Rabbi Moshe Aaron Kasinetz, founder of the Orthodox Jewish community in Livingston, passed away on Shabbat, Parashat VaYechi, 18 Tevet—December 30, 2023. He was 89 years old.
Rabbi Kasinetz and his family—his wife, Sarah, and his three young daughters—arrived in Livingston in 1969, before the town had an Orthodox community of any sort. The Synagogue of the Suburban Torah Center (SSTC) began in a small, cinderblock building in the old Town Center. Its presence was not always welcome in those early years. Vandals defaced the building on multiple occasions. Over time, the handful of founding members grew to the point that the original, one-story building at 52 North Livingston Avenue could no longer accommodate the synagogue’s growing needs. In 1978, Rabbi Kasinetz’s dream of a brand new structure that the community could call home came to fruition. The synagogue was able to buy a piece of property and build a beautiful new edifice at its current location, 85 West Mount Pleasant Avenue. The facility boasted a large sanctuary, mikvah, social hall, library, office facilities and classrooms.
Due to its success and growth, the synagogue has since undergone multiple expansions and enhancements to include a beit midrash and nursery school. Years before his retirement in 1999, Rabbi Kasinetz worked to procure property back at the Town Center for the purpose of building a beautiful, modern mikvah facility (ritual bath). That dream became a reality with the opening of Mikvah Chana, at 62 North Livingston Avenue in December 2006.
A man of integrity, dignity and kindness, with extraordinary intelligence and vast knowledge, Rabbi Kasinetz, had a profound impact on those around him. Together with his wife, Sarah, he was able to connect with those across the spectrum of religious observance, with deep love and respect. The foundation of the SSTC was and remains its nonjudgmental approach. Every person is welcome and feels comfortable, learning and growing at his or her own pace. Many children who attended public school received their foundational Jewish education from Rabbi and Sarah Kasinetz. Both taught at the religious school the synagogue ran after regular school hours. Numerous students continued to pursue their religious education post bar and bat mitzvah and credit their time at the school for who they are today. Through the synagogue and school, hundreds connected with their Jewish identity—and generations are still being impacted today by the ripple effect of Rabbi Kasinetz’s influence.
Rabbi Kasinetz was raised in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn. His parents and grandparents had immigrated from Russia after the First World War. Together with their son, Moshe, and daughter, Devorah, Reb Zev and Eta Kasinetz were among the founding members of the Chabad-Lubavitch community in Brooklyn, then led by the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, known as the Previous Rebbe. Young Moshe was privileged to join his father at private audiences with the Previous Rebbe on four separate occasions. The Previous Rebbe even told his secretary that he’d like to build his yeshiva with such students.
An exceptional child, Rabbi Kasinetz was learning with the sixth graders as an 8-year-old, studying and absorbing vast amounts of knowledge throughout his young adult years. He would go on to study at 770 Eastern Parkway, at the yeshiva of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe, who advised and guided him throughout his life and work in Livingston. He pursued his undergraduate degree at Brooklyn College and received a master’s from Yeshiva University. Though Rabbi Kasinetz originally thought he’d become an accountant, it proved a great challenge to break into that profession in the 1950s as an openly observant Jew with a yarmulke and a beard. The Lubavitcher Rebbe encouraged him to do “something that influences people”—and assured him that his accounting skills would yet come in handy.
With consistent input from the Rebbe, Rabbi Kasinetz headed toward the rabbinate, starting off as an assistant rabbi at the Young Israel in Newark, New Jersey under Rabbi Zev Segal. Although Newark had been a great center of Jewish life for decades, in the aftermath of the 1967 riots, the idea of establishing a new community in the suburbs took shape. Rabbi Kasinetz cobbled together eight founding member families who believed in his vision and trusted that the potential he saw could become a reality. He did everything from Torah reading to building maintenance, from fundraising to youth programming—and, yes, even the accounting and bookkeeping. He did everything necessary for day-to-day operations, be it mundane or religious. He was the rabbi, of course, but never shied away from the most menial task to keep the place running.
Under his leadership, SSTC grew to over 200 member families and continues to grow to this day. Throughout his life, Rabbi Kasinetz had one guide and mentor to look to every step of the way, the Lubavitcher Rebbe. It was the Rebbe’s teachings and insight that he learned and shared. The Rebbe’s approach of loving every Jew, welcoming them wherever they were on their individual journey, was Rabbi Kasinetz’s guiding principle.
Rabbi Kasinetz is survived by his wife, Sarah, and his three daughters, Leah married to Shimon Barber, Esther married to Israel Prus, and Shlomit married to Dror Frommer, as well as his many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Nothing made him prouder than sharing in the true nachat of his growing family together with his lifelong partner, Sarah.
Rachel Sebbag is Rabbi Kasinetz’s granddaughter.
