United Brothers synagogue in Bristol welcomes a new leader

As ‘spiritual leader’ of Bristol’s only synagogue, Daniel Kertzner is putting out the welcome mat

By Christy Nadalin
Posted 9/15/18

Daniel Kertzner, the new spiritual leader of the United Brothers Synagogue, is not, technically, a Rabbi, not having completed the required course of study, but he is well on his …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Register to post events


If you'd like to post an event to our calendar, you can create a free account by clicking here.

Note that free accounts do not have access to our subscriber-only content.

Day pass subscribers

Are you a day pass subscriber who needs to log in? Click here to continue.


United Brothers synagogue in Bristol welcomes a new leader

As ‘spiritual leader’ of Bristol’s only synagogue, Daniel Kertzner is putting out the welcome mat

Posted

Daniel Kertzner, the new spiritual leader of the United Brothers Synagogue, is not, technically, a Rabbi, not having completed the required course of study, but he is well on his way.

“I’ve been in this process, for about the last 17 or 18 years, of exploring my Jewish background,” he said. As part of that process, Mr Kertzner has taken on voluntary leadership roles at Temple Beth El in Providence, and officiated in some Bar/Bat Mitzvahs and other services.

“I’m currently in the rabbinic program at the Academy of Jewish Religion,” he said. “It’s a program that ordains second career rabbis. So everyone there has been doing something else, and many of them are a little older. It’s a really interesting mix of people.”

Title aside, Mr. Kertzner is more than up to the task. With an abundance of on the job training, he came to Bristol to “audition” after a friend heard about the UBS opening in 2016. “I lead a service, and they liked what they heard, so they brought me on board.”

Mr. Kertzner came to Rhode Island many years ago, to study at Brown, hailing originally from Long Island, from where, he notes, several of the founding members of the synagogue moved in order to work at the India Rubber factory. At Brown, he studied organizational behavior with a focus on nonprofit arts organizations; he now serves as a philanthropic advisor with the Rhode Island Foundation.

A rich history in Bristol

The United Brothers synagogue – Chevra Agudas Achim – is the second-oldest synagogue in Rhode Island, after Newport’s Truro. Chartered on June 11, 1900, the congregation’s founders were Eastern European Orthodox Jews from Russia, Lithuania and Germany who emigrated to Rhode Island via New York.

Though the congregation had a minyan – the number of adult males needed to perform certain religious rituals and thus officially establish a congregation – they did not have a permanent home. They held services at a few different locations in downtown Bristol until their present home was constructed in 1916.

Though initially drawn to Bristol by the opportunities available at India Rubber, it was not long before the older generation returned to the professions they left behind in the old country, leaving the younger members of their families to work in the rubber plant. Thus Bristol gained an older generation of tradespeople, grocers, and merchants, who played an important role in Bristol’s business community as the 19th century rolled into the 20th.

Several early members of the congregation were prominent members of Bristol’s merchant class, including the Eisenstadt family, who owned a department store at the State and Hope street location currently occupied by Citizens Bank; a variety store owned by UBS charter member Louis Molasky was in the State Street building which is the current location of Jesse James Antiques; and many Bristolians will remember Suzman’s, the clothing store that occupied a storefront on the west side of Hope Street between State and Bradford, until relatively recently.

From its initial establishment, the United Brothers congregation grew until the 1960s, when it contracted to the point where services were cancelled. Community leaders, including Alton and Gloria Brody, Nancy Hillman, and Maynard Suzman, brought the congregation back in the mid-1970’s.

Today the congregation includes about 80 individual members.

Even as the early members of Chevra Agudas Achim seamlessly became part of Bristol, they remained firmly entrenched in their unique faith tradition. And yet, they have changed with the times. The once-Orthodox congregation now identifies more as Reconstructionist – a progressive and decidedly American iteration that respects the past while making concessions to contemporary society. Women, for example, now count as part of a Minyan.

With a wide, easy smile and a hearty laugh, Mr. Kertzer projects the welcoming mood he hopes both members and guests will feel when they walk through the doors of UBS. “I really enjoy being here, and being part of this community. We really value keeping our doors wide open and the connections with all the other faith communities in Bristol.”

The door is open here, for anyone for whom our approach, our teachings resonate, is welcome, whether Jewish or not.”

That ethic is evident in this excerpt from a prayer, read at every Shabbat service, which Mr. Kertzner read aloud from the Mishkan T’Filah:

May the door of the synagogue be wide enough 

to receive all who hunger for love, all who are lonely for friendship.

May it welcome all who have cares to unburden,

thanks to express, hopes to nurture.

May the door of the synagogue to be narrow enough 

to shut out pettiness and pride, envy and enmity.

May its threshold be no stumbling block 

to young or straying feet.

May be too high to admit complacency,

selfishness and harshness.

May the synagogue be, for all who enter, 

the doorway to a richer and more meaningful life.

“We really value and honor tradition and look for ways to make it relevant and accessible and welcoming,” said Mr. Kertzner. 

“This congregation is over 100 years old. These bones are solid.”

United Brothers Synagogue is located at 205 High St. Shabbat services are held on the first Friday of the month. More information is available on the website, at unitedbrotherssynagogue.org. The schedule for next week’s Yom Kippur services follows:

  • Tuesday, Sept. 18: 7:30 p.m. Kol Nidre
  • Wednesday, Sept. 19: 9:30 a.m. Yom Kippur; 11 a.m. Yizkor; 5:30 p.m. Neilah; 7 p.m. Break Fast

2024 by East Bay Media Group

Barrington · Bristol · East Providence · Little Compton · Portsmouth · Tiverton · Warren · Westport
Meet our staff
Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.