National Council of Young Israel - 21st Century

21st Century

In 2006, after lengthy litigation, Young Israel sold its 3 West 16th Street national headquarters and moved its small staff to leased office space in lower Manhattan; the sale of the building was the subject of litigation by what was then the Young Israel of Fifth Avenue, which was based in the building and would have been evicted if the sale went through as planned by the National Council. The organization had been subject to an investigation by then New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's Charities Bureau. According to The Forward: "New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, renowned for his jousts with the titans of corporate America, recently saw his own office tied in knots and thrown into turmoil during a three-year investigation into a small Orthodox synagogue organization. The group, the National Council of Young Israel, came under scrutiny in 1999 after applying for a mortgage on a nursing home it owned and operated in a New York City suburb.

NCYI further alienated some of its members by declaring that no women or converts to Judaism could serve as President of any synagogue affiliated with NCYI. According to the Jewish Star, the rabbi of a synagogue with a female president was threatened by NCYI's leadership. In response to President Barack Obama's endorsement of same sex marriage on May 9, 2012, the NCYI issued a statement expressing disappointment in leaders that support same sex marriage and called the concept of same sex marriage "antithetical to the religious principles that we live by". A petition that in turn expresses disappointment in both the NCYI and the Orthodox Union has been circulating on change.org, and has received over 1000 signatures within 24 hours.