Rabbi Tzvi and Rivi Horvitz spread a welcome mat of spirit and sushi in Israel's most secular city 

Photos: Elchanan Kotler, Personal archives

When Rabbi Tzvi and Rivi Horvitz moved from Bnei Brak to the upscale, gentrified Tel Aviv neighborhood of Neve Tzedek, they were hoping to create an inclusive community shul where all types and stripes feel safe and comfortable. But they had no idea that their burgeoning kiruv kehillah would morph into a spiritual therapy center, where hundreds of massacre survivors would discover that food for the soul went way beyond a gourmet kiddush

It’s 1:00 a.m. on Leil Shabbos, and hundreds of survivors from the Simchas Torah slaughter at the Nova music festival are swaying in unison to the ancient haunting melody of Kah Echshof. Some are barefoot, others sport rainbow-shaded hair, tattoos, rings, and studs in assorted places from head to toe, but they all have one thing in common: These broken, traumatized young men and women who escaped with their lives after seeing their friends brutally murdered in front of their eyes, have come to keep Shabbos together as a first step in healing.

And that’s one reason Rabbi Tzvi Horvitz — who has been bringing massacre survivors and war refugees to his table for huge communal Shabbos meals over the last three months — is sure that his high-visibility kehillah, nestled in a trendy, upscale, and gentrified corner of Tel Aviv called Neve Tzedek, is more vital than ever.

This is the same Tel Aviv that saw the worst anti-religious demonstrations in Israel’s short history just a few weeks prior, when over a dozen public and private Yom Kippur services were disrupted by bazooka-blowing rioters and anarchists set to destroy organized (Jewish) religion in their city.

Yet after October 7, something major shifted — the mascot flags of the anarchists disappeared and the weekly anti-government/anti-religious demonstrations and disruptions suddenly dissipated. And that’s when Rabbi Horvitz and his wife Rivi — who’d transplanted themselves in Tel Aviv from Bnei Brak in 2018 — realized they were in the right place at the right time. Suddenly, they became a magnet for survivors of the doomed Nova music festival and for the displaced residents of the south living in hotels around the city. And what they’d created as a small kiruv shul morphed into a spiritual therapy center as well, with communal Shabbos meals for hundreds of people who discovered that food for the soul went way beyond the sushi platters they put out for the weekly kiddush.

For Rabbi Horvitz, an ordained rabbi, marital and family therapist, court-recognized mediator, and certified life-coach, this new role was the perfect fit.