Meir Soloveichik tapped by oldest US synagogue

Scion of famous rabbinic family delivered an invocation at the 2012 Republican National Convention

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14 June 2013, 5:33 pm Edit

Rabbi Meir Soloveichik gives an invocation to begin the first full day of activities at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., Aug. 28, 2012. (Republican National Convention)

NEW YORK (JTA) — Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, the scion of a revered rabbinic family, is the new spiritual leader of the country’s oldest Sephardic synagogue, Congregation Shearith Israel.

The synagogue, also known as the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, announced the hire in a news release June 10.

Soloveichik is the grandson of Ahron Soloveichik and the great-nephew of Joseph Soloveitchik, the late leader of American Modern Orthodoxy who was commonly known as The Rav. He was most recently the associate rabbi at Congregation Kehilath Jeshrun on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. In 2012, he delivered an invocation at the Republican National Convention in Tampa.

“I am humbled and deeply honored to have been asked to serve the congregants of Shearith Israel, a congregation with an incomparable history, where some of America’s most distinguished rabbis have pastored and preached,” Soloveichik said.

Shearith Israel was established in 1654 by Brazilian Jews fleeing religious persecution.