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Our Story

Welcome to the first Masorti (Conservative) synagogue in Tel Aviv’s Neve Tzedek neighborhood. The Masorti Congregation of Neve Tzedek hosts services, lifecycle events, classes, and intellectual, social and cultural activities in the tolerant atmosphere that stems from the Jewish spiritual world.

 

We invite you to join us, on Shabbat, holidays, and during the week, to create a community that is pluralistic, egalitarian, and welcoming. As a Masorti synagogue in the heart of Tel Aviv – with an Israeli-Italian rabbi and members who hail from every continent – we have a rich, vibrant, and diverse tradition of Jewish worship and community life. We aspire to develop a creative community that encourages spiritual growth in a non-coercive environment.

 

We consider social responsibility an integral part of Judaism and are committed to facilitating positive change in ourselves, our community, and modern Israeli society. We are equally committed to exploring the perpetual tension between tradition and progress that is modern Judaism.

 

We invite you to join us in exploring the many beautiful facets of an integrated Jewish life through study, prayer, and community service. All are welcome – men and women, families and singles, young and old – to celebrate with us in in the informal, friendly atmosphere of Neve Schechter, a beautifully restored historic building that is the Tel Aviv home of the Schechter Institute.

 

It would be our pleasure to host your next bar or bat mitzvah, wedding, brit or baby naming, special birthday, annual memorial service, or other significant event. The Masorti Congregation of Neve Tzedek is a registered nonprofit organization that has been recognized as such by the Israeli registrar of nonprofits

About Our Rabbi

Rabbi Roberto Arbib and his wife Marina made aliya from Italy. The open-minded, tolerant approach of the Masorti (Conservative) movement appealed to him and he soon enrolled in the first class of the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary in Jerusalem.

 

Following his ordination as a Masorti rabbi in 1991, he and Marina decided to make their home in Tel Aviv’s Neve Tzedek neighborhood so that he could establish the first Masorti synagogue in Tel Aviv, Kehilat Sinai, where he was the rabbi for some 20 years.

 

At the same time, he also founded Midreshet Iyun, the first pluralistic beit midrash in Tel Aviv, where men and women from various backgrounds gathered together to study Jewish texts. Over the years, as Tel Aviv residents became increasingly interested in non-Orthodox approaches to Judaism, both Kehilat Sinai and Midreshet Iyun thrived and were joined by additional Masorti and non-Orthodox initiatives.

This inspired Rabbi Arbib to launch the process of establishing Neve Schechter, which today houses the Masorti Congregation of Neve Tzedek, Midreshet Iyun, and the Tel Aviv campus of the Schechter Institute. Rabbi Arbib serves as the educational director of Neve Schechter, the rabbi of the Masorti Congregation in Neve Tzedek, and a lecturer at the Schechter Institute. He can be contacted at arbibr@zahav.net.il

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