{{Short description|Orthodox synagogue in Kansas City, Kansas, United States}} {{for|similarly named synagogues|Beth Israel (disambiguation){{!}}Beth Israel}} {{Use American English|date=August 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}} {{Infobox religious building | building_name = Beth Israel Abraham Voliner | image = | image_size = | caption = | map_type = USA Kansas | map_size = 250 | map_relief = 1 | map_caption = Location in [[Kansas]] | location = 9900 Antioch Road, [[Overland Park, Kansas|Overland Park]], [[Kansas City Metropolitan Area]], [[Kansas]] 66212 | country = United States | geo = {{coord|38.949535|-94.686586|region:US-KS_type:landmark|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | religious_affiliation = [[Orthodox Judaism]] | rite = | region = | province = | territory = | prefecture = | sector = | district = | cercle = | municipality = | consecration_year = | status = [[Synagogue]] | functional_status = Active | heritage_designation = | leadership = {{ubl|Rabbi Mark Glass|{{nowrap|Rabbi Aron Rubin {{small|(Assistant)}}}}}} | website = {{URL|biav.org}} | architecture = | architect = | architecture_type = | architecture_style = | general_contractor = | facade_direction = | established = 1894 {{small|(as Tefereth Israel)}} | groundbreaking = | year_completed = {{ubl|1905 {{small|(Admiral Boulevard)}}|1959 {{small|(83rd and Holmes)}}|1987 {{small|(Overland Park,)}}|1994 {{small|(Antioch Road)}}}} | construction_cost = | specifications = | capacity = | length = | width = | width_nave = | height_max = | dome_quantity = | dome_height_outer = | dome_height_inner = | dome_dia_outer = | dome_dia_inner = | minaret_quantity = | minaret_height = | spire_quantity = | spire_height = | materials = | nrhp = | added = | refnum = | designated = | footnotes = <ref name=Rabbi/> }} '''Congregation Beth Israel Abraham Voliner''', abbreviated as '''BIAV''', is an [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jewish]] congregation and [[synagogue]], located 9900 Antioch Road, in [[Overland Park, Kansas|Overland Park]], in the [[Kansas City Metropolitan Area]] of [[Kansas]], in the United States.

Formally established as ''Tefereth Israel'' in [[Kansas City, Missouri]] in 1894, by 1960 it had moved several times, and merged with three other congregations, taking on its current name. Responding to demographic shifts in Kansas City's Orthodox community, it opened a branch in Overland Park in 1987, and in 1994 it moved to its current location at 9900 Antioch Road.<ref name=History>{{cite web |url=http://www.biav.org/about/history-and-mission/ |title=History and Mission |work=Congregation Beth Israel Abraham Voliner |date=n.d. |access-date= }}{{self-published inline|date=March 2024}}</ref><ref name=Wiley2004>{{cite web |author=Wiley, Dr. George |url=http://www.pluralism.org/research/profiles/display.php?profile=72122 |title=Beth Israel Abraham & Voliner |work=Center Profile |publisher=The Pluralism Project at [[Harvard University]] |date=June 3, 2004 |access-date=January 11, 2010}}</ref>

Morey Schwartz was the congregation's [[rabbi]] from 1991 to 2000,<ref name=JSSMJSummer2008p104>{{cite journal |url=http://sephardic.fiu.edu/journal/Summer%202008/Schwartz_S08.htm |title=Morey Schwartz |journal=Journal for the Study of Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewry |date=Summer 2008 |access-date= |volume= |number= |doi= |issn= |page=104 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100629155948/http://sephardic.fiu.edu/journal/Summer%202008/Schwartz_S08.htm |archive-date=June 29, 2010 }}</ref> Ari Perl served from 2000 through 2003,<ref name=RCAPerl>{{cite web |url=http://www.rabbis.org/news/article.cfm?id=100713 |title=Rabbi Ari Perl |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071023075345/http://www.rabbis.org/news/article.cfm?id=100713 |archive-date=2007-10-23 |publisher=[[Rabbinical Council of America]] |date=March 22, 2006 |access-date=January 11, 2010 }}</ref><ref name=ShaareTefilla>{{cite web |url=http://www.shaaretefilla.org/?p=4 |title=Our Rabbi |work=Congregation Shaare Tefilla of Dallas Texas |date=n.d. |access-date=January 11, 2010 }}</ref> and David S. Fine served from 2003 through 2008.<ref name=Lipoff20080926>{{cite news |author=Lipoff, Beth |title=New year, new rabbi for Congregation BIAV |work=The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle |date=September 26, 2008 |access-date= |page= }}</ref> {{As of|2008}} Beth Israel Abraham Voliner was the only Orthodox synagogue in Kansas City.<ref name=Lipoff20080926/> {{As of|2010}} it was the only Orthodox synagogue in the State of Kansas,<ref name=History/> and the rabbi was Daniel Rockoff.<ref name=Rabbi/> Rabbi Mark Glass has served as senior rabbi since August 2020.<ref name=Rabbi>{{cite web |url=https://www.biav.org/about-us/clergy/ |title=Clergy |work=Congregation Beth Israel Abraham Voliner |date=n.d. |access-date=November 19, 2019 }}{{self-published inline|date=March 2024}}</ref>

== History == === 19th and 20th centuries === Congregation Beth Israel Abraham Voliner (also Congregation Beth Israel Abraham & Voliner or Congregation Beth Israel Abraham and Voliner or BIAV) was established in Kansas City, Missouri as the Tefereth Israel (or Tiferes Israel)<ref name=refAJYearBookV21p412>{{cite web |url=http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1919_1920_5_Directories.pdf |title= Directories |work=[[American Jewish Year Book]] |publisher=[[Jewish Publication Society]] |volume=21 |issue=1919–1920) |page=412 |access-date= }}</ref> ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] for "Splendor of Israel") Congregation in 1894. It grew out of a prayer group called ''Etz Chaim'' (Hebrew for "Tree of Life"), which began gathering for ''[[minyan]]''s (prayer quorums) in 1890. In 1905, it moved to a building at Admiral Boulevard and Tracy, and later merged with Beth Abraham and Beth Hamedrash Hagadol congregations.<ref name=History/><ref name=Wiley2004/> In 1918, the rabbi was S.M. Bayarksy.<ref name=refAJYearBookV21p412/> The congregation moved to a building at 83rd and Holmes in 1959, and in 1960 merged with Voliner Anshei Sefard, when it took on its current name.<ref name=History/><ref name=Wiley2004/>

As Kansas City's Orthodox community moved from Missouri to Kansas, Beth Israel Abraham Voliner followed. In 1987 it opened a branch in Overland Park, and in 1994 it moved to its current location there at 9900 Antioch Road, the former Overland Park Baptist Temple. The move attracted younger families, "and more [[Bar and Bat Mitzvah]]s were held in 1999 than in the entire previous decade."<ref name=History/>

Morey Schwartz served as the congregation's rabbi from 1991 until 2000, when he and his family moved to [[Israel]].<ref name=JSSMJSummer2008p104/> In the summer of 1997 he set up Kansas City's first ''[[kollel]]'', a post-graduate institute for advanced [[Torah study|studies]] of the [[Talmud]] and of [[rabbinic literature]] for [[Jew]]ish men; it closed in 2005 due to a lack of funds.<ref name=Bayer20070706>{{cite news |author=Bayer, Barbara |title=Kollel making a comeback |work=The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle |date=July 6, 2007 |access-date= |page= |url= }}</ref>

=== 21st century === Schwartz was succeeded by Ari Perl, who served until 2003. Perl had received his ''[[semicha]]'' (rabbinic ordination) from [[Yeshiva University]]'s [[Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary]], and had previously served as Assistant Rabbi at [[Congregation Ahavath Torah]] in Englewood, New Jersey. While serving as rabbi of Beth Israel Abraham Voliner, Perl also served as a [[posek|legal decisor]] for the [[Hechsher|kosher supervision body]], ''[[eruv]]'', [[mikvah|ritual bath]], and [[Chevra kadisha|burial society]].<ref name=RCAPerl/><ref name=ShaareTefilla/>

David S. Fine served as rabbi from 2003 until mid-2008, when he moved to Israel.<ref name=Lipoff20080926/> During this period he also served on the executive board of the [[Rabbinical Council of America]], a member of the [[Chicago Rabbinical Council]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rabbis.org/news/article.cfm?id=100626 |title=Rabbi David S. Fine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071023075814/http://www.rabbis.org/news/article.cfm?id=100626 |archive-date=2007-10-23 |publisher=[[Rabbinical Council of America]] |date=October 13, 2005 |access-date=January 11, 2010 }}</ref> and was Midwest Regional President of ''Amcha - The Coalition for Jewish Concerns''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.amchacjc.org/staff.html |title=Amcha Staff |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070502072806/http://www.amchacjc.org/staff.html |archive-date=2007-05-02 |work=Amcha |date=n.d. |access-date=January 11, 2010 }}</ref>

Fine brought the Synaplex national synagogue revitalization program to Beth Israel Abraham Voliner in 2005; out of 100 congregations that initially adopted the program, only two, including Beth Israel Abraham Voliner, were Orthodox.<ref>{{cite news |author=Fishkoff, Sue |url=http://www.hiwp.org/docs/JTAnews_rabbimarder.pdf |title=Extreme Shul Makeover |url-status= dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080820112824/http://www.hiwp.org/docs/JTAnews_rabbimarder.pdf |archive-date=2008-08-20 |work=[[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]] |date=September 16, 2006 |access-date= }}</ref> In 2007 the synagogue won a $20,000 grant from the [[Orthodox Union]] to help the congregation's outreach programs aimed at "young families, singles, and other unaffiliated Jews".<ref>{{cite news |title=Orthodox shuls get outreach grants |work=[[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]] |date=March 30, 2007 |access-date= |page= }}</ref> Beth Israel Abraham Voliner's proposal was "based on four prongs, or suppositions: the lack of Jewish knowledge among the unaffiliated; the loneliness of young mothers after childbirth; lack of time to become involved by busy professionals; and need for lay leadership training."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ou.org/news/article/ou_awards_grants_of_up_to_20000_to_three_synagogues_for_outreach_proposals/ |title=OU Awards Grants of Up To $20,000 to Three Synagogues for Outreach Proposals |work=OU News |publisher=[[Orthodox Union]] |date=March 30, 2007 |access-date=December 31, 2008 }}</ref>

Daniel Rockoff became Beth Israel Abraham Voliner's rabbi in September 2008.<ref name=Lipoff20080926/> A native of [[Newton, Massachusetts]], and a graduate of [[Maimonides School]], he received his rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva University's Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary.<ref name=Rabbi/> Prior to serving at Beth Israel Abraham Voliner, Rockoff was the assistant rabbi at Congregation Ahawas Achim B'nai Jacob and David in [[West Orange, New Jersey]].<ref name=Lipoff20080926/>

In 2020, Rabbi Mark Glass became the rabbi of the congregation. Glass received his BA in Philosophy, MA in Jewish Philosophy, and [[Semikhah]] at [[Yeshiva University]] and spent over two years learning in [[Yeshivat Hakotel]] in Jerusalem. Prior to his studies in Israel, he graduated from the [[King David High School, Manchester]] in the UK.

{{As of|2008}} Beth Israel Abraham Voliner was only Orthodox synagogue in Kansas City.<ref name=Lipoff20080926/> {{As of|2010}} it was the only Orthodox synagogue in the State of Kansas.<ref name=History/>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{official website|http://www.biav.org/}}

{{Synagogues in the United States}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beth Israel Abraham Voliner}} [[Category:1894 establishments in Kansas]] [[Category:20th-century synagogues in the United States]] [[Category:Buildings and structures in Overland Park, Kansas]] [[Category:Culture of Overland Park, Kansas]] [[Category:Orthodox synagogues in Kansas]] [[Category:Jewish organizations established in 1894]] [[Category:Synagogues completed in 1994]]