Congregation Beit Simchat Torah officially opened its modern new sanctuary on Manhattan’s West Side on April 3. Jubilant congregants blew a shofar and Mayor Bill de Blasio and Sen. Chuck Schumer spoke at the dedication of the new space on West 30th Street. CBST bills itself as a home for progressive Jews and is considered…
Kazan, Russia — When the six members of the Simcha klezmer band hauled their instruments into a dilapidated rehearsal space, no one suspected they were about to hijack a government building in this large, clean city some 450 miles east of Moscow. But that’s exactly what happened in 1995 when this popular ensemble — founded in…
At 5 p.m. last Friday, a line of visibly excited people – many decked out in rainbow regalia – gathered on the sidewalk outside Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, the gay and lesbian synagogue in Manhattan. Worshipers don’t generally form lines down the block in advance of Sabbath services. But it’s not every Shabbat that one…
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