San Francisco may be a black hole of Orthodox Judaism, but the lackluster numbers of shomer shabbos and shomer kashrus Jews have never stopped them from dissing one another for not being as frum as they can be. In fact, San Francisco is home to a very interesting breakaway shul in the Sunset District. The Young Israel of San Francisco is just about the smallest and most shteeble-like Young Israel I’ve ever seen and just about everyone who attends the shul is in one way or another connected to the infamous Hebrew Academy, which makes it’s students on scholarships sign contracts that keep them from davening across the street at Adath Israel the largest Orthodox shul in San Francisco.
I’m not sure if the story is accurate, but apparently the Rabbi of the shteeble got into a fight with Adath Israel back in the day over the height of the mechitza. Of course, as some right wing manical frummies are, instead of preaching achdus, ahavas Yisroel and shalom – he made his own shul instead. Like many breakaway shuls, it had to be directly across the street. This past Friday night, was the first time I’ve ever been inside. We didn’t have a minyan, they didn’t have a minyan – both rabbis were out of town. So we went over there and for a breakaway shul full of Russian high school kids it was quite leibadick, enough that one congregant said he may have to hit them up for Friday night more often.
Breakaway shuls are usually always the result of some community upheaval. The San Jose community has it’s own breakaway shul that has just gone Spehardic. Although facts about the breakaway are spotty depending on who you ask, the fight is officially called “The Machlokes” and it was pretty crazy from what I hear. In breakaway tradition, the San Jose breakaway shul is called Ahavas Torah and I’ve noticed that many breakaway shuls like to put “shalom” or “ahavas” in their names – even though most breakaway shuls are the cause of one groups unwillingness to let go of stupidity and lack of “shalom” or “ahava”.
Are breakaway shuls a good thing?
From the surface it seems that breakaway shuls would be a bad thing. Someone got into a fight, someone broke off and there are bad feelings. This sounds like a problem right? Well, I think it depends on the community, in the Bay Area it’s completely uncalled for and any breakaway shul that continues to operate seems very ignorant in my mind. The breakaway shuls in San Francisco and San Jose only have shabbos and yuntiff minyanim and the congregants rarely mix with each other, in such a small community, it seems asinine to keep up such stupidities for so many years. But people have egos and some people don’t want to bend their ideals…which you kind of have to when living in any type of community. It’s never going to be your way or the highway, that’s just not the proper way for a frum Jew and it’s not a way to foster community.
Find more breakaway shuls at 4torah.com
I’ve davened at both Am Echad and Ahavas (pardon me, Ahabat) Torah. Back in 2007, AT had an 8AM daily minyan. Since I was working from home to my own schedule, that was wonderful. Get up at a reasonable hour. Nice folks there too. Is AT still a going concern? I hope so.
My Grandfather was present at the birth (in the 1920s) of the Young Israel of Eastern Parkway and that was a breakaway movement, not just a breakaway shul. The point was to give “young” men and families a family friendly orthodox shul. Requrements included having a youth group and not auctioning off kevodim.
Then, when I was 14 or so, in about 1970, we were part of a seven family breakaway shul, when we founded the Young Israel of Plainview (NY.) Members broke from several local shuls. My recollection is that there was a mechitsa fight somewhere in there too, but walking distance was also an issue. Most of the breakaways cut their walking distance by over a mile.
We built an Aron Kodesh out of a rolling cedar closet, and the bima was a free-standing bar (yes, that kind of bar.) My mom embroidered (or sewed on the machine, perhaps) the cover for the bima.
YI of Plainview is still going strong, though I don’t think they’d let me in any more. (I think they may still have my two shofars but I have another one, so if they do, they can keep them. :))
Ah memories…
In my community, our breakaway shuls have breakaway shuls.
Just had a heated Yom Tov discussion about this last week. Personally, I’m all for breakaway shuls, whether or not people originally broke away for the “right” or “wrong” reasons. If your standard shul isn’t doing it for you anymore for any reason, and it feels cumbersome to attend, then breakaway and go somewhere else.
I’m fortunate enough to live in an area that has about 15-20 minyanim in 1 square mile, so I attend various shuls/shteebles. Chabad weekdays, Mod-ox Friday night, sephardi Shabbat, I get to experience Judaisms various flavours.
Only downside is that they all hit me for membership…
Atlanta is so messed up that the breakaway Young Israel shul is definitely the more liberal one (one black hat although for whatever reason a chasid who was in town davened there at least for Mincha) -but it does have a much higher mechitza.
Then again Beth Jacob’s mechitza has to be the lowest in the country of any predominantly black-hat shul.
And there is a decent amount of dual-davening/membership (though mostly among the non-black hats from Beth Jacob before the serious yeshivish importation from Baltimore and New York started) … (and there’s also a general Sephardi/Bukhari leaning shul and a Persian minyan that meets at the Torah Day School …)
Now that I live in NYC, I’m kind of amazed that Toco Hills (the Atlanta neighborhood with Beth Jacob and YI) has so few shuls. My neighborhood has about 7 or 8 Ashkenazic Orthodox shuls, and all of them together are not much bigger than Beth Jacob and Young Israel combined.
You’d think the BJ mechitza would have caused a breakaway to the right, no?
I’ve davened at both Am Echad and Ahavas (pardon me, Ahabat) Torah. Back in 2007, AT had an 8AM daily minyan. Since I was working from home to my own schedule, that was wonderful. Get up at a reasonable hour. Nice folks there too. Is AT still a going concern? I hope so.
My Grandfather was present at the birth (in the 1920s) of the Young Israel of Eastern Parkway and that was a breakaway movement, not just a breakaway shul. The point was to give “young” men and families a family friendly orthodox shul. Requrements included having a youth group and not auctioning off kevodim.
Then, when I was 14 or so, in about 1970, we were part of a seven family breakaway shul, when we founded the Young Israel of Plainview (NY.) Members broke from several local shuls. My recollection is that there was a mechitsa fight somewhere in there too, but walking distance was also an issue. Most of the breakaways cut their walking distance by over a mile.
We built an Aron Kodesh out of a rolling cedar closet, and the bima was a free-standing bar (yes, that kind of bar.) My mom embroidered (or sewed on the machine, perhaps) the cover for the bima.
YI of Plainview is still going strong, though I don’t think they’d let me in any more. (I think they may still have my two shofars but I have another one, so if they do, they can keep them. :))
Ah memories…
and why wouldn’t they let you in?
Can’t believe you missed the oldest shul joke about the guy who got left on a island and after 20 yrs they found him. He built 2 shuls by hand.
One which he attended; The other which he did not.
Or should it be:
One breakaway shul and one home bases shul?
The way I heard it, it was “Jewish Robinson Crusoe”. When he was rescued, he showed them the island he built. On one side of the island, he had a shul he built. On the other side was another shul. They asked him why he built 2 shuls. He explained that one was the shul he davens in, the other is the shul he won’t go anywhere near!
Oceanside – Darchei Noam broke away from the Young Israel. They did it probably because those members never got any honors on a weekly basis. The ironic thing is those members will take the honors on a weekly basis and not welcome anyone else if they do not have an MD or wear a black hat. This shul of 30 members are more beaucratic than a 300 member Young Israel. They think they are the most holiest of holies – if this is the case why do the men and women mingle during the Kiddushes? 90% of the women go their do not even cover their hair properly – so they should not make the case they are the frummest of frummies.
I suppose it is more unfortunate that a small community gets fragmented, but it seems to me that it’s also altogether more likely to happen. The smaller the community to begin with, the more contact one can’t help having with the individuals or the issues that are the source of the discord; much easier to avoid someone or something that isn’t to your taste or standards in a larger group. Thus the old joke about the guy shipwrecked on a desert island who builds 2 shuls, the one where he davens and the one he wouldn’t step foot in.
A breakaway from Chabad Boynton Beach, FL is building a new Modox shul literally 2 doors down the street.
And what about breakaway minyans meeting withing a synagogue, in different rooms, each with their own kiddush, nusach, etc.
“There’s no politics like shul politics….”
There’s an orthodox shul that started out as a breakaway minyan because people were mad about the kids running around at the synagogue. Now that breakaway minyan a K-12 school with services in one of the class rooms… all because people were mad about people brining their kids at the original synagogue.
Actually in Rochester, some folks started a shabbos morning hashkama minyan in the basement of the more right wing shul. They ended up with most of the original minyan because they had tables, cholent and a speedy davening.
I’ve heard that most synogogues with the name “Rodef Shalom” is a breakaway synogogue. Is this true?
Anyway, there were a lot of people who were a part of one of the orthodox shuls in town that wanted to be more egalitarian and so a large part of the membership left and formed a conservative shul. The orthodox shul, at least now, is for the most part “conservadox,” or to quote the rabbi, “unobservant orthodox.” Essentially, people who want to say they’re orthodox but don’t want to be observant yet are quick to treat observant non-orthodox folks like crap. The rabbi is quick to rip on the conservative movement in spite of 3/4ths of his paycheck being paid for by mostly the conservative geared members of his shul. Hell, the president likes the unkosher cheese enchiladas at Casa Bonita.
Granted, this breakaway shul, the one I go to, is pretty pu$$y whipped. Pretty much all the readers and prayer leaders are women and is basically half day care half senior center–I’m the token bachelor in his mid-20’s. But, that’s a small price to pay instead of being treated like crap at the orthodox but not orthodox shul.
In short, I think it’s good if it means less attitude. Not everyone can be a black hatter who’s stuck in 18th century Poland.
We are glad you enjoyed our davening for Kabbalas Shabbos. Anyone is welcome anytime and you guys gave us a energetic spiritual boost as well. We have been doing ‘Carlebach’ since 2005 and it is definitely very leibadick. High school and recently several college students feel very comfortable at Young Israel of SF. Our goal is to have a ‘heimish’ and lively davening. Going to the shul and school my whole life, I think a few of you assumptions/statements about both the shul/school were not quite accurate. As for breakaways, I love them. It is free market Judaism. When one shul doesn’t offer what a person needs or doesnt make them feel comfortable, another shul has the chance to step in an fill those shoes.
I personally loved it, I love little heimishe shteebles, I just wish you had some obnoxious old guys who stink of herring and kibbutz in Yiddish all throughout davening.
We have a semi-breakaway shul which I’m a member of. It’s a bizarre story about an MO shul which saw dwindling membership to the point where the majority of attendants were Chabad (even though they have their own shul at the Yeshiva). When they did their best to discourage Chabad people from coming they were no longer able to make a minyan on Shabbos or make ends meet to pay their Rabbi, a situation partially brought about by refusal to accept membership dues from Chabad members (!), so they decided to close the shul and sell the building even though a group controlled by a few Chabad members offered to take over. This is about when I moved into the area, so I don’t know all sides of the story. Anyway, to make a long story short, the matter went to beis din which ruled in favor of the new organization and we have > 15 people regularly for all minyanim on Shabbos and Yom Tov plus any time a minyan is requested.
Now, it’s not totally a breakaway shul inasmuch as most of the Chabad attendees are still in some way affiliated with the Yeshiva and some go to both places to daven, but I know a few who broke away for personal reasons and I, for one, am glad I don’t have to attend a rabid Yechi minyan at the Yeshiva.
The interesting thing is that the shul did not exclude the old membership at all. In fact, they bend over backwards to make everyone feel at home. Not only do we still hold some ashkenaz minhagim like “Anim Zmiros” and “Yehi Ratzon” at Birkas HaChodesh, but we regularly host non-Chabad Chasidim guests, sing their zmiros at Shaloshudos, and even provide a second post-Shabbos maariv minyan at 72 minutes if necessary. They come away raving.
Is this “break-away” shul a bad thing? I’d have to say no.
I was there in SF for several years. We left about 15 years ago. At that time they still had daily minyanim in the big shul and Shabbos minyanim in both shuls. I had dealings with both sides and davened in both places. Yes, I thought it was ridiculous. I had more close friends in YI so on Shabbas I usually ended up davening there. At that time there were also Two Chabads in SF which were very close (geographically) to each other, but the rabbis were apparently not fond of each other. I think one was a break away shul.
As an aside, I’m in suburban NY now and we have about 1000 frum families in our small community and 3 orthodox shuls – which is about 10 times the number of frum Jews than in San Francisco. Interestingly, we also have 2 chabads, which apparently get along and which only have Shabbos minyanim. That’s OK because we have lots of daily minyanim here, and almost all of the Shabbos attendees at Chabad already belong to one or more of the 3 shuls.
On the other hand, San Francisco will always be a city which is really NOT cosmopolitan when it comes to Yidden. The only Jew who can survive there is the reform or egalitarian conservative Jew. It is not a welcome place for orthodox Jews. It’s a sad commentary when the few frum Jews living there cannot resolve their differences. I’m not against break-away shuls per se – but when neither shul can get a minyan on Shabbos, it’s time to bury the hatchet.
We are very pleased to hear that you guys like our Kabbalas Shabbos. Our goal is to make everyone feel welcome to come and have a lively and ‘heimish’ experience at shul. I have been going to the Hebrew Academy and coming to Young Israel my whole life. We have been doing a ‘Carlebach’ style davening since 2005. High school students and in recent years, several college students have felt very comfortable at young israel but most of them wouldn’t feel the same way in another shul. This is the main reason I think breakaways are a great thing. If one shul doesnt make you feel comfortable when you are there, then another shul gets the opportunity provide you with what you need. It’s free market Judasim. Additionally, I don’t think it is right to make assumptions or go off of rumors and state them as facts regarding the comments about the Shul, the Rabbi or the School. Anyone who wants to come Friday night is more than welcome, we do not care what Shul you go to, how much experience you have or whether you choose to where a suit and tie or jeans and a T-shirt. Come on in for a great davening experience.
I agree with the previous post–If a shul doesn’t make you feel comfortable or welcome, then why not go to the ‘break-away’ shul that does?
Also, I don’t think you should write the snarky rumors as fact– that’s only proving how much animosity there still is, including on your side, if you are being told all this stuff by people at Adath Israel.
But yes, all of this old ‘bad blood’ isn’t helping the community as a whole, and I do see some hope in the people of the younger generation (like myself) who don’t really care about the past. Hopefully the older generation will lighten up soon as well…
Where did I write anything as fact?
A source of great pride in my rabbinic career has been unbreaking the 2 breakaway minyanim from my shul. They left in the 80’s and 90’s. I brought them both back in the last 3 years.
What did bringing them back require (other than an awesome rav like you taking over?)
Mostly a shift in policy to be as inclusive as possible.
Fair Lawn, NJ. Now there’s an interesting case study in breakaway shuls. Now pardon me, most of this happened since I’ve gone OTD, so I’m a bit rough on the details. But here goes.
Originally, the only frum shul was Shomrei Torah. People from the other side of town either had to walk 3 miles to shul or daven Conservative. So then, they built a shul on the other side of town called Ahavat Achim. There was a bit of an unspoken rivalry between the two shuls, but it was rather latent; it was understood that most of the members of Ahavat Achim simply did not want to walk to Shomrei Torah, but some still made the trek.
So then, around the turn of the millennium, some people broke away from Ahavat Achim. This was as a result of the Rabbi being fired and replaced by a new one. Those who were faithful to the old Rabbi didn’t like the new Rabbi. So they established a breakaway minyan, which eventually led to the Young Israel of Fair Lawn, which is equidistant between Shomrei Torah and Ahavat Achim, but mostly just detractors from Ahavat Achim. So yes, I refuse to call the place “Ahavat Achim” anymore; I say that any shul that broke into 2 because of local politics does not deserve the name “Ahavat Achim” anymore. So I call it “The Shul FORMERLY Known as Ahavat Achim.”
Now Shomrei Torah has a breakaway shul as well. This consists of people who thought that its Mara D’Asra, Rabbi Yudin, was too machmir. They wanted a frum shul that was a bit more chilled out, one that encouraged more lay leadership involvment, was a bit less formal, etc. And the Rabbi there is rather youngish as well. This started out as a rotating basement minyan setup, but they now have their own building.
Of course, I’m not counting Anshie Lubavitch, which is rather new. They had a shteibel close to Shomrei Torah. Sometimes my friends and I would go there because they had cholent every Shabbos (Shomrei Torah only had cookies and soda UNLESS it was a Bar Mitzva, Aufruf, etc.) But now they got a building as well–which used to belong to the Reform minyan; but now that there’s no Reform Temple in Fair Lawn, they actually have to drive to the next town over for services (oh my).
I’m also not counting Bris Avrohom, which caters to the Russian community. Now Shomrei Torah did have an explanatory minyan for Russians. But Bris Avrohom (which back in my day was in the basement of a dry cleaner, but now also has its own building) actually has its sermon given in English, Russian, and Hebrew (the Rabbi speaks all 3) so everyone understands. This shul is not competition per se, but some people have detracted from the other shuls for Bris Avrohom and Anshei Lubavitch. My father used to yell at me when I’d attend either one, as he pays so much money in dues to Shomrei Torah every year! He didn’t care if they had cholent, he wanted to get his money’s worth.
So the three Conserv. minyanim aside, that’s the shul culture in Fair Lawn al regel achat.
Heshie: I think your facts are a little off. The difficulty between shuls that I recall involved not Adath Israel but Chevra Tehillim, the Orthodox shul in the Richmond District that at one time was also the home of the Hebrew Academy. There was a falling out and I remember something dreadful about the then Rabbi of Chevra Tehillim getting assaulted by someone over the mechitzah. I don’t believe that had anything to do with Hebrew Academy or YI but it’s interesting how these stories all get mashed together. Whether or not there is a further problem as between YI and Adath Israel is for someone more knowledgeable about such matters to comment on. Bob White
I heard that when Lipner came to SF, him and Traub had a bit of a disagreement about the mechitzah height. Of course, everyone’s dying so we won’t really know the truth ever.
But that has to have come later as Hebrew Academy operated for a number of years either out of or across the street from Chevra Tehillim. The move to the Sunset came quite a bit later and any falling out between Lipner and R. Traub had to involve Adath Israel, not Chevra Tehillim as R. Traub was never rabbi of Chevra Tehillim. Since you daven at Adath Israel these days, maybe you can ask one of the older leadership people what they remember. I’m amazed when I see them as they seemed old when I was in my 20’s. Now I’m almost 60 and they’re still there and pretty spry at that. I think it was two years ago on Shavuot that the man who led Musaf was a 92-year old concentration camp survivor. Someone over there has to know. Bob White
Heshy- Please consider why anyone really needs to know “the truth.”
Sounds like gossip/lashon hora to me.
Every community needs a breakaway because eventually every community will have a divorce where each member might still want to go to a shul — and more-so if they each remarry. A community without a break-away is asking for trouble. If not a divorce, then a bad business deal, a little bit of infidelity, or worse — someone god-forbid tampering with the mechitza to make it an inch higher or lower.
The irony — the breakaway process rips the community apart and creates enemies that last for decades. Cops had to be called in (on shabbos!) to stop a brawl in Cleveland when Kahal Yereyim and Shomer Shabbos broke up over the very important issue: the ruv died and his son was not yet married — so should he take over as ruv or not? I don’t know, let’s throw siddurim at each other on S. Taylor Rd. and see if the Cleveland police might help? The fighting on Green Road was so so good it made it into the Jew vs. Jew book.
Every Jewish community gets bent out of shape when there’s a breakaway. And yet, it’s probably the best thing that could happen to any community. I’ve never been to a breakaway I didn’t like — they offer something that community needed, another option for some silly old reason that was oh so important enough.
I have davened both in Young Israel and Adath Israel. I prefer Adath Israel because it is a lovely building, and I get to daven near the bima.
As a BT, I need all the help I can get in following the service.
I am friends with the Rabbi and Rebbetzin of Young Israel and refuse to choose sides in this maklokis.
We should all just attend the shul of our choice and daven, G-d willing we will be better Jews and the world will be a better place.
And any shul that turns away membership money (unless the money is made through idol worship, etc.) will not survive long.
DO YOU THINK ALL NEW MEMBERS SHOULD GET AN ALIYAH THEIR FIRST MONTH IN A SHUL?
Yes, it would be nice, but it’s not a deal-breaker.
Heshy did not mention that the Hebrew Academy now requires that the Bnei Akiva Israeli teachers boycott Adath Israel as a condition for employment. This is outrageous and another reason why Yiddishkeit suffers in this area.
Do you know this as a fact? If so, how? Or is this a rumor?
^^It is unfortunate that an interesting article on breakaway shuls can be used as a forum for bashing the Hebrew Academy and it’s shul…
I didn’t see any bashing of Hebrew Academy
It sounds like this comment was directed at “troublemaker” not you. The only “bashing” of HA I noticed in the article was calling it infamous, which even though I think is not appropriate, is not terribly offensive. Additionally I think I saw a comment above asking where you stated something as fact. I happen to know for a fact that the HA does not sign students to contracts to keep them away from Adath Israel. Even though students personal contracts relating to their school year is no ones business but the school’s and the family’s, I can assure you that neither I nor any student I know was told to not daven in an Adath Israel.
Yah, I meant it mainly towards ‘troublemaker’ but also i didn’t really like Hebrew Academy being called ‘infamous,’ because it has a negative connotation.
I know it’s often referred to as ‘that school’ by opposers, but I think all of that animosity is unfair and unfounded. The school nurtures amazing kids, who love Judaism, and often become more observant as a result.
I can say with confidence that all of my best friends in life are from Hebrew Academy, and if you’d interact with us you’d see there’s nothing ‘infamous’ about us. And we don’t spend time thinking negatively about other shuls, we just like where we go (and on occasion cross the street as well).
Can’t we all just get along? 🙂
As an alumni of the Hebrew Academy and a regular at Young Israel, I would like to speak up for both of these places, which unfortunately, seem to be getting a bad rep.
The best 13 years of my life were spent at the school. Rabbi Lipner offers scholarships to practically all of his students and will never turn down a student based on financial reasons. He works endlessly (with very little support) to make sure that his students get a Jewish Education. The school “mekareved” me and a number of my friends and has continued to support me throughout my religious growth.
I have always felt very comfortable at Young Israel and as someone who is also friendly with a number of Adath Israel families, I can say outright that Rabbi Lipner has NEVER said anything bad about anybody from there; it’s been quite the opposite, in fact. Rabbi Lipner has always striven to be a “kiddush hashem” and I’m proud to be an alumnus of a school that guided me to be an observant Jew.
I do not know the history of either of the shuls and quite honestly, it is none of my business. As Jews, we should be giving everybody the benefit of the doubt, should not waste our time with lashon ha ra, and should pursue shalom and achdut.
Instead of harboring on the past and fostering resentment, we should work on perfecting ourselves and working towards a united Jewish community.
Sinat Chinam doesn’t help anybody and it most certainly will not lead to moshiach coming in our days.
As an alumni and member of Young Israel, I feel obligated to speak up for both places, which seem to be getting a bad rep.
I’ve spent 13 years at the Hebrew Academy and my experience was the best in my life. The Rabbi works endlessly with very little support to provide students with a Jewish Education regardless of their financial situations. Practically every student is on scholarship. The school “mekareved” me and a number of my friends. I owe a great deal to the school and would not be observant at all had it not been for the school, the schlichim, and the Rabbi’s positive influence. The Rabbi continually supports me in my growth.
As a friend of many families at Adath Israel, the Rabbi of Young Israel has NEVER said a negative word about anybody. It’s been quite the opposite, in fact.
I don’t know the history of either shul and it’s really none of my business. As Jews, it is our duty to look favorably upon one another. We should not be speaking “loshon ha ra” and should work towards pursing “shalom” and “achdut.”
This “sinat chinam” will not help anybody and will certainly not bring “moshiach” in our days.
Amen!
I have been attending services at Young Israel since 2008. I have also attended services at its “rival”, Adath Israel, to experience what the larger shul, across the street, was like. At both of these shuls, I met some amazing people, and attended some memorable Shabbas services. For several months, an Adath rabbi and I learned about the different themes in Judaism; one of the most memorable lessons I took away from his class, was that “lashon hara” is one of the most impermissible things in Judaism.
This lesson helped me realize that there was clear problem between the two shuls. This problem originated between 2 individuals and then escalated into a conflict between the two shuls, which are less than a block away from one another. This conflict was blown out of proportion! As Jews living in San Francisco, we must understand that it is conflicts like these that prevent us from having a larger and stronger Jewish community. We must be accept the fact that there are two shuls and neither one of them is going anywhere.
My home town (Bournemouth, England) is a nice enough place: an old and well-established seaside town on England’s south coast.
When I grew up in Bournemouth in the 1950s and the early 1960s, ?”? ??????? had a Jewish population nearly twice that of today’s. Its three kosher butchers thrived; now there are none. There is a strange phenomenon that very few Jews were actually born in Bournemouth – the vast majority are “immigrants”.
Out of a total population of ~168,000 souls living in the town about two thousand describe themselves as “Jewish”. These 2,000 men, women and children, between them support three synagogues.
The oldest – the “Bournemouth Hebrew Congregation” – was founded in 1906 and describes itself as “orthodox”, but no black-hatted and begartled frumme yid would be seen dead in the place. While the majority of the BHC flock is Ashkenazi, it also has a token Sephardi minyan, which davens once a month in the shul’s social hall.
About a mile and a half away is the “Bournemouth Reform Synagogue” founded in the 1950s. Ministering to this congregation are a husband and wife, both of whom are “consecrated rabbis”. They get along fine with the BHC membership, socially at least if not on matters of theology.
So far, so good.
But now we get to the “breakaways”. And guess who decided to implant themelves in this happy and contented garden of Yiddishkeit? Yes, you got it in one: Chabad, in 1989.
Does a small town, with a dwindling and mostly geriatric population, really need three (four, if you count the Sephardim) synagogues? Personally, I think not.
When the hottie wives of my local breakaway Young Israel , very right wing, are out and about while their men are learning Daf Yomi, they wear much tighter, sexier blue jeans than the women at the big liberal Modox shul who are as old as G-d and have Hadassah arms. It seems so totally backwards.
I propose a new frum movement: Ahavas Yisroel a.k.a. A La Carte Judaism. At the AY shuls, you would pick and choose which minyan, nusach, gabbaim, height, minhagim, scotch, and cholent like a cafeteria plan. Each room is big enough for only 10, forcing the permutations of breakaways to satisfy everybody while still maintaining a healthy competitive marketplace. Rabbis optional.
Our Sephardic minyan back home began in the chapel of the local Young Israel. The suburb I lived in was predominantly Ashkenazic and had another Conservative synagogue and a smaller Orthodox minyan. Anyhow, eventually we outgrew the chapel and we moved to a school basement while planning the construction of our own shul. Some people felt that our community’s size didn’t justify a separate shul so they continued to pray in the chapel. That group eventually bought a house and used it as their shul. We eventually built a synagogue and the first couple years we didn’t have a Rabbi (we never had a Rabbi before). Eventually it was decided that we needed a Rabbi so we hired a Rabbi who was pretty inexpensive. The rub was that although he was Sephardic, he was also Chabad. As soon as he began he stopped our pretty active youth group because it was mixed – even though it engaged in pretty innocuous activities like horse back riding and wholesome stuff like that. He tried to have a weekly Tanya class for boys but that wasn’t so compelling and so we had no youth activities at all. His contact eventually expired after 5 years and the Shul decided not to renew it because the Rabbi was just not in tune with the needs of the community – we’re Sephardic and chill, we’re not Chabad. So we let him know and bade him well in his future endeavors. He left and opened a new synagogue 2 blocks away and took nearly half the members with him. Our community was torn asunder. We’re not rich and supporting 2 synagogues is ridiculous. Meanwhile, back at the Young Israel, facing a declining population and less membership revenue, they hired… you guessed it, a Chabad Rabbi. So, yeah. It’s stupid, totally stupid. The only good thing is that when one member has a fight with another (it happens pretty often, we’re kinda high strung) there’s another synagogue to go to. Sigh.
When you say Sephardic and chill, what do you mean by that? Are there any Sephardic chumrot or is that mostly an Ashkenazi thing? How do Sephardim treat converts compared to Ashkenazim?
I live in Seattle and the shit is about to hit the fan here. Anybody that has spent some time here knows that Jewish politics is intertwined in everything that happens around town. In the largest Jewish neighborhoods there is a Ashkenazi shul and two Sephardi shuls. Both Sephardi shuls are underfunded and have shrinking congregations. One has an ashkenazi rav, the other is about to loose their sephardi rav with no replacement. Both shuls would rather shut down than merge. The Ashkenazi shul (Bikur Cholim) is across the street from the Sephardi Shul (Sephardi Bikur Cholim). Its a modern orthodox shul which is very disfunctional. They have a liberal black hat Rav, that none of the black hat congregants like. A breakaway minyon started in someones home a few years back, the board of the shul begged them to come back, and now they davin as “part of the shul” in a caravan style structure across the parking lot. There is a separate teen minyon, hashkama minyon, nusah sefard minyon, and main minyon for shabbos. With the ravs reelection coming up everyone is talking about breaking away, the original breakway minyon is plannign to breakaway again, and the centrist crowed now says they don’t like the rav and are planning their own breakaway shul, leaving it to the liberal folks who will be left to pick a new rav.
It is literally a shit storm of epic proportion, and this is not even half of it. All I know is I’m sitting back with my bag of popcorn and watching all the action.
YOUNG ISRAEL – I can’t stand all of them – they make me SICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All the doctors get all the honors and they are so rich that they buy houses for their children and their children are asked to do all the activities. I never get to get any honors, never get to be asked to get involved. The young israel’s are all the same – stuck up modern orthodox crap.
I guess as someone who was there in the 80’s and 90’s I know a bit about the split. My family started off at the Young Israel and I went to the Hebrew Academy, but then we switched to Adath Israel and I had my Bar Mitzvah there. My family was close to both the Lipners and the Traubs and the fight was not personal between them. There were issues between members and some split to form the YI and then invited R. Lipner to be the Rav. Neither side had any issues with family being part of both communities, and both sides tried to reconcile around the late 1980’s (in part because my father pushed them, among others) but too much fighting had gone on.
2 member’s of the YI has issues with the Mechitzah in Adath Israel, but Rabbi Lipner had no problem davening there during my Bar Mitzvah… There was only one minyan that morning and everyone showed up.
Chevra Tehillim was never part of the fight, it was on the other side of town and was therefore irrelevant to the community in the Sunset neighborhood. The fight between the Chabad’s was because there were 3 in the area and one of them set up shop on his own, not being sent by the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The other 2 split resources and responsibilities between them.
Thank you for a reasoned response.
Cute story, but there’s more. When we lived in SF (1980-1997) I learned that there were originally 5 orthodox synagogues and six breakaways. People at the Young Israel didn’t use the Mikvah in the city, saying it wasn’t kosher (after most of the women in the community had used it and had most of their children). Of course, neither of the kosher butchers were considered kosher. A good friend called the feuds the battle of the good Ks vs. the bad Ks. All of which made me Krazy. I love SF but the orthodox community was insane.
Barbara…… you should check out Oceanside, Long Island. Darchei Noam, a shteeble broke away from the Young Israel. What a lunatic shul that is. The members of this shteeble are vultures.
I know Lower Merion gets a lot of flack on here, but bear with me.
Lower Merion Shul started right after ww2 because most of the modox wanted a shul closer to the suburbs of Philadelphia instead of walking to wynnefield. The Philadelphia yeshiva used to send over students who woke up late (I don’t think they would do this nowadays). After wynnefield went through ghettofication, the Young Israel of west Philadelphia moved to lower merion. When one of the rabbis who was a bit more liberal than most of the more yeshivish people liked, they would join Young Israel. After losing a lot of members to YI, the presidents and members of LMS got the grad students from the local universities and med schools to join the community which increased the shul membership.
I know one of the main complaints other than the rabbi being to liberal, was that the mechitza was too low and the kids didn’t go to the torah academy. When it is all said and done, YI now has its own minyan and LMS has its own minyanim. To be honest I would never go into YI, I disagree with giving kevodim only to doctors and lawyers. I also think their mechitza is too high
Linda wondered. Is the boycott real? For example, when was the last time the present Bnei Akiva Israeli teachers came to Adath Israel? Answer. Never. Why is this so?
This comment does not add anything to the breakaway shul debate. It is just an accusation without any evidence. I don’t see why anyone should care where so and so goes to shul and where they don’t. Additionally, you are making an assumption that everyone wants to go to Adath Israel and anyone who doesn’t must be coerced; that’s a pretty silly assumption.