Hebrew Institute of White Plains

Our Location

The Hebrew Institute is located on the northern edge of the Highlands, a vibrant community of private houses, and just blocks from the North Broadway residential section of the White Plains downtown, with its Coop and Condominium apartment buildings.

The Crown Plaza Hotel is several blocks from the synagogue, and many attendees of conferences held there attend services at the Hebrew Institute. (Home hospitality for Sabbath meals with our congregants can be arranged by calling the office in advance).

We are also just blocks from White Plains Hospital and if you should be needing their services, please let us know if we can be of help or support during this trying time with your life.

Mission Statement

The Hebrew Institute of White Plains is a model Orthodox congregation for Westchester and Greater New York. With its open environment and heterogenous population, it seeks to serve as a prototype for experiencing Klal Yisrael within a traditional setting. It is a synagogue which encourages spiritual seeking and growth for its diverse population and helps foster a sense of chevrah and togetherness, all of which will form the bedrock of the Jewish future.

Our Goals

Our continued development of an institution where people can experience the best of what traditional, Orthodox Jewish living has to offer. To build such an institution, we must direct our attention at a number of areas including:

Developing an educational program for the young and old, the novice and the well versed.
Working to bring Shabbat mornings alive with the sounds of a kehillah actively following and participating in the service, of children in youth groups and together with their parents.
Providing a place where Jews gather to share in joy and sorrow, moving through the cycle of life together as a family.
Creating a setting where youngsters (and not so youngsters) come together, cultivating their friendships with one another.
Fostering a community of caring, with active chessed projects in which we "do for others as we would have them do for us."
Ensuring that the Hebrew Institute will be a place where any Jew will feel at home, as we provide a warm, open environment, welcoming and embracing all those who walk through its doors.
I aim for us to build a community of seekers, mevakshei Hashem, who will find in this synagogue the right avenue for their personal spiritual journeys.

"I believe that the Hebrew Institute is the perfect place for a family seeking the Genuine Article: a family focused, spiritually exciting, traditional synagogue, able to to make all Jews feel welcome and comfortable regardless of their level of observance. In that sense, we intend to continue to be an inclusive Orthodox synagogue, which, I believe, is something to be proud of." (Rabbi Marder)

Who We Are

The Hebrew Institute was founded in Westchester County in 1915. It is an Orthodox synagogue affiliated with the UOJCA, that seeks to advance the understanding and observance of the Torah and Judaism according to the ancient traditions of our faith. It is an "inclusive" synagogue, welcoming Jews of all backgrounds, ages, and levels of observance. A spirit of understanding and tolerance pervades.

The Hebrew Institute fills numerous roles:

A Beit Tefillah: A House of Prayer- seeking to make prayer a meaningful experience for young and old, men and women alike; maintaining a daily minyan year-round, Shabbat, holidays, and weekdays, morning, afternoon and evening.
A Beit Midrash: A House of Study - providing classes on multiple levels to enable both congregants and the larger Westchester Jewish community to experience the richness of Torah study lishmah (Torah study for its own sake) and to better understand Jewish living; a center for Jewish cultural activities and educational endeavors as well.
A Beit Knesset: A House of Gathering - in which Jews of all ages can experience the fullness of kehillah (community) through programs and services of a religious, cultural, instructional or social nature.
A Bayit: A Home - where a sense of family is created and nurtured. The Hebrew Institute provides for the life-cycle needs of its membership, from the first moments of life to its end, with all that lies between. Friends gather to share brittot, bar or bat mitzvahs, weddings, and farewells with one another. The Rabbi and Cantor, lay leadership, and membership of the synagogue assist families in their times of need, in their moments of sadness and joy.

The Hebrew Institute seeks to engage and be engaged with the broader Jewish community and the society at large, in Westchester, Greater New York, and Klal Yisrael beyond. This has numerous implications:

The Jewish Community: As a Jewish institution, we must participate with our fellow Jews in sharing in the experiences of our people. The synagogue has a unique perspective to share with the larger Jewish community.
The Society at Large: The synagogue endeavors to cultivate good citizenship in our membership. We bring our particular Jewish message - and needs - to the public forum as the need arises.
Outreach: The Hebrew Institute recognizes a Jewish obligation to reach out to Jews beyond its congregational membership to offer Jewish experiences and education. Social actions and chessed projects, intended to benefit our members and the community are significant components of this effort.
World Jewry and Israel: The synagogue upholds the beliefs of and attempts to further the cause of religious Zionism; it is committed to the view that the State of Israel is the first flowering of the promised redemption of our people. Providing for the needs of Jews throughout the world is a responsibility we all share.

The Hebrew Institute is indeed a model Orthodox synagogue. It offers Jewish experiences and opportunities for Jews, in all walks of life, at every stage of life. It serves and leads the diverse Jewish community which is Klal Yisrael and provides a vision for the future.

Religious Leaders

Rabbi Chaim Marder
Rabbi Chaim Marder is the rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of White Plains. With his arrival in 1995, the synagogue has seen a burst of activity and renewed excitement. Under his direction, there has been significant development of programs and exciting educational opportunities. Rabbi Marder is involved in many communal organizations including the Vaad Harabonim, Vaad Hakashruth, and the Westchester Board of Rabbis. He is a Vice President of the Rabbinical Council of America, a member of the Westchester Board of Rabbis, and was recognized by the UJA Federation of New York with its annual Rabbinical Award. Prior to his arrival in White Plains, Rabbi Marder served as the rabbi of Congregation Beth Sholom in Providence, RI from July 1990 June 1995. He taught in the local Day School, Brown U. Hillel, and at other locations around Providence and served on the executive committees of the RI Board of Rabbis, Federation and Bureau of Jewish Education. He was also the Supervising Rabbi of the Vaad Hakashruth of RI. Before that post, Rabbi Marder served as the associate rabbi to Rabbi Avi Weiss at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, NY. Rabbi Marder is a native of Richmond, VA, and attended yeshiva in NY, including Yeshiva University where he received a BA, a Masters in Jewish History, and his Rabbinical Ordination. He also studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion in Israel. Suzie Marder is a native of Riverdale and is a graduate of Stern College for Women of Yeshiva University. She holds a Masters in Social Work and has worked in a variety of counseling settings. She has run very successful parenting programs with different groups in the Providence area, including the synagogue community. Presently, Suzie is working as a full time mother. The Marders have seven children: Shira, Ari, Akiva, Shoshana, Ayelet, Yonnia and Daniel.

Rabbi Seth Braunstein
Rabbi Seth is currently serving as the rabbinic associate/ family educator at the Hebrew Institute of White Plains. Rabbi Seth has traveled extensively working for many Jewish communities around the world. Some of his experiences include the educational directorship for YUSSR in Belarus, coordinating a communal educational empowerment program in Perth, Australia, and directing an outdoor adventure leadership training program at Camp Moshava. He has also led inter-denominational teen programs to both Israel and Hungary. He has coordinated programs for Yachad, the Council for the Jewish Disabled, and participated in an interdenominational rabbinical mission to El Salvador. He is the current Director of the Szarvas Fellowships Program, a part of an international camp in Hungary hosting 2,000 Jewish campers from over 25 countries around the world (www.szarvas.org).

Chazzan Yitzy Spinner
Yitzy's professional singing career began when he became the Miami Boys Choir's youngest member when he was only 8 years old. He was immediately elevated to the status of soloist and remained there until he left the choir 5 years later. Since his career began, he has appeared on many recordings, both with MBC and without. Yitzy's solos can be heard on MBC's Min HaShamayim, One by One, Miami Experience 2-5, and Miami 25. He was also a soloist on HASC 6 & 7, and on Yisroel Williger's "Voice of a New Generation", among others. He has performed with many of Jewish Music's top names, including Mordechai Ben David, Avraham Fried, Dedi, Shloime Dachs, Mendy Wald, Yisroel Williger, Yaakov Shwekey, and Yehuda. Yitzy has performed all over the United States, Canada, and Israel, as well as in Belgium, Holland, and England. He has appeared on some illustrious stages: Nassau Coliseum, Radio City Music Hall, Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, Wembley Arena (London), Yad Eliyahu (Tel Aviv), and has also appeared live on Chabad's annual Chanukah telethon, viewed by 3 million people each year. Yitzy's interests led him to study music at Yeshiva University. His classes in music theory helped to advance his proficiency at both keyboard and guitar. While still an undergraduate student, he also studied full time in YU's Belz School of Jewish Music. It was here that he brought all of his talents together. Yitzy's well-trained ears allowed him to absorb various different techniques for applying Nusach HaTefilah from some of the most well known Baalei Tefilah, including Chazzan Bernard Beer, Chazzan Sherwood Goffin, and Chazzan Joseph Malovany. It is his synthesis of all these nuances that have led congregations all over the United States to request his talents. Yitzy and his wife Rachel moved into White Plains in June 2006, and shortly thereafter welcomed their son, Gavriel.

Rabbi Emeritus Murray Grauer
The Hebrew Institute of White Plains was born prior to World War I through the vision of a small group of people who migrated to this city. Wishing to worship in the traditions of their fathers, they gathered in a Minyan in the rear of a furniture store, and in a few years, erected their first edifice. In 1917 they dedicated the first cemetery grounds. Between the Wars they were a struggling but growing Orthodox Synagogue. In 1951, within a year of the dedication of our present edifice, Rabbi Grauer came to the pulpit, following after Rabbi Samuel Feldshon and Rabbi David Roth, to join The New Suburban Migration. He was our rabbi for 44 years, until 1995. "I now, as Rabbi Emeritus, look on with pride as we approach the coming years with the distinction of past achievements and the anticipation of new vistas that lie ahead for learning and commitment."

Cantor Emeritus Eli Berlinger
Cantor Berlinger, a graduate of Yeshiva College Belz School of Music, and the Julliard School, had been the cantor of The Hebrew Institute since 1980, a position he occupied with great distinction, until his retirement in 2006. He is a constant inspiration to our Congregation. Cantor and Miriam Berlinger have three children and six grandchildren.