Congregation Kol Emes - History

History

Congregation Kol Emes is a continuation of Orthodox synagogues in Richmond dating back to 1789. It has been at the center of the continuation of Orthodox Jewish life in Richmond:

In 1964...brothers Abraham and Emil Dere spearheaded the founding of the Jewish Academy of Richmond, which, shortly thereafter became Congregation Kol Emes, with the guidance of HaRav Nachman Bulman, who at the time was a Rov in Newport News, VA. At the time, once again, Kol Emes housed the only Mikvah in Richmond (until the Chabad Mikvah opened in the 1980s) and the only shul in Richmond with a Mechitzah (until Keneseth Beth Israel moved to its present location in the 1970s). In 1965, the Richmond Hebrew Day School, presently Rudlin Torah Academy, was founded in the Kol Emes building, with personal blessings from Gedolei Yisrael.

The synagogue was at the center of all major religious developments in Jewish and Orthodox life in Richmond, such as in the spheres of Jewish education and efforts to increase Jewish religious ritual life, having had the attention of rabbis who served the synagogue or even from further afield who saw its centrality and importance.

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