K’hal Adas Yeshurun—Jerusalem, founded in 2000 by Machon Moreshes Ashkenaz, and located at 5 Wallenstein St., next to Nof Ramot, is a thriving kehilla involved in the preservation of the Western Ashkenaz Minhag (FFAM). Led by Moreh Moreinu HaRav Yehuda Gans שליט"א, who was appointed in the fall of 2007, KAYJ is the spiritual center of our members who are united to preserve the treasures of our living mesorah. KAYJ is also active on the international scene through our Ashkenaz Forum and Nusach Project which have inspired numerous Jews worldwide to interconnect on their rich German-Jewish heritage.

KAYJ is a growing multigenerational kehilla (community). Initially meeting for prayers in a cramped storage room and later in a windowless air-raid shelter our membership has swelled today to upwards of 50 families. Though the kehilla is located within the existing Ramot neighborhood in Jerusalem, a fully-functioning Jewish district boasting mikvas, abundant adult education opportunities for both men and women, children's activities and cultural settings, the kehilla is a warm corner members can call their own. The members learn Torah together in pairs or study groups and attend one another's family events. The weddings of shul members are electrified by the shul’s choir's traditional chuppah melodies. Shy grandsons are coaxed by grandfathers to wrap their new wimpels around the Torah. Fathers and sons exult in the Avodas Hakodesh together.

After Succos 5768 the kehilla appointed Moreh Moreinu HaRav Yehuda Gans שליט״א (alumnus of Kol Torah Yeshiva) to the status of Rabbi and Spiritual Leader of the Kehilla, with the blessings of Maran HaGaon R. Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, shlit'a. In addition to a leil Shabbos drasha on selected Torah topics, HaRav Gans gives a shiur after the Shabbos meal and between Mincho and Ma'ariv of Shabbos, and in addition after Shabbos Mussaf the members benefit from a Mishnah Berurah shiur on Hilchos Shabbos given by R. Don Ison (alumnus of Gateshead Yeshiva).

The hospitality committee is active in placing yeshiva students (Mir, R. Dovid Soloveitchik, etc.) from abroad who spend Shabbos with us. Several young families have moved from Maalot Dafna and Har Nof to join the kehilla in Ramot, and we have families coming even from abroad. One of the signs of KAYJ’s vibrancy is that it reaches across boundaries and attracts Jews of various ancestral backgrounds, who are drawn toward the dynamic community.

Now we are working on building a spacious building to host the shul and all the other necessities of the Kehilla. It is going to be אי"ה a grand building sitting upon the hills of Jerusalem in a place seen from much of the city, that will be a fitting memorial to the splendid K'hal Adas Yeshurun synagogue in Frankfurt (the Friedberger Anlage), as well as thousands of others across Europe which were set aflame on Kristallnacht. The KAYJ synagogue project represents much more than an architectural memento. It is the locus wherein the next generation of our children will mature into leaders. “Jewish children grow best in warm Jewish homes,” a wise thinker once said. “But where do Jewish homes grow? In warm Jewish communities.”

Visit us.

We will be happy to host yeshiva boys or seminary girls studying in Israel.

Please phone Michael Friedman at +972-52-761-1890 or +972-2-571-4351.