Shafner will be the successor to the synagogue’s former spiritual leader, Rabbi Barry Freundel, who was arrested 2 1/2 years ago for secretly videotaping women in Kesher Israel’s mikvah.

In a letter to the congregation, Kesher Israel President Elanit Jakabovics described Shafner as “humble, genuine, spiritual, and healing,” as well as “sensitive to the needs of his community and thoughtful in his approach.”

Prior to his St. Louis experience, Shafner served eight years as the campus rabbi at the Hillel of Washington University in that city. He and his wife, Sara Winkelman, spent a year working with the Jews of India, where he served as a community rabbi for the Jews of Mumbai.

Freundel, 64, was arrested in October 2014, and began serving a 6 1/2-year sentence in May 2015 after pleading guilty to 52 counts of voyeurism.