Greenport's Congregation Tifereth Israel synagogue removes longtime rabbi

A historic Greenport synagogue has voted to remove its longtime rabbi, capping a weekslong dispute with the temple's leadership.

Rabbi Gadi Capela was accused of sparking contention in the congregation, but he says he was wrongly dismissed for several reasons, including his request to purchase the temple's home where he lived, and to attend the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

Capela had been the spiritual leader of Congregation Tifereth Israel, a community of about 130 members, for the past 13 years. 

 He was terminated Sept. 19 after a three-day congregation vote, more than a month after he was first fired "for cause" on Aug. 12, according to letters from the synagogue that Capela shared with Newsday. Tifereth Israel reversed course and changed his initial firing to a suspension on Aug. 24, before the vote last week.

Synagogue representatives would not say specifically why the vote to terminate Capela was taken.  A letter from synagogue president Sara Bloom the day after his earlier firing, provided by Capela, cited breaches of "contractual obligations" and "a long-continuing atmosphere of contentious conduct."

Bloom declined to comment this week.   

Capela, in an interview this week, claimed the vote to remove him was "invalid and illegal," an accusation that the attorney for the synagogue denies. 

Capela told Newsday that his relationship with Tifereth Israel's board took a turn last year when he asked to purchase the synagogue-owned home, or parsonage, he had been living in. "I wanted to be more entrenched in the community," he said. "They didn't want to do that and started a campaign against me."

Richard Zuckerman, the attorney for the synagogue, said in an email that Capela wanted the congregation to sell the parsonage to him "at some unspecified discount." 

“It seems that the Rabbi had a different vision for the future than did the membership," Zuckerman said.

It is common for rabbis in the United States to live in homes owned by their synagogues.

A three-day voting period

The synagogue held a Zoom meeting Sept. 15 to discuss Capela's continued employment before starting a three-day voting period open to "each member of the Congregation in good standing," according to Capela's termination letter. Eighty-two members submitted ballots, with 52.44%, or 43 members, voting for the rabbi's immediate termination.

But Capela said about 13 members who support him did not participate in the voting because the board had told them they were not "in good standing," or did not have access to a computer. Capela said the members were not notified of their change in status.

Capela was not permitted to speak during the meeting and state his case, he added.

"They [the board] tried to outsmart the congregation, like Pharoah did in Egypt to the Hebrews," Capela said. 

Zuckerman contradicted those claims.

"All members in good standing were permitted to vote, as in previous meetings," Zuckerman said in an interview. "It is my understanding that [Capela] never asked to speak at the meeting."

Letter: Earlier dismissal 'unavoidable'

Bloom wrote in a letter to the congregation on Aug. 13, a day after Capela's initial firing, that Capela's dismissal had become "unavoidable based on a long-continuing atmosphere of contentious conduct and breaches of his contractual obligations that directly impact the forward progress and convivial environment within our shul."

"The decision was made through extended deliberations and after failed attempts to resolve these issues with the Rabbi," Bloom wrote in the letter, which Capela shared with Newsday.

Tifereth Israel sent a letter to Capela on Aug. 2 stating several reasons for his dismissal, including numerous instances of tardiness to shul events, and his decision to attend Trump's inauguration, "an apparent deception to gain three vacation days," according to the letter, which Capela shared with Newsday.

Capela said he did not end up attending the inauguration but said the board had been "virtue-signaling to the congregation that I was part of the Trump camp." 

He also pushed back on the accusations of his poor attendance. "I have not missed one service in 13 years," Capela said. 

In January, the congregation offered Capela a one-year extension of his contract — which had been set to expire at the end of this year — through 2026, with "no further extensions considered." Capela declined to sign it.

Then, in June, he was sent another letter stating that if he was unprepared to resign, "your services will be terminated immediately for cause and breach of contract."

"Unfortunately, there are no other options that we are prepared to consider," that letter read.

Capela said his initial dismissal, held without a congregation vote, was in violation of state law. That law — Chapter 51, Article 8, Section 170: Election and salary of ministers — states "the minsters of any such church shall be called, settled or removed and their salaries fixed only by the vote of the majority of the members of such corporation." 

While Capela presided over Rosh Hashanah services at Temple Gates of Prayer in Flushing this week, Tifereth Israel turned to Rabbi Debra Cantor, who will remain on through the rest of the High Holy Days, Bloom said in an earlier interview. 

By Joshua Needelman

joshua.needelman@newsday.com

Joshua Needelman covers the Town of North Hempstead for Newsday. A Long Island native and University of Maryland graduate, his work has appeared in publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post.