Rabbi Ian Pear and his wife Rachel founded Shir Hadash in 2000, shortly after making aliya from the United States, he from Arizona and she from New York.

Rabbi Pear realized that in order to maximize promoting his vision of “traditional Judaism devoted to inspiring Jewish identity infused with joy, meaning, ethics and hesed,” he would need a new building. The new building is set to include a synagogue that can seat over 500 people, a beit midrash, library and conference rooms, a first class mikveh, social hall and celebration space, a theater/auditorium, an early childhood center, and much more.

Slated to be completed within the next 5 years, Shir Hadash hopes to have an impact both on the local ''environment'' and to inspire people around the world.

According to Rabbi Pear, “Our goal during construction is to create the first ''green'' accredited Synagogue in Israel, and have committed to pursuing the most advanced environmentally friendly means of construction as possible.”

Shir Hadash is unique in that it is one of the few English speaking synagogues in Israel.

“We hope the building will provide an anchor to the local Anglo-Israeli community, offering attractive services to this community that may in some small way encourage more and more people to remain in Jerusalem” Pear explains.

The site of the new synagogue is in Jerusalem’s upscale German Colony neighborhood, making it more accessible for tourists staying in nearby hotels. “Since the building will be close to many hotels, we envision it attracting many tourists -- either as individuals or as part of missions, groups and high level delegations. We hope these visitors will be inspired by what they experience in the building, and return home with the desire to inspire their home communities in the same way,” adds Pear.

Also from the municipality, Nomi Tzur, environmental activist and deputy mayor, shared her excitement for the building and looks forward “to partnering with Shir Hadash to make the building as environment-friendly as possible” and welcomed all the guests to come participate in open environmental committee meetings in city hall.