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Congregation Ezra Bessaroth

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About

Congregation Ezra Bessaroth is a Sephardic Congregation founded by immigrants from the Mediterranean Island of Rhodes. We welcome new members from across the Jewish community and are confident that you can find your place in our Kehilla!

Address: 5217 S Brandon St, Seattle, WA 98118, USA
Phone: (206) 722-5500
State: Washington
Zip Code: 98118


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Reviews
Friendly congregation. Rabbi is great...easy to talk to and does so much!
9 years ago (02-10-2017)
Warm community proudly following their Ladino traditions.
9 years ago (29-09-2017)
Don't think I will be going back to Ezzy Bezzy (as they call it).. Called the rabbi to tell him I would like to find a Jewish community to join as I am moving back to Seattle and will be looking for work. I disclosed that I was going through a tough time. Basically, I lost my job of 15 years and was cheated in a business to which I devoted so much of my life. The rabbi just went off on some deranged rant saying that I am mentally ill, act like a child and need to get serious psychological help . Does this guy live in a little bubble? Seriously, people get depressed, have problems in life, lose jobs and are imperfect. They don't need to be ridiculed, insulted and demeaned and be told they are mentally deranged, act like a child or in need of serious mental help for problems that are not all that atypical in this world. With the way he was talking to me, I think it is the rabbi who probably is in need of help and seems to be an emotional wreck, himself. Basically, telling him that I was drinking heavily for a month or so after losing my job of 15 years of a business I devoted my life to was worthy of him insinuating that I am mentally deranged. I guess me and half the other overworked, high-strung business/It workers in the country need to be locked up in a straight-jacket or saturated with prozac, right? Maybe this Rabbi has an axe to grind with me ? I don't know. He seems to be on some type of ego or power trip and needs to humiliate , denigrate and insult people who come to him for help. This is very "unprofessional" and unacceptable behavior of a rabbi of a respected shul/kehillot. To talk to a potential member and start blaring out insults, making unprofessional psychoanalytical evaluations based on a 5-10 minute phone call is as insulting as it is deranged. He basically had all the answers and deep knowledge of my mind without having even spent more than 5 minutes on the phone talking to me. Wow, what a deeply analytical genius. Even, he, himself kept saying in his "unprofessional opinion". Yeah, he is unprofessional alright. Anyhow, I am going to report his behavior to the synagogue board, as this guy's behavior is surely going to be a detriment to the entire community. I'm sure they may just brush it off and be oblivious to the way he treats people, but if more and more people complain, sooner or later they may take action. if he is going to insult and attack potential members like this. I know Rabbi Meyers has a reputation in his community, but if he is going to start belittling and attacking members of Jewish community, he may find that he is going to bring down the entire synagogue. It's one thing to give help to people and other to just start tearing them apart, telling them they act like a child or are psychological deranged. Being a spiritual mentor/rabbi or even mental health professional, his discourse is dehumanizing, insensitive, rude and hostile. I am fairly thick skinned and can take a few slaps to the face, but I pity any other people who have to endure such ridicule or insinuating speech. He also kept saying how he was so nice to devote his "PRECIOUS" time to talk to me, a lowly non-Orthodox Jewish guy. This guy acted like the most arrogant prick imaginable. You are paid to be a rabbi, so you are just doing the job you are paid to do and you should stop feeling like you are so superior! BTW, I attended this shul 4 years ago or so and Rabbi Meyers seemed like a respectable guy, so maybe, he, himself, is going through some hard times in life. I don't know, as he was never so insulting, demeaning and derogatory when I stayed with him in the past for some Shabbat stays. However, after calling him 4 years later, this is a totally different guy than I remember and he is just an arrogant and downright dehumanizing. The one thing I will miss is the Chazzan. His voice is great and I enjoyed the Sefardic prayers and lot of aspects of Sefaridic community. However, I won't attend with this rabbi there.
10 years ago (11-07-2016)
Nice shul
9 years ago (27-03-2017)
Yesterday our "Learning Judaism" class from Beth Shalom went together to Congregation Ezra Bessaroth. We had some difficulty navigating because the official address is S Brandon but the parking lot and main entrance are all over on Wilson. The building is superbly, almost intimidatingly beautiful, and we waited together in the echoing, immaculate lobby and then scrabbled through finding siddurim in the equally empty anteroom. As soon as we actually entered the sanctuary, this feeling of isolation evaporated. We were welcomed and checked in on three times, plied with newsletters, a woman of the congregation not only brought us Chumashim with English translations but also a Russian-Hebrew Chumash for our classmate from Russia. The lone male of our group was instantly rescued from solitude by two men who'd apparently grown up in the congregation; through the whole service, they guided him through the unique variations of the liturgy and slipped in their pride in the history of the community. I was especially delighted by the number of African-American Jews standing proudly in prayer throughout the congregation, a beautiful balm to my eyes considering the tragically racist reputation of much the orthodox movement. Although several congregants apologized to us for the lay-led service, their rabbi being out of town, my Ezra Bessaroth experience would not have been complete without the touchingly simple D'var Torah in which a young man shared his love for the little particulars of this synagogue: the sturdy tree-like rails that aid elders in climbing to the ark, the bimah in the center so the words of the Torah come from the community, the low women's section so we, too, can reach out to touch the Torah as it passes. Towards the end of service, I became lost in the unique siddur, with its excellent introduction to Sephardic pronunciation, its careful notes marking the distinct rites from Turkey and Rhodes, and its special sections including the breath-takingly beautiful traditional Ladino prayer for the naming of a girl. Our little group was specifically acknowledged and welcomed from the bimah, a small courtesy we have never enjoyed before. When we re-gathered in the midst of a vibrantly social kiddish, we learned that this is the only synagogue in the world that preserves the rite of Rhodes, whose Jewish communities were obliterated by Fascism and Nazi invasion in succession. Later, opening _Family of Strangers_, the history of Jews in Seattle, we found the same family names and family features we'd been surrounded by, with the history of flight from Rhodes and Turkey and community-building here. Overall, our visit left us with a tremendous, and wonderfully Jewish, sense of having had an opportunity to walk in living history. I will treasure my next opportunity to visit this priceless community.
19 years ago (10-02-2008)
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