Young Israel of Brookline

I visited this shul on two different occasions when I was in Brookline/​Boston for shabbos. The rabbi is very right wing, but that seems to be normative in Young Israel shuls these days: a very charedi rav, and a more modern congregation. The crowd seemed Jewishly literate, and the seudat shelishit, the third meal of shabbat, was held in a bright and airy beautiful banquet room/​social hall with tall glass windows surrounding it, which allowed the sunlight to enter, while providing a lovely view of the gardens and greenery on the shul grounds. The seating was comfortable, and the davening went at a reasonable pace. Nobody is too welcoming or friendly here, though. You have to take initiative and introduce yourself to people. They need some warmth to temper the coldness of intellect here. I was never here for shabbos morning, just for kabbolas shabbos and mincha/​maariv, so maybe I’m limited in terms of what I can say, although I’d definitely return.