page_title: Kesher Israel (Washington, D.C.)
section_title: Early years
hierarchical_section_title: Kesher Israel (Washington, D.C.) / Rabbinic leadership / Early years
caption_attribution_description: English: (left-to-right) Rabbi Jacob Ozer Dubrow, Rabbi Gedaliah Silverstone and Rabbi Yehoshua Klaven
context_page_description: Kesher Israel is a Modern Orthodox synagogue located in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.. The congregation is over 100 years old and its worshipers have included prominent politicians, diplomats, jurists, journalists, and authors. One of them, novelist Herman Wouk, called it "the best little shul in America" and "a haven of true Yiddishkeit at the center of the finest neighborhood in Washington."
context_section_description: After it was founded, the Georgetown Hebrew Benevolent Association hired Elias Stolar as "minister and Hebrew teacher" and "recognized religious leader." Born in Russia in about 1881, he was referred to as "reverend," a widely used title at the time for synagogue functionaries who were not ordained rabbis.
  The synagogue's first spiritual leader was the Polish-born, British-trained Rabbi George (Gedaliah) Silverstone, who concurrently served Ohev Sholom Congregation (then located at 5th and I Streets, NW). He remained with both congregations until he announced his intention to make aliyah to the Land of Israel in 1923. While he made several return trips back to Washington after that, Rabbi Silverstone died in Jerusalem in 1944 and was buried on the Mount of Olives.
  Rabbi Silverstone was a vice president of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis, a director of the Hebrew Sanitarium of Denver and the Hebrew Home for the Aged of Washington and a member of B'nai B'rith. He also founded the first Talmud Torah in Washington and many of his sermons refer to the poor state of Jewish education. An active Zionist, he  attended the Sixth Zionist Congress in 1903 as a delegate from Belfast before he emigrated to the United States.
caption: Rabbi Jacob Aizer Dubrow (left) and Rabbi George Silverstone (center), photographed together with Rabbi Joshua Klaven (right) of Talmud Torah Congregation in Southwest Washington, ca. 1935
exif: {}