Southern Comfort: Struggling Orthodox shul here lands prominent Memphis rabbi, and attendance is growing

From: The New York Jewish Week | Date: June 7, 2002| Author: | Copyright information

Rabbi Rafael Grossman, for nearly three decades the spiritual leader of the largest Orthodox congregation in the United States, left his Southern synagogue recently for a small, struggling synagogue here because of one five-year-old boy.

His grandson.

Rabbi Grossman, visiting his son's home in Teaneck, N.J., last year, heard his grandson say, "I think I know who you are."

The rabbi was stunned. Bi-monthly visits to his children in the areas of Boston and New York would no longer be enough. The grandchildren had to know bubbe and zaide.

Rafael Grossman and his wife Shirley would leave Memphis, ...

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