Locals Propose Naming Forest Hills Corner For Longtime Rabbi

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — Rabbi M. Asher Murciano led the congregation at the Sephardic Jewish Center of Forest Hills for decades before his death in May. Now, residents of the neighborhood are backing a proposal to add his name to the street corner of his longtime synagogue.

Queens Community Board 6 unanimously approved a proposal Wednesday night to co-name the intersection of 68th Avenue and 108th Street in honor of the rabbi.

The proposal will next head to the City Council for approval.

Murciano led religious services at the Sephardic Jewish Center — first in The Bronx, then in Forest Hills — for 67 years. That makes him the country's longest-serving Sephardic rabbi of the same congregation, according to his obituary.

Murciano was born in Tangier, Morocco, in 1924 as a descendant of Spanish Jews from Murcia, Spain.

He was ordained by Rabbi Baruch Toledano and achieved the highest degree of Yore Yore Yadin Yadin, which permits a rabbi to make decisions on Jewish law, according to his obituary.

He moved to Brooklyn in 1948 and started his tenure as rabbi of the Sephardic Jewish Center in 1953.

He also served as a chaplain at Jacobi Hospital for 35 years.

The rabbi died on May 8 of natural causes.

He is survived by his wife, three children, 11 grandchildren and 34 great-grandchildren, siblings, nieces and nephews.