Kane Street Synagogue Celebrates its 166th Anniversary
166th Anniversary Celebration
Mark your calendar, buy your tickets, and join us for our upcoming gala event: the 166th Anniversary Celebration on Thursday evening, June 16 at 7:00pm. In addition to recognizing Leslie Wilsher at the celebration, we will also honor Rabbi Emeritus Samuel Weintraub—who retired in 2021 after 25 years of devoted service to Kane Street Synagogue—as we could not host a celebration last year.
We’re very excited about the opportunity to gather together as a community.
Purchase your tickets at kanestreet.org/anniversary-tickets
For the past two years, Leslie J. Wilsher has led Kane Street Synagogue as President of the Congregation and Chair of the Board of the Trustees.
Prior to her term as President, Leslie was Executive Vice President from 2018 to 2020. Previously, she reimagined and repurposed our Personnel Committee as its Chair for many years, introducing new levels of professionalism to the Synagogue’s hiring and human resource practices. She was a member of the Hebrew School Committee, including as Chair; and a member, then Chair, of the Auction (now Trivia Night) Committee. She also led the Synaplex Committee—a project funded by STAR (Synagogues: Transformation and Renewal)—as part of an effort to increase synagogue membership by reestablishing the synagogue as the center of Jewish life. Leslie has been a member of the Board of Trustees for the past 18 years.
Leslie is a 1979 graduate of Columbia Law School, and a 1976 graduate of Douglass College at Rutgers University. She was admitted to the New York Bar in 1980 and practiced in the area of estate planning and estate administration. She trained as a mediator with the New York Peace Institute, completing its apprenticeship program in 2014. She continues to do volunteer mediation with NYPI, particularly in the areas of divorce, child support, custody and visitation, and Surrogate’s (probate) Court litigation.
Leslie and her husband, David Freed, have been members of Kane Street for over 30 years. Their sons Jonathan and Benjamin attended the Synagogue’s Hebrew School, and both celebrated becoming Bar Mitzvah with the Congregation.