Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.

In a relatively short time at our shul, Rabbi Shapiro has created a sea change in our congregational learning. Every Shabbat our service is preceded by a superb new “Bread and Torah” session in which the rabbi discusses aspects of the weekly Torah portion. This session now always has 40 to 60 people meeting in our library with accompanying bagels and coffee. It is always a source of learning and active discussion and is a wonderful way to begin Shabbat morning. Her sermons are extraordinary. I never cease to learn from each one. Her additional classes during the week are inspiring. In short, she has changed the intellectual demeanor and profile of our shul. She has also done much to improve the community nature and attendance at B’nai Jacob. She instituted a “Shabbat Schmooze” with wine and cheese a half an hour before the start of Kabbalat Shabbat services. She initiated a “Got Shabbat” program to encourage congregants to have others to their homes for Shabbat dinner. Rabbi Shapiro has done much to create a superb shul ambience filled with warmth, knowledge and caring that has resulted in, or rekindled, newfound interest in Judaism, Jewishness and Jewish learning. She has transformed our shul.

— Barry Zaret

+ 12 other nominations

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.