Rabbi Eytan Feiner to stay at White Shul

By Tova Ross

Issue of January 29 2010/ 14 Shvat 5770

Rabbi Eytan Feiner has signed on for another two years as the rabbi of the White Shul, Congregation Kneseth Israel.

Nesanel Feller, president of the Far Rockaway congregation, and Rabbi Tuvia Silverstein, the chairman of board, announced this week that Rabbi Feiner’s initial one-year contract would be extended.

Rabbi Feiner is an “is an absolutely wonderful rav and spiritual leader,” Feller declared.

“We at The White Shul are thrilled that he and his wife are going to be continuing with us,” Feller said.

The shul has added nearly 100 new member families since Rabbi Feiner’s arrival, according to Feller, and has been reinvigorated by a host of new programs.

Rabbi Feiner and his wife, Aviva, came to the shul from Israel, where Rabbi Feiner was teaching at several seminaries and yeshivot. The move was a homecoming of sorts for Rabbi Feiner, who was born and raised in the Five Towns.

“We’re extremely excited and looking forward to fantastic years ahead of continued growth, not only of our wonderful shul and kehillah, but trying our utmost to assist in the growth of the larger Five Towns and Far Rockaway communiy,” said Rabbi Feiner.

The Feiners initially left Israel to seek treatment for their young son, Avraham Yeshayahu. Rabbi Feiner was approached to be a scholar-in-residence at the White Shul for Rosh Hashanah. Impressed with his breadth of knowledge and instant recall for Jewish sources, the congregation immediately offered him the position of interim rabbi. That position ended up lasting a year and has now been extended, with Rabbi Feiner’s new commitment to the shul.