535
Progress Avenue
Munster, Indiana 46321
Rabbi Emeritus
Rabbi Ostrovsky was born in Jerusalem, Israel in 1938 and was raised in Birmingham, Alabama, where his father served as Cantor for 36 years. In 1962, he received his Master's Degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and was ordained in 1965.
For 11 years, he served 2 major congregations in New York and in 1976 was elected to the pulpit of Congregation Beth Israel in Hammond, Indiana where he continues to serve.
He has served on various committees of the Rabbinical Assembly. Under the auspices of the National Jewish Welfare Board, he was instrumental in producing a Shavuot Service in cassette form for members of the Armed Forces in the US and for hospitalized veterans. The United Synagogue of America published his Service on Yom Hashoah, the Holocaust Memorial Day for distribution in synagogues and educational institutions. He completed his Doctoral studies at the Chicago Theological Seminary in 1983. He also received an honorary doctorate from JTS in 1991, having completed 25 years in the active Rabbinate. A highlight of his career in the Rabbinate, which was reviewed in the New York Times, was his involvement in creating the largest private Holocaust Exhibit anywhere, attracting over 7,000 visitors, most of them non-Jews who had never been exposed to holocaust artifacts. Rabbi Ostrovsky was honored by the Jewish Theological Seminary (NY) on June 21, 2000 at the city-wide Chicago Annual Dinner where he received the Rabbi Max Arzt Distinguished Rabbinic Service Award. Since his ordination, Raphael has been a pulpit Rabbi for over 39 years.