Stealth Chabad In Manhattan

Stealth Chabad rabbi Dovi Scheiner as portrayed in today's New York Jewish Week:

On a recent Monday afternoon, an elevator in a sleek Soho apartment building opens into an airy loft. It’s the kind of space one often sees on television when a location is called upon to convey a dab of downtown splendor: minimalist design, Chuck Close and Warhol on the walls, a gaggle of beautiful people clinking glasses. And eating cheesecake — after all, this is a Shavuot party, organized by the Soho Synagogue, the first such institution in the neighborhood’s history.

As the pretty young things, clad in designer clothes, orbit around the room, nibbling on one of 18 exotic homemade cheesecakes, one man stands out in the crowd. He’s rail thin, with soulful brown eyes and a white shirt with tzitzit peeking from underneath. He wears a velvet yarmulke with his name embroidered on top: Rabbi Dovi.

His name is Dovi Scheiner, 28, the lively spirit behind the synagogue. Although the synagogue is still raising funds to afford a permanent sanctuary, hopefully by the High Holy Days, Rabbi Scheiner has succeeded nonetheless in gathering a committed group of several hundred young Jews to attend and organize events, help network and fundraise, and establish a lively Jewish community in a neighborhood where such a creation seemed unlikely.

A peek at Rabbi Scheiner’s biography reveals an eerie bond with downtown Manhattan: On Sept. 11, 2001, just hours after the World Trade Center crumbled into a smoldering heap, the rabbi and his wife, Esty, were married in Brooklyn.

“We tried to figure that one out,” he said, “and we got guidance to continue with the wedding and see it in the context of good. Not to feel guilty about being happy when everybody’s so sad, but to feel good for doing something righteous on a day that epitomized evil.” …

Jewish law forbids having a celebration of any type in the midst of a tragedy like 9-11. But what does Jewish law matter to Rabbi Dovi?

“I want to have a lounge-type atmosphere inside the sanctuary,” he said. “I want to undo the whole bench thing; no more hard wooden benches from 200 years ago. Instead, we’ll have comfortable one- or two-seaters, maybe coffee tables with Jewish reading materials on them.”…

For those that may not know, there are many Jewish laws governing how a synagogue is designed and utilized. Benches are not mandatory and comfort is not forbidden. However, a "lounge-type atmosphere" is definately not kosher.

And then, we have the troublesome issue of Shabbat morning services that last more than 30 minutes:

“I know where people are coming from,” Rabbi [Dovi] Scheiner said. “Even I myself, I’m a bit ADD,” referring to the hyperactivity syndrome. “It’s hard to sit for three hours. If we have a mumbling Brooklyn Orthodox synagogue, we’re not going to have any membership,” he said. “We’re sensitive to how time-sensitive and attention-sensitive people are, and how foreign this is for some of them.

“We’re not going to rewrite the laws, but make people comfortable with the ideas and warm up to them, perhaps breaking the Shabbat morning services into time sections, and invite people who aren’t into sitting for two-and-a-half hours for Torah reading and musaf to come halfway through or leave early and participate in a portion of the services.”

And then we have Rabbi Dovi's "training":

… Still, something was missing for Rabbi Scheiner, an Orthodox rabbi trained at the Maayanot Institute in Jerusalem, a renowned yeshiva known for its broad and inclusive approach to Jewish studies.

Maayanot is a Chabad Jerusalem-based ba'al teshuva program that does not grant semicha and only allows students to learn for a maximum of two years. It seems Dovi was a counsellor there. Among the other luminaries trained by working at Ma'ayanot is Max Kohanzad, a.k.a. xLubi.com.

Comments

[malach]

Sheiner is good at getting articles into newspapers apparently.
His wife god a front page picture and article in the metro section of The New York Times about he challah baking prowess.She gives her home baked challas everyweek to such luminaries as Mayor Mike Bloomberg at city hall.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/latimests/20050625/ts_latimes/alobbyistsemailtrailofbillingstatuscharity

[Schneur]

I was under the impression Rabbi Shmaya Katz is the official shliach of Chabad in the Wall St. area.
Whose shliach is this guy?
New York is wide open , the city has undergone a tremendous transformation in the last few years and tens of thousands of Unaffiliated Jews live in all sorts of neighborhoods without shuls. Places like DUMBO, Inwood , Brooklyn Hts, Park slope, and other areas in Lower NYC and Brooklyn(even hipster Williamsburg probably does not have a shul serving the Jewish "artists" there the same goes for the Lower East Side as regards its New Jews. as well as Queens are underserved in terms of dealing with the Jewish yupees.
Yet few of our yeshivoth located within 3-5 miles of these places are interested. So how can we really knock Lubavitch and its fwellow travellers.

[Max Kohanzad]

please don't use my name in such a derogatory and disparaging manner - it assumes that you have some kind of moral high ground and that you are better than me - just because you think you're frum? and that I, R.Dov and Mayanot are therefore 'reform chabad' -

please STOP using 'Judaism' as an excuse for being a knob.

[Shmarya]

Sorry, Max – no insult intended.

[FrumCO]

Hey do you think we could at least give the guy credit for actually following his dreams and getting out there? They aren't seeking the publicity- in fact they were at this a long time before they got ANY publicity. Yes his wife was in the paper for her Challot- she makes great ones and brings them to the Mayor- his staff alerted the press and that is how the story was done.
He is not an official shliach but yes, they were married on 9/11/01 and that shaped their married life. No they didn't WANT to go through with the ceremony but their Rabbis told them to counteract the terror with joy. In fact Rabbi Dovi was so overcome with emotion that he fainted at the wedding. Because of the tragedy- they shaped their married life to reach out to the younger Jews in the city. And frankly, they are making a difference. They have hundreds of people attending their events and they are bringing spirituality back to that area that was so affected. Can you say the same?

So maybe instead of criticizing another’s positive effect, we should be out there trying to have as much of an effect. The main problem we have as a people is that some just sit on their tuches and criticize the good works of others.

Go do a mitzvah!

[robert swartz]

where is it located? phone?
please respond.
thanks

[robert swartz]

where is it located? phone?
please respond.
thanks

[Shmarya]

I don't have the address or phone – why not ask the Jewish Week?

[Bruce Levy]

Thank you very much for this post Stealth Chabad in Manhattan. I was very impressed by the quotes you brought from this rabbi, and decided to go there for myself. It was very halachic even though lounge-like. The uniquely Yiddishe varemkeit was so there and you immediately felt right at home. I would recommend attending for a Shabbos to any young Jewish man or woman, professional or not, who needs a little extra attention to be inspired to come closer to their roots of Torah and Mitzvahs. The criticisms were unfounded.

[Anonymous]

I received smicha in maayanot

[My G-d]

As a young professional Modern Ortho Jew,
I'm overly insulted by this movement since when did CHABAD have to compromise its environment to bring Jews to Judaism... How is it we cant even look like we are sitting in a non kosher restaurant for the intention even if we are not eating there with a Kippa on our head but have you seen their photos for Yom Kippur services on their website???

We have Reform Judaism for these people dont pollute the holiest of what we have. HAVE SOME SHAME

[Inquiring Mind]

It's february 2009, almost 4 years since the original post, and still no synagogue for soho synagogue.

Is it just a marketing gimmick to throw parties, with the occasional religious service, and some partial party proceeds given to charity, for semi-believeable authenticity, or is this truly a synagogue that just hasn't gotten to where it wants yet?

I'd like to hear what the rabbi has to say.

[Yulia]

In somehow it is a gimmick, may be Dovi is creating something like a second Jdate...ok, with a wealth and good looking filter, but that happens in a lot of groups of this kind. So, the website shows very good looking people, and even if it is not what a synagogue is supposed to be it is ok as long as he is successful in throwing elegant receptions. Ok collecting money for not very accurate charity is not exactly perfect. Ok, he should not call that a synagogue...but....one day he will change that and everybody will be happy !