Manhattan, NY – Three years after a Lower East Side match that seemed made in heaven, Manhattan’s historic but struggling Sixth Street Community Synagogue and popular Chabad rabbi Simon Jacobson have divorced amid acrimony to rival that of a bad marriage from an Isaac Bashevis Singer tale.
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Jacobson, once seen by members of the synagogue as a potential savior, moved out of the building in February, after a slate of his supporters for the board lost in the first leadership elections held by the synagogue in more than a decade.
The vote was 83–2. But the lopsided result came about only after the synagogue’s rabbi, Greg Wall, announced at the meeting that voting rights were restricted to synagogue members who attended services at least once a month and contributed funds to the shul on a regular basis. This eliminated many new members that had been brought in by Jacobson via means that the congregation’s old guard challenged. Actually, even counting new members, Jacobson’s slate lost, 155–100.
As a result, the old guard, led by Second Avenue Deli owner Jack Lebewohl and synagogue president David Landis, emerged as victors. The question is, now that they have won, what will the financially troubled congregation do to stay afloat?
Read full article in Forward
Can someone explain without all the insignificant details.
Just read the headline if it’s too much for you LOL
That building has a very sad history. It was originally a church (thus explaining the slightly odd interior configuration) and virtually its entire congregation was burned/drowned in the General Slocum disaster in 1904 (they were on their annual boat outing). The General Slocum disaster was the New York area’s worst disaster in terms of loss of life until the September 11, 2001 attacks. The few remaining members of the congregation sold the building to Yidden shortly thereafter. There is a plaque to the victims on the front of the building.
This was handled well compared to other recent cases where the rebbe had alienated his kehillah. The worst recent case was the one involving the rav in Australia who sued the shul for a big sum when they told him to take a hike. The spectre of a rav attempting to force himself on a shul is a real chillul hashem. This LES shul caseseems to have been relatively painless.
Complicated? Its money honey.