retrieved December 28 2014 Washington Area Jewish Cemeteries Jewish Funerals Retrieved December 28 2014 a b c d Tigay Alan 1994 The Jewish Traveler Hadassah Magazine s Guide to Jewish Communities and Sights Rowman amp Littlefield p 565 ISBN 1 56821 078 7 Kurzman Steve Citizens Association of Georgetown Retrieved October 29 2014 Young Gayle April 6 2005 House Hunting Religiously The Washington Post p F1 Retrieved December 29 2014 Heilman Uriel January 9 2016 A year on DC shul s mikvah trauma slowly heals The Times of Israel Retrieved January 11 2016 Shabbat Announcement Page PDF May 31 2014 Retrieved November 2 2014 Lau Lavie Naphtali March 2013 Baalam s Prophecy Eyewitness to History 1939 1989 Cornwall Books pp 401 402 ISBN 978 1 59264 368 4 a b Broadway Bill August 12 2000 Candidate s Synagogue in The Spotlight Congregation Was Booming Before Lieberman Got the Nod So Now What The Washington Post Retrieved April 20 2009 a b Goodstein Laurie August 18 2000 Democrats The Observances Lieberman Balances Private Faith With Life in the Public Eye The New York Times Retrieved April 27 2008 a b Bolton Alexander December 5 2009 Lieberman faces a long chilly walk to Saturday s healthcare debate The Hill Retrieved December 31 2009 a b c d Guttman Nathan October 24 2014 How a Stunned Synagogue Faces Up to Sins of Rabbi Barry Freundel The Forward Retrieved December 2 2014 a b 30 Years Rabbi Philip Rabinowitz a Commemoration and Remembrance PDF March 2 2014 Retrieved December 30 2014 Winds of War author Herman Wouk dies aged 103 The Irish Times May 17 2019 Retrieved March 31 2021 Leval Gerard May 22 2019 When Herman Wouk was a Kesher Israel congregant Washington Jewish Week Retrieved January 18 2021 Kesher Israel 100 Years A Centennial Celebration PDF 2011 Retrieved December 2 2015 ר יואל כתב אות בספר התורה של גדולי ישראל November 22 2013 Retrieved January 5 2015 a b Litvak Yehudis Rabbi Yaakov Aizer Dubrow A Pioneer of Chabad in the U S Retrieved January 11 2015 Rabbi Stabbed Dies The Jewish Floridian of South County March 16 1984 Washington Rabbi Found Stabbed to Death in His Home Jewish Telegraphic Agency March 1 1984 Retrieved December 15 2014 a b c James Bruce March 16 1984 A Congregation in Mourning PDF The Baltimore Jewish Times Retrieved December 15 2014 Homicide Victim Phillip Rabinowitz Retrieved December 15 2014 Nelson Louis P 2006 American Sanctuary Understanding Sacred Spaces Indiana University Press p 67 Graduation remarks a little belated Retrieved December 15 2014 Rabbi Rod Glogower Archived from the original on February 4 2016 Retrieved October 27 2014 Boteach Rabbi Shmuley October 21 2014 Kosher and Non Kosher Voyeurism The Huffington Post Retrieved January 8 2015 a b c d Brummer Alex October 23 2014 I was shocked by peeping rabbi arrest The Jewish Chronicle Retrieved January 11 2015 Landau Lauren May 25 2012 Eruvim Protect Boundaries and Traditions for Local Jews WAMU Retrieved January 11 2015 Forward 50 2015 Barry Freundel The Jewish Daily Forward December 21 2014 D C Rabbi Barry Freundel Arrested Charged With Voyeurism Jewish Telegraphic Agency October 15 2014 Archived from the original on November 18 2014 Retrieved January 1 2015 Hermann Peter Boorstein Michelle October 14 2014 Barry Freundel Georgetown rabbi is arrested on voyeurism charge The Washington Post Retrieved October 14 2014 Hermann Peter October 21 2014 Voyeur Case Spurs Rabbis to Add Post for Women The New York Times p A18 Retrieved October 22 2014 Pollak Suzanne November 30 2014 Kesher Israel fires Rabbi Freundel Washington Jewish Week Retrieved December 1 2014 Community Resources following the arrest of Rabbi Freundel Archived from the original on October 23 2014 Retrieved January 4 2015 Jewish Social Services and Chief of Police at Kesher Israel Kesher Israel Monyak Suzanne October 17 2014 Georgetown Rabbi Arrested for Voyeurism The Hoya Retrieved January 4 2015 Hermann Peter December 2 2014 Lawsuit filed in Georgetown rabbi case synagogue severs relations with leader The Washington Post Reimer Susan December 21 2014 Towson student joins lawsuit involving rabbi The Baltimore Sun Retrieved December 28 2014 2 women add their names to lawsuit involving rabbi The Washington Post December 18 2014 Archived from the original on December 19 2014 Retrieved December 28 2014 LLP Sanford Heisler Sanford Heisler and Chaikin Sherman Expand Class Action Against Rabbi Voyeur and Religious Institutions by Adding Beth Din of America as a New Defendant www prnewswire com Retrieved September 18 2020 Nathan Kazis Josh December 24 2014 Did Rabbi Barry Freundel Treat Mikveh Like Car Wash To Peep on Women Lawsuits Blame RCA and Synagogue Over Scandal The Jewish Daily Forward Alexander Keith L Bailey Sarah Pulliam Boorstein Michelle February 19 2014 D C rabbi pleads guilty to secretly videotaping women The Washington Post Retrieved February 20 2014 Alexander Keith L Bailey Sarah Pulliam May 15 2015 D C rabbi sentenced to 6 years in prison on voyeurism charges The Washington Post Retrieved May 16 2015 Archived copy PDF Archived from the original PDF on November 17 2018 Retrieved November 16 2018 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint archived copy as title link Lipman Steve Rabbis New Tide Interim The New York Jewish Week October 16 2015 p 1 18 19 Mikveh peeping rabbi s Washington shul hires interim replacement Times of Israel JTA July 24 2015 Retrieved September 20 2015 Keeping Up with Kesher Israel July 26 2016 Retrieved July 17 2017 DC Synagogue Hires Successor To Barry Freundel 2 1 2 Years After Mikvah Peeping Rabbi s Arrest The New York Jewish Week March 16 2017 Retrieved March 17 2017 McHardy Martha December 18 2023 Man arrested for spraying substance on two people and yelling gas the Jews outside synagogue The Independent Retrieved December 18 2023 DC police arrest attacker outside Georgetown shul Jewish News Syndicate December 17 2023 Retrieved December 20 2023 Lowenfeld Jonah June 8 2010 Flotillas a New Center and Other Questions for Peter Beinart The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles Retrieved July 13 2010 a b Greenberg Richard April 19 2009 Man on a mission Baruch Weiss and the search for justice Washington Jewish Week Jewish Telegraphic Agency Retrieved December 31 2009 Reagan Names Marshall Breger As His Special Assistant for Liaison with the Jewish Community Jewish Telegraphic Agency December 16 1983 Retrieved October 22 2014 a b Cikins Warren 2005 In Search of Middle Ground Memoirs of a Washington Insider Devora Publishing Company ISBN 978 1 932687 46 0 Retrieved October 22 2014 a b c Daremblum Jaime March 1 1999 Atisbos misticos La Nacion Retrieved October 26 2014 a b Keeping up with Kesher Israel PDF April 17 2012 Retrieved November 13 2014 a b c d Next Year in the White House Jewish Agency for Israel August 31 2000 Archived from the original on October 27 2014 Retrieved October 27 2014 Diplomat comes full circle Heritage Florida Jewish News January 21 2011 Retrieved October 28 2014 a b Linda Greenhouse Bride of Eugene R Fidell The New York Times January 2 1981 Retrieved October 22 2014 Kritz Fran October 13 2021 Israeli alumni of Kesher Israel have close ties to the Georgetown synagogue and each other Washington Jewish Week Retrieved March 28 2024 Herzl Tova 2014 Madame Ambassador Behind the Scenes with a Candid Israeli Diplomat RowmanLittlefield p 21 ISBN 978 1 4422 3537 3 a b JeffJacoby April 14 2010 Retrieved December 23 2014 Taking Reins at Brandeis at a Tough Time The New York Jewish Week July 13 2010 Retrieved October 29 2014 Hoffman Allison April 3 2013 A School for D C s Jewish Elite Baltimore Jewish Life Archived from the original on October 22 2014 Retrieved October 22 2014 Sofer Barbara February 2014 Profile Nathan and Alyza Lewin Hadassah Magazine Retrieved November 13 2014 Lieberman Joe 2012 The Gift of Rest Rediscovering the Beauty of the Sabbath Simon amp Schuster ISBN 978 1 4516 2731 2 a b Dizikes Peter August 8 2000 Lieberman First National Jewish Candidate ABC News Retrieved January 6 2014 a b Tanenhaus Sam January 24 1999 Wayward Intellectual Finds God The New York Times Retrieved April 20 2009 Vayigash 2020 Retrieved September 2 2023 Jaffe Harry January 3 2016 The Devastating Story of Washington s Peeping Tom Rabbi Washingtonian Retrieved June 26 2023 a b Lerer Lisa September 21 2007 Yom Kippur marks D C networking bonanza Politico Retrieved November 6 2014 Shalev Chemi January 27 2013 U S strategist s formula for Lapid s stunning success the candidate the message and the Internet Haaretz Retrieved December 10 2014 Michaelson Jay February 20 2015 How Could We Have Trusted Rabbi Barry Freundel The Jewish Daily Forward Retrieved February 24 2015 Sheleg Yair May 22 2006 How can going to the beach on Pesach be more Jewish than going to shul Haaretz Retrieved October 23 2014 Shabbat Announcement Page PDF August 16 2014 Retrieved November 13 2014 Treiber Menachem June 20 2018 Along the Silk Road Retrieved December 1 2019 Hearing Before the Committee of Finance United States Senate U S Government Printing Office July 25 2007 p 111 List of Kesher Israel Members Retrieved May 18 2015 Jacoby Jeff Autumn 1999 Prodigal Son Azure Retrieved February 4 2015 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kesher Israel Official website Map of the Rabinowitz Memorial Eruv Photograph of Rabbi Jacob Aizer Dubrow s grave National Capital Mikvah website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Kesher Israel Washington D C amp oldid 1219175200, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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