No luck for Young Israel at delegates meeting

by Michael Orbach

A phone-in delegates meeting of the National Council of Young Israel ended with a slam when the leaders of the organization hung up on the delegates last Thursday, according to people who participated in the teleconference.

The ostensible cause was a delegate bringing up the sensitive issue of the Shaarei Torah Orthodox Congregation of Syracuse, a former Young Israel that recently went public with its disagreement with the National Council. The shul has a female president, in violation of the Young Israel charter, and resigned its Young Israel membership in 2008. The rabbi of the shul, Rabbi Evan Shor, said that he was verbally threatened by Rabbi Pesach Lerner, the National Council ’s executive vice president.

Rabbi Lerner dismissed the matter as a financial dispute.

Both Rabbi Lerner and Shlomo Mostovsky, the president of National Council, were on the call. A representative of Young Israel denied the account, though he said he could not discuss what occurred during the call.

“Any talk of shutting down a shul is preposterous,” the representative added.

Shlomo Zuller, president of Young Israel of Woodmere, criticized both the delegates who brought up the issue and the National Council’s leadership.

“ I just think it was unprofessional [and a] very disorderly call,” said Zuller. “Confrontations like this are unacceptable by all parties,” he explained. “There’s no sense in having a civil war with the National Council.”

Zuller said that Rabbi Herschel Billet of the Young Israel of Woodmere was working to mediate a compromise between the Syracuse shul and the National Council.

Concerning the alleged threats to “destroy” Rabbi Shor, Zuller said, if true, that they were “uncalled for.”