Hebrew Institute of Riverdale

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Hebrew Institute of Riverdale
The Bayit
Basic information
Location 3700 Henry Hudson Parkway
Riverdale (The Bronx), New York
United States
Affiliation Modern Orthodox Judaism
Ecclesiastical or organizational status Synagogue
Status Active
Leadership Rabbi Avi Weiss (until July 2015)
Website www.thebayit.org
Completed 1980 (current building)

The Hebrew Institute of Riverdale is a Modern Orthodox synagogue in the residential Riverdale neighborhood of New York City. The congregation was founded in 1971 and has been led by Rabbi Avi Weiss since 1973,[1] although he announced in October of 2014 that he will be stepping down from his position as rabbi in July of 2015.[2]

The congregation is known for its outreach and adult education programs as well as pioneering women’s participation in prayer and Torah study.[1][3]

History

The Hebrew Institute of Riverdale was founded in 1971 in a boiler room of the Whitehall Building off the Henry Hudson Parkway by thirty-five families, former members of the Hebrew Institute of University Heights in the Bronx who had moved to Riverdale.[1] In 1973, Avi Weiss, who had finished his training at Yeshiva University a few years earlier, became the synagogue's rabbi. The congregation met at the Whitehall apartment building in the early years, before constructing a permanent building in 1980.[1]

The Hebrew Institute became known for its activism in the campaign to free Soviet Jewry and in defense of Israel.

The congregation has grown to 850 families, and has served as a platform for Weiss’s rabbinical advocacy.[4] The Jerusalem Post has called the Hebrew Institute “a training ground for young Modern Orthodox rabbis who go on to take over congregations of their own.”[5]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Olitzky, Kerry M.; Raphael, Marc Lee. The American Synagogue: A Historical Dictionary and Sourcebook, Greenwood Press, 1996, p. 224. online Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "Olitzky1996p224" defined multiple times with different content
  2. Rabbi Avi Weiss to step down as rabbi of Hebrew Institute of Riverdale
  3. Weiss, Avi. Women at Prayer: A Halakhic Analysis of Women's Prayer Groups, KTAV Publishing House, 2001 p. xii.
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  5. Jerusalem Post, May 24, 2002.

Website