Rabbi Leaves East Side Synagogue

East Side Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun's loss is Shearith Israel's gain. Rabbi Meir Y. Soloveichik, a leading Jewish scholar and intellectual, was named rabbi and spiritual leader of Shearith Israel on the West Side in June. Rabbi Soloveichik served as associate rabbi at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on the Upper East Side from 2005 until June 15. A leading Jewish thinker and intellectual, he also is director of the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University, and will continue in that position as well. He received his rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University and holds a Ph.D in Religion from Princeton University. In 2012, Soloveichik delivered an invocation at the Republican National Convention in Tampa. Founded in the Western Sephardic tradition, Shearith Israel is noted for its diverse membership, with congregants descending from more than 50 countries, including roughly equal numbers of Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jews.