A young rabbi and rebbetzin are holding their own among some heavy-hitting company. Are they being compared to great Torah scholars? Historical rabbis and their wives? No — it’s a bunch of fashion designers, artists, art dealers, musicians, writers and hoteliers whose company they share. StyleCaster has deemed Dovi and Esty Scheiner, co-founders in 2005 of the SoHo Synagogue, two of the 50 most stylish New Yorkers for 2012.

We guess it’s not all that surprising that the couple, photographed for the StyleCaster website in tsnius chic attire, would be deemed exemplars of style. After all, we’re talking about a shul in trendy SoHo, not Hasidic Crown Heights.

In a brief interview, the Brooklyn-born-and-raised couple said that they love all their neighbors on Crosby Street, and that “on Shabbos afternoons we relax on the wooden swing at the Mondrian.” Esty remarked that it is fun for her to combine her personal style with the dictates of modesty. Dovi simply said, “I love my yarmulka.”

He recounted how a woman approached him while he was visiting the Palace of Versailles and applauded his courage for wearing his yarmulka despite the anti-Semitic atmosphere in France. “I would never have it any other way,” he said. We’re assuming the rabbi was making reference to his commitment not to style, but rather to an even higher purpose.

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