FAQs — Kehilat Hadar Shaare Zedek (original) (raw)
FAQs
Kehilat Hadar Shaare Zedek is not affiliated with any of the movements (e.g. Conservative, Orthodox, Reconstructionist, Reform), and members of our community come from a wide range of Jewish backgrounds. We are fully egalitarian, including people of all genders. Our services follow a traditional format and all of our services and programming are planned in accordance with halacha (Jewish law).
Traditionally, halacha (Jewish law) has been understood to exclude women from participating in certain aspects of public prayer. However, an examination of the classic Jewish sources for prayer reveals that there is ample support for equal participation by people of all genders in davening and leyning (Torah reading), and for counting in a minyan.
Kehilat Hadar Shaare Zedek currently has no clergy. Shaare Zedek historically hired rabbis but has not had a rabbi since 2019. Although many rabbis have taught at Kehilat Hadar programs, there has never been one leading Kehilat Hadar. Currently, the Kehilat Hadar Shaare Zedek Board consults with our halachic advisor, Rabbi Ethan Tucker, a founder of both Kehilat Hadar and Hadar Institute, when determining ritual policy.
As Kehilat Hadar Shaare Zedek serves as the primary Jewish community for many of our regular attendees, we recognize the importance of being able to speak with a rabbi within the community. Several volunteers, including rabbis and senior rabbinical students, have offered to speak with members of the community regarding religious, spiritual, pastoral, or other issues. If you are interested in speaking with someone, please contact our Chesed Team.
You can find our community kashrut policy here.
We are happy to add links to programs of interest to our weekly email. To submit a posting, email contact@khsz.org.
In 2006, some of the founders of Kehilat Hadar launched Hadar Institute, which aims to help create and sustain vibrant, practicing, egalitarian communities. For more information about how to start an independent minyan, and how Hadar Institute can provide support, please visit their Independent Minyanim page.
Two of Kehilat Hadar’s original founders, Rabbi Ethan Tucker and Rabbi Elie Kaunfer—along with Kehilat Hadar’s former Scholar in Residence, Rabbi Shai Held—founded Mechon Hadar, now called Hadar Institute, as a separate institution in June 2006. Hadar Institute aims to empower Jews to create and sustain vibrant, practicing, egalitarian communities.
Kehilat Hadar Shaare Zedek and Hadar Institute are separate institutions—with separate funding and leadership structures—that nonetheless share the same guiding vision of creating vibrant, egalitarian Jewish communal life. With our move into the new West 93rd Street building in 2024, Hadar Institute also moved their operations to our site as our primary long-term tenant.
Despite Hadar Institute’s broader mission, it continues to have a special relationship with the synagogue. Hadar Institute’s work with other minyanim is heavily grounded in the Institute’s founders’ experience with Kehilat Hadar, which functions in many ways as a flagship for the independent minyan scene. New music from Hadar Institute’s Rising Song Institute is often used by our service leaders, Hadar Institute enables us to offer weekday services in our building, and we collaborate on learning programs including Scholar in Residence weekends twice per year.
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