The Young Israel of New Rochelle is home to a vibrant and growing Sephardic Minyan!
As the community’s Sephardi population has steadily increased over recent years, our upstart Minyan has grown from an occasional gathering to an established and official Minyan of the Beit Knesset.
We meet weekly on Friday nights and Shabbat, as well as for the Tefilot of every Yom Tov. We expect to add regular Tefilot on Mondays, Thursdays and Rosh Hodesh in the months ahead. We recently reinaugurated our sanctuary at 1228 North Avenue, which has been configured and adorned in accordance with
Sephardic tradition. As a fully integrated part of YINR, we participate collectively in all communal celebrations, and Rabbi Fink and Rabbi Axelrod regularly visit our Minyan on Shabbat and Yom Tov to share their Derashot with us.
Since establishing our regular Minyan, we have added two beautiful Sephardic Torahs to our Kehillah (with more planned in the future) each of which was welcomed in a communitywide Hachannasat Torah celebration. We also regularly have communal meals, on Shabbat or Hilloulas of our great Tzadikkim, where our community gets a taste of our delicious Sephardic cuisine and our ancient customs. Our goal is to continue expanding our Tefilot and other programming as the community continues to grow.
Our Minyan, in accordance with Sephardi tradition, is highly participatory and festive. We encourage all our members to participate in any way possible. We strive to create an environment where all the attendants find a way to connect to prayer and Hakadosh Baruchu in a meaningful way.
Our Tefilot are lay-led, and we encourage any willing congregant to participate as a ShaliahTzibur or Baal Koreh. We are particularly proud of the active participation and leadership of our young members, particularly the children in our community who lead several parts of the Tefilah.
One of our aims is to train the next generation and ensure the continuation of our beautiful ancestral Minhagim. We have had the great fortune to celebrate several Bar Mitzvahs in our minyan and are looking forward to celebrating many more smachot.
Our community is diverse and welcoming to all and includes families hailing from all around the Sephardi world, including Morocco, Portugal, Tunisia, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen. We are proud to continue these holy ancient traditions from the Sephardi world and hope to keep them alive for our children and beyond.
We look forward to the continued growth of our Sephardic Minyan. Do not hesitate to reach out for more information. Contact: newrochellesephardic@gmail.com.
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