Park Avenue Synagogue Celebrates 136th “Birthday” with Masorti Movement and with the Gift of a Torah

In the largest single mission to Israel, 450 members and clergy from Park Avenue Synagogue chose to celebrate the 136th birthday of the congregation with the Masorti Movement. The mission included meetings with dignitaries (Yitzhak Herzog and Ehud Barak), visits to Masorti Kehillot, learning opportunities and by far, the highpoint: the donation of a Torah for use at Ezrat Israel, the egalitarian Kotel.   Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of PASyn, and Dr. Yizhar Hess, Executive Director of the Masorti Movement, spoke of the important partnership between the Movement in Israel and Park Avenue Synagogue, and by extension, Masorti/Conservative Judaism in the United States.

The celebration at the Kotel was both meaningful–a statement of the synagogue’s commitment to Masorti values of pluralism, democracy and, importantly, traditional Jewish observance–and joyous.  Watch the singing, dancing and and feel a part of the joy.