Congregation Kneseth Israel ( he, ק׳׳ק כנסת ישראל), commonly referred to as the White Shul, is a

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

located in Far Rockaway, Queens. The congregation was established in 1922 as Talmud Torah Kneseth Israel and was nicknamed "The White Shul" after its white marble building. The original building located at Nameoke Street and Dinsmore Avenue was destroyed."

Rabbis

The first Rabbi at Kneseth Israel was Rabbi Abraham B. Kahan. Hired in 1928, he had previously been the rabbi of the Kurlander Congregation in New York. Rabbi Kahan studied at the Lithuanian Yeshivos of Mir, Slabodka &

Slutzk Slutsk ( officially transliterated as Sluck, be, Слуцк; russian: Слуцк; pl, Słuck, lt, Sluckas, Yiddish/Hebrew: סלוצק ''Slutsk'') is a city in Belarus, located on the Sluch River south of Minsk. As of 2022, its population is ...

and trained for the rabbinate under Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski and was also the secretary of the

Agudath Harabanim The Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada (UOR), often called by its Hebrew name, Agudath Harabonim or Agudas Harrabonim ("union of rabbis"), was established in 1901 in the United States and is the oldest organization of Orthod ...

. He was followed in 1931 by Shimshon Zelig Fortman, a Lithuanian rabbi who had also studied in

and was the father-in-law of Rabbi Moshe Sherer and Rabbi David B. Hollander. The third and longest-serving rabbi at the White Shul was Rabbi

Raphael Pelcovitz Rabbi Raphael Pelcovitz (1921 - March 14, 2018), best known for his years as rabbi of Far Rockaway's Congregation Knesseth Israel (The White Shul) was also the author of four books published by ArtScroll. Biography The Canton, Ohio born Pelcovitz ...

. Pelcovitz was the shul's third rabbi, but the first to publicly speak in English. The two previous rabbis delivered their sermons in Yiddish. Rabbi Tzvi Flaum served for 13 years, starting when Pelcovitz became rabbi emeritus. Rabbi Eytan Feiner, his successor, is the present rabbi.

History

Congregation Kneseth Israel, a 1922-founded Orthodox congregation, initially prayed in the Far Rockaway Chamber of Commerce building on Mott Avenue. When the members of the 1911-built Temple Israel synagogue, located at Roanoke Avenue and State Street (the names were later changed to Nameoke Street and Dinsmore Avenue) moved in 1930 to their new quarters on Central Avenue in Lawrence, they sold their old building to Congregation Kneseth Israel. Due to this building's appearance (a "white colonial structure"), the shul began to be called ''The White Shul''. In 1964, Congregation Kneseth Israel moved into its present quarters at Empire Avenue and Sage Street, but the name "White Shul" is still in use, including as the name of their website (''whiteshul.org''). The synagogue was affected by and recovered from Hurricane Sandy.

Wisconsin

In Sheboygan, Wisconsin, the synagogue for Congregation Adas Israel used to be informally referred to as the White Shul.

References

External links

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White Shul's prior structure (used by the Orthodox congregation 1930-1964)

Photo of present White Shul
Synagogues in Queens, New York Rockaway, Queens {{US-synagogue-stub