Agudas Achim Congregation (Alexandria, Virginia)
| Agudas Achim Congregation | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Basic information | |
| Location |
2908 Valley Drive, Alexandria, Virginia, U.S. |
| Geographic coordinates |
38° 49' 50" N |
| Affiliation | Conservative Judaism |
| Country | United States of America |
| Year consecrated | 1963 (dedication date of new building; congregation dates from 1914) |
| Status | Active |
| Leadership | Rabbi Steven Rein |
| Website |
www |
Agudas Achim Congregation is a Conservative synagogue located in Alexandria, Virginia.[1][2] The synagogue was founded in 1914, and its cemetery was founded in 1933.
Ideology
The synagogue is an egalitarian Jewish community affiliated with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.[3]
The congregation has approximately 550 member units, conducts twice-daily minyanim, and observes Jewish religious holidays.
It supports an active pre-school, religious school, and socials group such as Sisterhood, Men’s Club, young marrieds, teens and children. The synagogue maintains a cemetery two miles away. It has a house band, Ein Lanu Z’man {We Have No Time) (www.einlanuzman.com). It is governed by a 20-person board of directors.
History
The synagogue was founded in 1914.[4][5][6] by 10-14 Jewish families of Russian and eastern European descent. Services were originally held in in Sarepta Hall, on the second floor of 407-411 King Street, in the Old Town section of Alexandria. The style of services was traditional, what would today be called Orthodox – men and women worshipped separately, the services were all in Hebrew and English was not spoken. The building was owned by Samuel Rosenberg (1879-1930), one of the founders of the shul, who had a department store on the ground floor (his first store was in Gadsby’s Tavern). Sarepta Hall was also rented out by other civic groups. City directories for this period also list Agudas Achim Congregation at 413 King St., with Rev. William Finkelstein as Rabbi, living across the street at 426 King.
In 1927, the congregation acquired a large Italianate building at 508 Wolfe Street, built around 1850, for the synagogue.[7][8] The two-story house had been bought by a group called "Congregation Beth Israel" in November 1927 and part of the 1928 sale was a merger with AAC. The origins of Congregation Beth Israel are unclear. One belief is that within the families of AAC was a group that wanted the house so the congregation could expand, while others did not want to undertake ownership, and the people who formed CBI just went ahead and did it. Then, in a conciliation, the rest of AAC followed. Congregation Beth Israel effectively ceased to exist. AAC had owned a vacant lot on Cameron near Pitt since 1922, probably for future construction, but sold it in 1929 to reduce the Wolfe St. mortgage.
In 1946, the synagogue sold the building to a post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.[8]
In 1947 a triangular property with a house was purchased at the intersection of Russell Road, W. Mason St. and High Street. During renovation the shul met for a few months in the old Alexandria Academy building at Wolfe and S. Washington. Russell Rd. was always intended as a temporary location while a larger shul was built uphill, though there were some who just wanted to stay at Russell Rd. Ground was broken at 2908 Valley Dr. in 1956, and the building was completed at the end of 1957. On December 1, 1957 there was a farewell service at the building on Russell Rd. Afterwards the Torahs were “brought in auto cavalcade” to the new building and placed in the ark. Consecration services were held, and the eternal flame lit. The official dedication was March 30, 1958.
In 2005, Agudas Achim Congregation opened a preschool for children ages two to five, which is housed in large, sunny rooms in the shul’s secure educational wing. The preschool is always near its capacity of 100 students. It is staffed by 10 classroom teachers, 10 aides, a music teacher, Hebrew teacher and a physical therapist. It has a large and unique Jerusalem-themed playground that was custom-designed and built by volunteer labor. In the summer the educational wing and the playground host sessions of a summer camp for toddlers. The synagogue's rabbi, hazzan, and religious school director regularly participate with the children.[6]
In 2006–07 Agudas Achim served as the temporary home of the nearby Westminster Presbyterian Church of Alexandria during the church's renovations.[21]
Clergy
Rabbi Steven Rein Rabbi Rein has been the rabbi since 2014. He is committed to inspiring, educating and supporting members of the community towards living passion-filled Jewish lives. From tots to teens, from singles to mature adults, he is intent on making Agudas Achim Congregation their Jewish home.
Originally from Fairfield, New Jersey, Rabbi Rein received his rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary where he also earned an M.A. in Talmud and Rabbinics from the Graduate School at JTS. He comes to Agudas Achim Congregation after five years as the Assistant Rabbi of Park Avenue Synagogue in Manhattan.
Outside of his synagogue responsibilities, Rabbi Rein is a reserve chaplain in the United States Air Force. Commissioned in 2005 he has served at Hanscom AFB, MA, the United States Air Force Academy, CO, Wright Patterson AFB, OH, Bolling Air Force Base, DC, and Langley AFB, VA. Rabbi Rein was promoted to Captain in October 2010 and has served the 11th Wing at Joint Base Andrews, MD since 2014. He has also served since 2011 as a member of the Religious Leadership Advisory Board of the Jewish Theological Seminary.
In his spare time, Rabbi Rein is an avid fan of the New York Yankees and New Jersey Devils. Rabbi Rein is married to Jodi Hirsch Rein, Director of the Elementary School at Gesher Jewish Day School. He and Jodi, along with their children, Ari and Ilan, are excited to be a part of the Agudas Achim family.
Hazzan Elisheva Dienstfrey Hazzan Elisheva Dinestfrey serves as the hazzan (cantor) of Agudas Achim Congregation. A member of the class of 2000 of the Jewish Theological Seminary’s H. L. Miller Cantorial School, Elisheva came to Agudas Achim directly from graduate school and began her tenure in July of that year.
Originally from Albuquerque, NM, Hazzan Dienstfrey participated in Jewish musical activities from the time she joined her synagogue children’s choir at age 7. Hazzan Dienstfrey obtained a dual degree in Music and Religious Studies from Occidental College, studied at Hebrew University and the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem, and worked as Cantor of the Society for the Advancement of Judaism in New York City. She has toured Europe with the U.S. National Chorus.
During services, Hazzan Dienstfrey uses melodies and tunes from Jewish culture around the world, from both ancient and modern times. In addition to leading services, Hazzan Dienstfrey acts as both spiritual leader of the community through her pastoral work and teacher to everyone in the community, from the youngest members in the Preschool and the religious school to our b’nai mitzvah students and teens, young families, and adults in our life-long learning program.
Hazzan Dienstfrey is an active member of the Cantors Assembly and a founding member of the Agudas Achim house band, Ein Lanu Z’man (www.einlanuzman.com), which has made a CD with videos of its work posted on YouTube. She is married to Tobias Dienstfrey and the couple has four children.
Rabbi Emeritus Jack Moline Rabbi Moline served as rabbi of Agudas Achim Congregation for 27 years, from 1987 to 2013, one of the longest-tenured religious figures in Northern Virginia. During that time the Congregation grew to more than 500 member families, reestablished a Jewish preschool, and saw the role of women fully integrated into the religious and secular activities of the shul. He was awarded emeritus status in 2014.
He has served as president of the Washington Board of Rabbis and is past chair of the Alexandria Interfaith Association. He has served as chair of the Interfaith Relations Committee of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, vice president of the Washington-Baltimore Rabbinical Assembly and board member of the Faith and Politics Institute. He also served as the first Director of Public Policy for the Rabbinical Assembly and was briefly executive director of National Jewish Democratic Committee. He serves on the advisory boards of Clergy Beyond Borders; Operation Understanding DC.; and has advised and consulted with many other Jewish and interfaith organizations on issues of faith and values.
In 2008, Rabbi Moline was named by Newsweek magazine as one of the top pulpit rabbis in America (#3 in a list of 25), and in 2010 and 2011 Newsweek identified him as one of the 50 most influential rabbis in America. In 1995, he helped write President Bill Clinton's famous "Shalom, Haver" eulogy for Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. He is the author of two books, "Growing Up Jewish," a book of humor, and "Jewish Leadership and Heroism," a source book published by United Synagogue Youth. Moline visited the White House weekly to lead a Torah study session with Rahm Emanuel (a member of AAC) when Emanuel was a political advisor in the Clinton administration.
Rabbi Moline graduated from Northwestern University (School of Communications), in 1974. Before entering the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS) he served as Director of Youth Activities for the Seaboard Region of United Synagogue and interim director of the Hillel Foundation at the University of Virginia. He was ordained in 1982 by JTS in New York, spending his first two years at the University of Judaism (now the American Jewish University) in Los Angeles. During third-year studies at the JTS Jerusalem campus, he served as rabbi of the Conservative congregation of Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter.
His first pulpit was at Congregation B'nai Israel in Danbury, Connecticut. In 1987, he became rabbi of Agudas Achim Congregation. He currently is Executive Director of the Interfaith Alliance, on whose board he served for many years.
Previous religious leaders Rabbi Sheldon E. Elster became the synagogue's rabbi in 1968 and served until 1986. [30] Rabbi Theodore Steinberg was rabbi of the synagogue in the late 1950s and early 1960s. [29]
Hazzan Ramon Tasat served as cantor of AAC for nearly a decade. He is a highly regarded authority on Ladino music, the language of the Sephardic peoples. Trained in five different countries, he received a doctorate in voice performance from the University of Texas at Austin. His doctoral dissertation is entitled “The Cantillations and Religious Poems of the Jews of Tangier, Morocco.” He was born in Buenos Aires and is currently the cantor of an emerging Jewish congregation in southern Montgomery county, Maryland. He is a well-known recording and concert artist.
Barry Nove, Executive Director Barry Nove was named Executive Director of Agudas Achim Congregation in June 2017. Before joining Agudas Achim Congregation, Barry was Executive Director of Oseh Shalom, a Reconstructionist congregation in Maryland. Barry has worked as a development director for Jewish community federations in Washington, DC, New York, Illinois, Minnesota, and Ohio as well as at the Jewish Publication Society. Barry has a bachelors degree in economics and masters of social work both from Yeshiva University.
Chaya Silver, Education and Youth Director Chaya Silver grew up in Oak Ridge, TN. Both of her parents were actively involved with the synagogue there and despite the small size of the community, it was a very vigorous, engaging congregation. Her youth group years were spent actively involved in Young Judaea. She attended Brandeis University and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology, followed by earning a MFA in acting and directing from The University of Tennessee. She then studied for several years at the University of Wisconsin Madison focusing on creative drama and education.
She came to Agudas Achim Congregation with more than 25 years of experience as a Jewish professional. She worked in Tulsa, OK as Program Director at their JCC and in Knoxville, TN as Education Director at Heska Amuna Synagogue. She moved to the Washington, DC area several years ago and have worked as Education Director at Adat Shalom in Bethesda, at Olney Kehilah as Education Director and at other agencies as a freelance Jewish educator and programmer including the DCJCC and Temple Rodef Shalom. She has three adult children and enjoys hiking, gardening, knitting, making soup, listening to all types of live music and attending theatre.
Jen Halpern, Preschool Director
Jen has been an educator for more than two decades and director of the Agudas Achim Preschool since 2014. She has taught and led programming for students from preschool through high school. She joined the Agudas Achim Congregation synagogue while completing her undergraduate degree at George Mason University and began teaching in the religious school soon after. Later, she met her husband, Hugh, during Shabbat services. They were married at Agudas Achim in 1998.
Beginning her career while still in college, Ms. Halpern worked at the George Mason University Child Development Center and later at Keshet Child Development Center, the former Agudas Achim preschool co-sponsored with Temple Beth El. After completing her Master’s degree in education at Marymount University, she received her Virginia teaching license and began teaching third grade in Arlington Public Schools.
When Jen returned to work following the birth of her son Ari, she worked in a variety of positions at Agudas Achim, including teaching in the Religious School, planning Purim programming, and leading Gan Shabbat. She also volunteered extensively at her son’s preschool, serving on the board and as director of the summer camp.
In 2009, she joined the faculty of Gesher Jewish Day School where she taught fourth and fifth grade. She also served as the interim elementary school director during the 2013–14 school year and the school-wide curriculum coordinator beginning in 2013. During her career, Jen has sought to bring new and innovative programming to each environment where she has taught. She led the Rosh Chodesh: It’s a Girl Thing! program for teenage girls at Agudas Achim. She also received a grant from Legacy Heritage Fund to integrate Jewish and secular history into Gesher’s curriculum. She lives in Alexandria with her family.
References
- ↑ Oded Rosen (1983). The Encyclopedia of Jewish institutions: United States & Canada. Mosadot Publications. Retrieved June 25, 2011.
- ↑ Henry G Brinton (July 30, 2007). "Faith at the office. Why not?; You don't have to leave your beliefs at home. In fact, some employers see the value of integrating religion and work in meaningful ways". USA Today. Retrieved June 25, 2011.