‘Old Guard’ Fights Young Chabad Newcomers for Control of L.A. Synagogue
The trouble at Shaarei Tefila, one of Los Angeles’ oldest Modern Orthodox synagogues, began in 2008 with a disagreement over whether one member’s brother should be allowed to be called up to the Torah. Over the last three years, however, that dispute led to a competition between two groups of members for control over the struggling 77-year-old Beverly Boulevard congregation.
The conflict is now heading to court.
Each of the two factions claims to represent the synagogue’s best interests. One group, called the Committee of Concerned Members and Stakeholders of Congregation Shaarei Tefila, is led by Allan Lowy, a former president of the synagogue and its only officially “expelled member.”
The other group, which currently controls the synagogue’s board and leadership positions, is composed of mostly, though not exclusively, younger synagogue members who are relative newcomers to the congregation.
Lowy, 62, became a bar mitzvah at Shaarei Tefila and continues to pray regularly at the synagogue. He sends regular updates to about 250 recipients from the e-mail address TakeBackOurShul@gmail.com, and said the core of his committee is 25 people, most of them middle-age or older, only some of whom are still formally affiliated with Shaarei Tefila.
After months of back and forth with a Los Angeles-based beit din, or rabbinical court, the two sides failed to agree even on which three rabbis should hear the case. With no clear way forward, the Beit Din of Congregation Agudas Yisroel, led by Rabbi Avrohom Teichman, granted Lowy permission on Sept. 19 to sue the officers of the synagogue in a secular court.
Citing official beit din policy, Teichman would not elaborate as to why Lowy was given this written permit, known halachically, by Jewish law, as a heter arkaot.
Lowy is an attorney and said he intends to file suit after the Sukkot holiday. He will request that the synagogue’s books and records be opened to him and other members and a restraining order placed on the synagogue’s leaders, preventing them from taking actions that would significantly affect the future of Shaarei Tefila. Such an order would prohibit the selling of synagogue assets, merging with another organization or entering into an employment agreement.
Lowy said he also intends to ask the court to invalidate the two most recent Shaarei Tefila board elections and to appoint a monitor for all future elections.
Here, as in many intra-synagogue spats, what might seem to be picayune questions of organizational governance are being hotly contested. And while Lowy claims that the most recent board election, in May 2011, was conducted in defiance of a separate rabbinic injunction, also issued by Teichman’s beit din, members of the synagogue’s leadership counter that Lowy himself is not a “member in good standing” of Shaarei Tefila, and therefore had no right to vote in the last election, nor does he have standing to bring the suit against them.
According to Shaarei Tefila President Alan Goldstein, Lowy still has a “significant” unpaid balance left on his membership account.
“The people who are screaming are not even members,” said Goldstein, a 77-year-old semi-retired businessman who was acting as Shaarei Tefila’s president before being elected to the position in May. “The membership seems to be very happy with what’s going on.”
Lowy, for his part, said that he had attempted to settle his membership account with the synagogue, but that he had been dealt with unfairly by Shaarei Tefila’s immediate past president, Aaron Kin.
Indeed, Lowy traces the beginning of his dissatisfaction with the synagogue’s leadership back to the service in 2008, when Aaron Kin’s brother, Meir Kin, was called up to the Torah in defiance of yet another rabbinic court order. That rare order, known as a seiruv, prohibited any Orthodox synagogue from offering religious honors to Meir Kin until he gave his wife a formal Jewish writ of divorce, known as a get.
Behind the flurry of rabbinic court correspondence, the allegations and counter-allegations of fraudulent elections and fights over unpaid membership dues, what is roiling at Shaarei Tefila is a fight for power.
At stake, first and foremost, is the future direction of a synagogue that was once a proud pillar of Los Angeles’ Modern Orthodox community. Current members of the synagogue’s board, both young and old, have said they are working to ensure Shaarei Tefila will always remain “a community shul.” Lowy and his committee, however, fear that it could soon become a strikingly different institution. And the fact that this synagogue — which, according to Goldstein, filled fewer than one-quarter of the seats in its main sanctuary on Rosh Hashanah this year — is housed in a building worth an estimated $8 million to $10 million cannot be far from anyone’s mind.
Initially known as the Western Jewish Institute, Shaarei Tefila began as a “traditional” synagogue. Men and women sat together in the sanctuary during services, and microphones were used to amplify sound until the late 1960s, when the synagogue began to align itself more with the standard practices of the Orthodox Union.
Over the last two or three decades, however, Shaarei Tefila’s attendance and membership declined, as many Modern Orthodox Jews left the area and moved to Pico-Robertson, Hancock Park or elsewhere. Meanwhile, the neighborhood around the synagogue, which sits on Beverly Boulevard just west of La Brea Avenue, became home to increasingly traditional Jews, many of them affiliated with Chasidic sects.
The newcomers to Shaarei Tefila, the younger men and families who now make up the majority of the synagogue’s membership and board, embody this trend. On Saturdays, about half of the newer members wear the traditional Sabbath-day garb of the Chabad-Lubavitch sect: a black coat, known as a kapote (pronounced kuh-PUH-tuh), cinched with a string belt called a gartel, also black.
“We’re not Chabad,” said Sholom Feigelstock, a Shaarei Tefila board member and the de facto leader of the group of young members. “We’re a group of young guys interested in building this community.”
To Feigelstock’s chagrin, many of the old-timers — including long-time members like Goldstein who have aligned with the new members — regularly refer to the new group of young families as Chabadniks.
With more than 4,000 shluchim, or emissaries, located in the farthest corners of the globe, the visibly expansionist character of Chabad-Lubavitch has occasionally stirred up fears in neighborhoods, communities and college campuses where shluchim establish a presence — a fear that Chabad-affiliated groups are “taking over.”
That’s not the case at Shaarei Tefila, Feigelstock said. In 2008, he and approximately 30 other families who had been praying together at the nearby Chabad of Hancock Park, were invited by Shaarei Tefila’s then-president Aaron Kin to join the synagogue. Feigelstock, who is in his 30s, said that the membership of Shaarei Tefila today includes about 90 young member families who had been drawn to the synagogue to be part of Chabad-oriented services.
The total membership of Shaarei Tefila, Feigelstock said, is hard to determine, but the synagogue sends its mailings out to a list of about 200 individuals and families.
In an interview in May, Feigelstock said that he could understand why the old guard might be concerned by the rapid influx of young families into the community who prayed differently from the Ashkenazi style that had been used in the synagogue for decades. But he dismissed any talk of his group engaging in a takeover.
“We are focused on building Shaarei Tefila to be a nice community for everyone to come to,” Feigelstock said.
Even Goldstein said the synagogue might need an extra layer of protection to prevent its assets from being mishandled, by anyone. “I’m working to create a trust for the shul, in order to make sure that it will always remain a community shul,” he said.
As Lowy prepares his lawsuit aimed at stopping or slowing the changes being made to Shaarei Tefila, the character of the synagogue continues to shift. On Rosh Hashanah, Goldstein said, the main service in the 900-seat sanctuary attracted about 180 people — fewer than the 250 who came to the Chabad-style service in the building’s social hall.
That many people haven’t been seen at Shaarei Tefila in decades. According to Joseph Schames, a past president and 30-year member of the congregation who is now serving as secretary of its board, the synagogue has “turned around in the past year and a half from a shul that was dying to a revitalized shul.”
The main service, which followed an Ashkenazi style, was led by Rabbi Moshe Kesselman, grandson of an influential Chabad rabbi. Kesselman was, until recently, on the staff at Chabad of Beverly Hills and, according to Goldstein, has been retained by Shaarei Tefila to act as the synagogue’s rabbi on a month-to-month basis until a synagogue membership meeting can be called to vote on whether to officially hire him more permanently.
Lowy said he is not opposed to seeing changes at Shaarei Tefila, but rather that he only wants them to be made in a more transparent manner.
“If in an open, fair and transparent election, Kesselman is elected” to be the next rabbi, Lowy said, “it would be my honor to daven [pray] with him. It would be my privilege to work for his success.”
Yossi
Very nice minyan if your not into the craziness of cong. Levi yitzchak
Silly
It’s always a few guys who are extremist who hijack otherwise what 90 percent of the shul finds fine and acceptable. Its sad and silly. Must be money involved involved over who owns the shul… uh hmmm.
Chaim
I visited this shul recently and I have to say that I truly enjoyed the experience!
To #1
Can you define “the craziness of cong. levi yitzchak”?
lmnop?
“we are not chabad”????
ummm ok, wtvr.
An old member of the shul.
Allan Lowy is a mensch and has every right to be involved and have a say in what goes on in the shul. He and his family have been in this shul since *at least* 1960. They are pillars in the community quietly supporting the shul, yeshivot and all Jewish causes.
Kin refused to give his wife a Get got many years which made big news and divided several groups in the community. They went so far as to protest at his home. The former Rav at S.T. didn’t support giving Kin aliyot in shul which angered many people and may have put an end to his career at the shul. Kin came from the shteibels which is a close knit group. It is not news that they protect each other even going so far as to hide illegal activities that go on. Say what you wish but I am with Lowy 100%.
to #1
if anything beis menachem is the “craziness” in la brea!!!
To #1 WHAT?????
what r you mixing in Levi Yitzchok shule, in this whole thing.
levi Yitzchok shule is an amazing shule under Rabbi RAichik!!!
some young modern Chabad couldnt handle being what Chabad should really be. They therefore found another location to have a Shule and joined Sharei Tefilla, hoping to slowly take over. If it works for them ok. but dont knock an amazing Shule such as Levi Yitzchok!!!
honest
‘We are not Chabad’
That is the biggest lie I ever heard….
Every person in that minyan is Chabad…
L.A. anash
Comment #1 and comment #8 are both right. #1 was right as long as those people did Daven with us in Cong Levi Yitzchak, the noise and craziness that they created was totally out of control, now it is a great shul where it is nice by davening and during farbrengens there is no more a need to cover our kids ears due to the words that wee said. yes, financially it is financially harder for for Cong. L.Y. but we will survive. The real losers are the kids at B.M. since they are growing up in a shul where they are not exposed to such basics as seeing a kehilla where growing your beard is of any value, where tznius is actually observed, where most people actually daven, where people follow what Horav Raichik said BEFAYRUSH not to use the eruv snd the list goes on…
#9?
to #9 honest
what makes a person chabad today? the kapota with no gartel? the trimmed beard? the chup on their head? exactly how do u define chabad? because their grandfather or parents once lived in crown heights and they decided to “escape’ crown heights for a ”better life?” Do their spouses dress like chabad? do their kids dress like chabad chassidim? do they aspire to change the world around them?
what defines chabad for someone who is not on emissary today?
MEIR KIN
Give your wife a get & stop being an oisvarf. You shouldn’t be counted in a minyan, let alone have an aliyah. Why do people acknowledge this man? There’s a seruf against him, just look in the Jewish Press. How many misguided families host this sickness for Shabbos & Yom Tov? You need to shun him completely. THINK OF HIS POOR WIFE!!!
Sruly
To #9
Maybe he was trying to say that it is not an official Chabad sanctioned minyan.
Observing in LA
Alan Lowy owes the shul thousands of dollars for pledges that he reneged on. Majority of the shul’s old members are happy to have a young vitalized community occupying their shul even if they daven a different nussach. Rabbi Kesselman is a diamond and the kehila is starting to realize that. Rabbi Raichik is a great man but who is a bit out of touch with today’s young chabadniks. He banned the eiruv in his shul despite the fact that it’s kosher according to the alter rebbe. While tznius and beards are issues that can be improved the key is that these young anash led by Sholom Ber and Boruch want a mentchlich shul for their families and Levi Yitzchok shul wasn’t offering that.
#14, get your facts straight
To #14:
First stick to the positive. knocking others doesn’t raise your esteem. Second, get your facts right. Rabbi Raichik sent a letter that chassidim should not use the eiruv, based on letters from the Rebbe regarding chinuch of children. He did not say the eiruv is possul, and he doesn’t need your help in learning AR shulchan aruch. The bigger question is how can someone consider himself a chossid of the Rebbe and use the eiruv. Rabbi Raichik gave them reshus to make their own shul, knowing that it would financially hurt CLY. If anything, you should thank him for seeing beyond his own personal needs and looking out for the greater good of anash in the neighborhood.
Benji
Figelstock is an absolute liar. Saying that they arent CHABAD is completely untrue. We all know that the “new” members associate themselves as chabad – either because they are actually, or because they went to chabad yeshiva or because their children go to chabad schools. In fact, over 90% of those new families send their kids to a chabad school. Enough with the dishonesty SBF. Tell it like it is. You are chabad, but this is a dying shul and you want to take it over.
Not a fan
To #15. The old rabbonim are totally out of touch with the chabad couples. Rabbi Tauber clearly paskened that this eruv is kosher and that it conforms to the AR’s opinion. (btw, no mention that R’Tauber also thought Raichik’s succah in CLY was possul-and it actually was). We use the eruv and condeming the young chabad families because we use it is wrong. (BTW, R’Raichik DID condem us).
Yosy A.
To #17
Rabbi Raichik never condemned the eiruv. He did say that chassidim shouldn’t use it. Eiruv aside, when you say ‘out of touch’ with young couples, what does that mean? Are you expecting them to allow trimming of beards? Short skirts? Improper covering of hair by your wives? Cholov Akum? Rabbi Kessleman wouldn’t allow that either. You guys want your lifestyles sanctioned by a Rabbi? Go join Temple Beth Am. There is no such thing as a ‘modern lubavitcher’. It is an oxymoron. SBF is correct when he says that you guys aren’t chabad. There is nothing chabad about you.
Defending ST chevra
As in all communities the young families of ST have a broad range of shapes and sizes. Among their 90 families you can find very long beards and very short ones. Same for the skirts and shaitels but the common denominator is that this is a group that wants to be able to provide for themselves in a way that wasn’t being met in CLY. When Bais Shmuel began in CH there were many naysayers yet today BS is arguably the most powerful kehilla in all of CH. I think in a few years ST in LA will be very similar. Rabbi Raichik sadly could have kept them as one family but chose to push them away (he told them they must be at least 2 blocks away when they could have rented 3 doors down), he knew that many used the eruv yet foolishly spoke on shabbos against it alienating a huge portion of his (at that time) young constituents. I’m not sure why people feel that wanting a community for your families is the same as joining “beth am”.
A gutten kop
#18 – the rebbe would be proud of u! A beard doesn’t make a yid-a yid makes a beard. Like the saying goes in heaven they will ask u “bord, vu is dine yid?” condeming entire groups of people is pure loshon horah. U should be embarrassed. Maybe it’s ur actions why people aren’t fully following chabad customs. Maybe it’s other reasos. But stop judging. Regardless, these people are all the rebbes kinder and temimim. So tell the R’Rashab these aren’t chabadncks. Further, SBF’s statement is wholly false and embarresing. We all know it’s untrue
Chag Sameyach
Don’t attack Allan Lowy. Let this be settled in court or by other means and I am sure that Lowy will gladly pay his nedavot. His past actions will dictate his future actions which is to continue to faithfully supporting the shul and the community as he and his family has done for over fifty years.
tauber fan
TO #17a
I’m glad you’re a Tauber fan. Did u ask him about women walking without leg coverings? Tichels with half your hair sticking out? Or r u rabbi shopping for convenient heteirim? And BTW tab gavriel zinner said the sukkah is kosher & for the 3rd time rabbi raichik did not asser the eiruv he said chassidim should not use it based on letters from the Rebbe.
Yosy A.
Comments 19 & 20
How can a clean shaven man call himself a chossid? This isn’t about alienating anyone. No one is condemning them, but don’t ask us to condone them or their behavior either. This is a group of families that want to do as they please. Many don’t even send their kids to Chabad Schools. All Jews were the Rebbe’s kinder, but don’t embarrass Tomchei Tmimim or the Rebbe Rashab by calling these guys tmimim. The Rebbeim were very clear about how a Tomim needs to behave. I stand by my earlier statement that there is nothing chabad about ST or many of it’s members, SBF included.
just a thought
To #16
Yes, 90% of their kids go to Cheder Menachem. Keep in mind that it is a fantastic Cheder, Rabbi Greenbaum is a great Menahel and he has a fantastic staff. The Cheder is ahead of the times. I have spoken many times to many of the Cheder staff who are very concerned with the shmutz that lots of these kids bring with them to school. They are told not to discuss T.V, movies and the likes. For the most part they listen but they really are confused and ask “but my parents are chabad and they do it so what is wrong with it”. In simple words these parents are doing what they should not (who am I to decide what should ore should not be done, I am just commenting based on what the rebbe said …). The cheder accepts these kids for 2 reasons, 1. Why should kids lose out on the zchus of a chabad chinuch just because their parents don’t act as a chossid should, and 2. Hopefully they can fulfill the possuk of vehayshiv lev avos al (yeday) banim.
To #18 who writes that “a beard does not make a yid”, that same argument can be made about eating chazir, and if I am not mistaking the tzemach tzedek puts them both in the same category.
I have nothing against any of the people who Daven in shaarey tefilla, they are very nice people, very kind peaple and big baaley chessed (I am really serious), so is my neighbor who is married to a shikse, the only difference is that my neighbor understands why my kids are not allowed into his house and he does not say “a shikse ahin a shikse aher abi ich bin a yid”.
I have personally benefited from the generosity of SBF, but I must say (for the sake of being honest) that he really believes what he said (I have heard it from him personally…) but he just did not want it to come out publicly because ma yomru hbriyos.
just a thought
To #16
Yes, 90% of their kids go to Cheder Menachem. Keep in mind that it is a fantastic Cheder, Rabbi Greenbaum is a great Menahel and he has a fantastic staff. The Cheder is ahead of the times. I have spoken many times to many of the Cheder staff who are very concerned with the shmutz that lots of these kids bring with them to school. They are told not to discuss T.V, movies and the likes. For the most part they listen but they really are confused and ask “but my parents are chabad and they do it so what is wrong with it”. In simple words these parents are doing what they should not (who am I to decide what should ore should not be done, I am just commenting based on what the rebbe said …). The cheder accepts these kids for 2 reasons, 1. Why should kids lose out on the zchus of a chabad chinuch just because their parents don’t act as a chossid should, and 2. Hopefully they can fulfill the possuk of vehayshiv lev avos al (yeday) banim.
To #18 who writes that “a beard does not make a yid”, that same argument can be made about eating chazir, and if I am not mistaking the tzemach tzedek puts them both in the same category.
I have nothing against any of the people who Daven in shaarey tefilla, they are very nice people, very kind peaple and big baaley chessed (I am really serious), so is my neighbor who is married to a shikse, the only difference is that my neighbor understands why my kids are not allowed into his house and he does not say “a shikse ahin a shikse aher abi ich bin a yid”.
I have personally benefited from the generosity of SBF, but I must say (for the sake of being honest) that he really believes what he said (I have heard it from him personally…) but he just did not want it to come out publicly because ma yomru hbriyos.
Los Angeles Resident
Chevra don’t get ahead of yourselves, Los Angeles is knows as a community that we all get along, Chassidim, Misnagdim, Frum, Ashkenazi, Sefardi, and unaffiliated. Let’s not wash the dirty laundry of a few Yentes that do not represent Los Angeles.
Here in Los Angeles; we all get along nicely; we are a growing community that is enjoying our 70 degree no rain weather in our sukkah.
“Kinnus Sofrim Marbe Chochma” let’s focus on the positive and our potential. Like our Rebbe says: “Every Yid is a potential” even the top Chasidim and Yidin can grow.
Let’s be positive and not lose focus by putting down our brothers and sisters!
Yossi
I’m in la a few times a year. By craziness of cong. Levi yitzchak I feel like the shul is a free for all. It’s kinda like a banana republic. It reminds me of the present day 770 and I’m not into that. There’s nothing wrong with davening there though. If BM wasn’t there I would go to Levi yitzchak, people there are friendly and mean well and I’d have to tune out the yechi stuff.
to #26 and a/o else following ths cmnts
i dont think any of the comments were trying to put down ppl who go 2 shaarei tefillah, but just stating a fact of the truth of why they wanted thr own shule. they can call themselves chabad, yet, they dont have beards, dont cover legs, wear mini skirts, leggings, wear falls as shaitels……. and not feel guilty abt it cuz e/o arnd them looks like they do.
bottom line is: hopefully they are reading all these comments and realizing what damage they are doing to themselves and the future of their children and will hopefully then really CHANGE and act like a chassid should!
LA MORAH
dear #17- surely you know that all the lubavitcher rabanim in LA do no not hold by the eruv. it’s sad to knock a rabbi who’s entire life,along with his rebitzen’s,is about helping other jews.you want the rabanim to say your dress,mixing etc is kosher? who’s REALLY out of touch?
LA MORAH
#19-so you think a rav should only speak/posken in a politically fashion that will make everyone happy? uch un vey.
TO #27
So, 27 comments later we find out that “craziness of cong. levi yitzchak” means the “yechi stuff”…..
(btw: How much “yechi stuff” did you hear there?….)
TO LA MORAH
Your eruv comment is incorrect and you are doing real damage by spreading your misconceptions. Call Rabbi Schusterman, Raichik, etc and they will both tell you clearly that they never claimed “not to hold by the eruv” or that this eruv is not to our standards. Rather they feel that it’s best for oneself (as the Alter Rebbe states) to be strict. Saying they don’t hold of the eruv is foolish as there is an entire mesechta called “eruvin”! #17 was correct that our LA eruv DOES go according to the AR and B”H the lubavitchers that use it to enable their wives to come to shul and eat at each other’s homes are certainly doing the correct thing.
wondering
To #27:
To sum it up: Lack of beards, lack of tznius, ETC. (’nuff said for those who know),
that “stuff” is all o.k. – as long as there’s no “Yechi stuff”?!
brother from the hood
only the REBBA can say who is chabad and who is not
evry one eles can shut up and kush a bear untern each
This is sad
I find this whole chain to be sad. Yes, chabad should have beards, but its the myopic viewpoints expressed here that actually cause many of the young chevra to be displeased with chabad. Your condesending attitudes are exactly why many dont have beards. The Rebbe didnt discriminate. And neither do shluchim…as long as your giving them money. Once you stop – attitudes like above come out. Its a shame that anyone thinks they can degrade fellow lubavitchers by saying they arent chabad because they trim or shave. May gd judge you more kindly than that.
Los Angeles Resident
To # 28: A Chosid to another Chosid: you sound like an “Ox mit a Straimel” we know who you are: maybe it would be best if you focus on your Sholom Bais and improving in your job in Chinuch, so parents can be proud of you. The basics of a chosid (before the levush and the beard) is treating your wife and children (un yenems kinder) vi es darf zain! Vdal!
Congregation Levi Yitzchok Member
It sounds like all the comments are from members of Levi Yitzchok, i don’t see any comments by the Yunge Chevra from Shaarei Tefila. I guess they are busy with their families and trying to make a parnassa. The people from our shul (Levi Yitzchok) who are commenting need to get a job (or a 2nd job), it sounds like they have too much time on their hands, and our shul can definitely use the additional revenue!
Good yom tov everyone!
to #37
maybe the people from CLY are more careful about avoiding working on chol ha’moed so they have more time.
either way, everyone should have a good yom tov whichever shul they decide to attend, and it should be only be from love for every Jew regardless of his/her shul, beard, sheitel, socks (or lack thereof) and this will definitely bring to fruition all the brochas from the Rebbe that are waiting to be rained down on us.
LA MORAH
to #32-you pasken it’s the correct thing.now i know,thanks.
PS the young chevra has many stregths and mailahs but the reality is their kabolas ol and yiras shmayim needs some work. to blame it on the the rest of us,as some of the posters do above ,is rediculous.you’re adults now and it’s time to take personal respnsibilty for your actions.
Yossi
This is a great thread!
Some here are focusing on the lack of beards. Does not having a beard make you less ehrlich?
There are too many frum yidden out there who do a lot worse than trim their beard. I don’t want the line of comments here to get too crazy but there are people in CLY who have either served jail time or have stolen from other Jews without shame and are respected members of the shul. I don’t think “Thou shall not trimeth thy beard” is one of the aseres adibros.
Milhouse
#40, are the other 603 mitzvos less important than the aseres hadibros?! Are you not aware that the Tzemach Tzedek holds that trimming your beard is an issur de’oraisa?
Concerned about #36, 37, 40
Oy Gevald! We went from tackling ISSUES to tackling PEOPLE on very personal things!
(The fact that you don’t have a good response does not give you any right to personal attacks. Shfichus domim!)