Agudas Achim Congregation (Alexandria, Virginia)

For other similarly named synagogues, see Agudas Achim.
Agudas Achim Congregation
Basic information
Location 2908 Valley Drive,
Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.
Geographic coordinates

38° 49' 50" N
77° 4' 47" W

Coordinates: 38°49′50.15″N 77°4′47.35″W / 38.8305972°N 77.0798194°W / 38.8305972; -77.0798194
Affiliation Conservative Judaism
Year consecrated 1963 (dedication date of new building; congregation dates from 1914)
Status Active
Leadership Rabbi Steven Rein
Website agudasachim-va.org
Architectural description

Agudas Achim Congregation is a Conservative synagogue located at 2908 Valley Drive in Alexandria, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, DC.[1][2] The synagogue was founded in 1914, and its cemetery was founded in 1933.

Ideology

The synagogue considers itself an egalitarian Conservative institution.[3]

History

The synagogue was founded in 1914.[4][5][6] Agudas Achim Congregation developed as a breakaway congregation from Alexandria's Beth El Hebrew Congregation, founded in 1859, after new Eastern European immigrants who did not like Beth El's classical Reform approach left and established Agudas Achim Congregation. In 1927, the congregation acquired a large Italianate building at 508 Wolfe Street, built around 1850, for the synagogue.[7][8] In 1946, the synagogue sold the building to a post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.[8]

In 1958, the synagogue's president, Murray J. Goldberg, joined other Virginia Jewish leaders in backing freedom of speech for rabbis. They spoke out after Jews in the Southern U.S. were threatened for supporting civil rights for African-Americans and after the bombing of the Hebrew Benevolent Congregation Temple in Atlanta.[9]

A new synagogue building was dedicated on December 30, 1963, with President Lyndon B. Johnson as a speaker.[10][11] The new building was designed by Joseph Miller.[12]

In 1982, Gesher Jewish Day School of Northern Virginia opened as a kindergarten at Agudas Achim Congregation.[13][14] It relocated to larger quarters in 1994, after outgrowing its space.[14][15]

In 1985, Agudas Achim Congregation and Reform Beth El Hebrew Congregation co-founded a pre-school named Keshet Child Development Center.[16] The synagogue took an active role, sitting on the school board. In 2001, however, Agudas Achim withdrew because of issues regarding non-Jewish lay leadership at the pre-school.[16][17] The synagogue's rabbi said: "Our congregational charter did not permit the representation by non-Jews, and Keshet's experience was that some of the best leaders were the non-Jewish parents," the synagogue's rabbi Jack Moline said.[17]

On September 21, 2004, Representative Tom Davis of Virginia commemorated the 90th anniversary of the synagogue in the United States House of Representatives.[4]

In 2005, Agudas Achim Congregation opened a start-up Preschool for the Performing Arts for children ages two to four.[18] The synagogue ended its relationship with the school three months later by mutual consent, as a result of different visions as to how to run the school.[18] The synagogue's president said that he wanted the preschool to be integrated better into the synagogue, with regard to programming and a summer camp program.[18] That same year, the school received a $38,165 grant from the federal government in homeland security funds approved by Congress to "harden targets" at its facility, which it used to purchase security equipment.[19] The synagogue's rabbi, hazzan, and religious school director regularly participate with the children.[6]

In 2006, Agudas Achim Congregation changed the time that its Friday night services began from 8 PM to 6:30 PM, to increase the number of its congregants attending the services.[20] According to Mirza Lopez, its executive director, early results were encouraging.[20] At the same time, its Saturday morning services were typically attracting 250 congregants.[20]

In 2006–07 Agudas Achim served as the temporary home of the Westminster Presbyterian Church of Alexandria during the church's renovations.[21] In a sermon in 2007, Senior Pastor Dr. Larry R. Hayward of the church said that the synagogue's rabbi had told him that when the church performed its renovation: "not only would we be welcome at Agudas Achim, but we would probably cause great collective disappointment to their congregation if we did not worship here."[21] He reminisced that in 2006, the rabbi and several members of the synagogue joined church members at the church, to process to the synagogue, and that: "Then, when a hundred or more of their members formed a line outside their door and welcomed us with handshakes and applause, we were overwhelmed. There wasn't a dry eye on the sidewalk".[21]

Membership and dues

The synagogue has about 550 member units.[3] Rahm Emanuel and his family attended this congregation while he worked in the White House.[22][23][24] In 2008, as a financial incentive to attract congregants, the synagogue offered newlyweds dues of $500, and full-time students younger than 30 a dues price of $180.[25]

Clergy

Rabbi Jack Moline, rabbi of Agudas Achim Congregation since 1987

The current rabbi is Jack Moline, who has been the synagogue's rabbi since 1987 and who was named by Newsweek magazine as one of the 50 most influential rabbis in America, placing 26th on the list.[26][27] The synagogue's executive director notes the popularity of Moline's Saturday morning dvar Torah.[20] The rabbi was noted by The New York Times for praising Inglourious Basterds and its portrayal of Jews.[28]

Rabbi Theodore Steinberg was rabbi of the synagogue in the late 1950s and early 1960s.[29] Rabbi Sheldon Elster became the synagogue's rabbi in 1968.[30]

Agudas Achim Congregation Cemetery

The Agudas Achim Congregation Cemetery, founded in January 1933 after the synagogue purchased the property from the City of Alexandria on November 30, 1932, at a "spirited" auction for $250 ($4,300 today), is located on Jefferson Street in Alexandria.[31][32] A section that has become a "Meditation Garden" was added by the City Council in November 1943, for the use of the synagogue, "so long as the premises is used, kept and maintained by said religious congregation as a cemetery chapel without any manner of excavation."[31][32]

References

  1. ↑ Oded Rosen (1983). The Encyclopedia of Jewish institutions: United States & Canada. Mosadot Publications. Retrieved June 25, 2011.
  2. ↑ 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.
  3. 1 2 "About Us". Agudas Achim Congregation. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved June 23, 2011.
  4. 1 2 Congress (September 21, 2004). Congressional Record. Government Printing Office. Retrieved June 25, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Connect; Eileh HaDevarim" (PDF). Agudas Achim Congregation. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  6. 1 2 "Jewish Preschool in Alexandria, Virginia". Agudas Achim Congregation. March 27, 2011. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  7. ↑ Adam Kredo (April 22, 2009). "The big 1-5-0". Washington Jewish Week. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  8. 1 2 Office of Historic Alexandria (November 5, 2009). "Out of the Attic | 508 Wolfe Street". Alexandria Times. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  9. ↑ Milton Friedman (October 24, 1958). "Fighting Mood Grows Among Southern Jews". The Canadian Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved June 25, 2011.
  10. ↑ "Johnson Keeps Pledge, Speaks at Synagogue". Boston Globe. December 31, 1963. p. 2. Retrieved June 23, 2011.
  11. ↑ "Johnson Appeals For Brotherhood". Lodi News-Sentinel. December 31, 1963. p. 3. Retrieved June 23, 2011.
  12. ↑ Eugene Clute, Russell Fenimore Whitehead, Kenneth Reid, Elizabeth L. Cleaver (1958). Progressive architecture. Reinhold. Retrieved June 25, 2011.
  13. ↑ Richard Greenberg (September 5, 2007). "Late for the opening bell; Launch of new Gesher site tardy by four days". Washington Jewish Week. Retrieved June 25, 2011.
  14. 1 2 Maria Glod (October 5, 2005). "Jewish School Has Plans For a Place of Its Own". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 25, 2011.
  15. ↑ "Growing Up Jewish". Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington. Retrieved June 23, 2011.
  16. 1 2 Rubin, Debra (May 16, 2007). "Keshet finds a homeJCCNV, Beth El gear up for new preschool". Washington Jewish Week. Archived from the original on October 6, 2011. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
  17. 1 2 Rubin, Debra (December 27, 2006). "JCCNV, Beth El Hebrew team up for day care centerDecision leaves Keshet center without a home". Washington Jewish Week. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
  18. 1 2 3 Rubin, Debra (December 28, 2005). "Founding director of Agudas Achim's preschool leaves". Washington Jewish Week. Archived from the original on October 6, 2011. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
  19. ↑ Fingerhut, Eric (October 12, 2005). "Jewish groups get homeland security money". Washington Jewish Week. Archived from the original on October 6, 2011. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  20. 1 2 3 4 Leibel, Aaron (December 7, 2006). "What does it take to pullmembers into services?". Washington Jewish Week. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
  21. 1 2 3 Dr. Larry R. Hayward (March 25, 2007). "What Have We Learned from our Stay at Agudas Achim?" (PDF). Westminster Presbyterian Church. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  22. ↑ "Rahm Emanuel's Son's Bar Mitzvah," June 15, 2010, Detroit Jewish News, retrieved June 23, 2011.
  23. ↑ "Forward and Back," May 17, 2011, Tablet Magazine, Rachel Shteir, retrieved June 23, 2011.
  24. ↑ "The Jewish Kennedys," Jan 3, 2010, The Daily Beast, Rebecca Dana, retrieved June 23, 2011
  25. ↑ Greenberg, Richard (January 9, 2008). "The sanctuary sweepstakes". Washington Jewish Week. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
  26. ↑ Moline, Jack (December 2009). "Just and holy". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 25, 2011.
  27. ↑ "The 50 Most Influential Rabbis in America". Newsweek. June 28, 2010. Retrieved June 23, 2011.
  28. ↑ Vitello, Paul (December 17, 2009). "At Jewish Seminary, ‘Basterds’ Prompts Reflection on Revenge". The New York Times. Retrieved June 25, 2011.
  29. ↑ The National Jewish monthly. B'nai B'rith. 1962. Retrieved June 25, 2011.
  30. ↑ Eric Fingerhut (April 5, 2006). "'Schoolmarm at heart' readies to retire; Elster prepares to leave Partnership for Jewish Life and Learning". Washington Jewish Week. Retrieved June 25, 2011.
  31. 1 2 "Alexandria: Fairfax County | Virginia". International Jewish Cemetery Project. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  32. 1 2 "Cemetery". Agudas Achim Congregation. November 30, 1932. Retrieved June 26, 2011.

External links

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