(Jewish Daily Bulletin)
Dr. Lee K. Frankel of New York and David A. Brown of Detroit were given the honorary degree of Doctor of Hebrew Law by the Hebrew Union College of Cincinnati at its annual graduation exercises held today in the chapel of the institution. Th honorary degrees were conferred on Dr. Frankel and Mr. Brown by Dr. Julian Morgenstern, president of the college, in recognition of “distinguished service to American Jewry and American Judaism.” The degree was conferred on Mr. Brown in person, and Dr. Frankel in absentia, he having sailed Friday night for London to attend the session of the Non-Partisan Survey Commission of the Jewish Agency.
Fourteen mmbers of the graduating class were ordained as Rabbis by Dr. Morgenstern. The students come from nine cities, five being residents of Cincinnalti, two of Clevenand one of New Orleans, one of Louisville, and others of St. Louis, Providence, Chicago, Troy, and New York City. The graduates are: Gus F. Falk, New Orleans; Hirsh L. Freund, Cincinnati; Milton Greenwald, Louisville; Israel Harburg Cincinnati; Eugene E. Hibshman, Cleveland; Philip W. Jaffa, Cleveland; Lawrence E. B. Kahn, Cincinnati; Julius Kerman St. Louis; Max Lasker, Providence; Irving M. Levey, Chicago; Jacob J. Ogel, Cincinnati; Efraim M. Rosensweig, Cincinnati; Herman Eliot Snyder, Troy; Sidney E. Unger, New York City.
Eight of the graduates have already been called to pulpits throughout the country, two joining the staff of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations as regional rabbis.
On Dr. Frankel the degree was conferred “in recognition of abundant and fruitful service to Israel and mankind.” The formal statement by Dr. Morgenstern declared:
“As a devoted and far-seeing pioneer in the field of Jewish social service he helped to formulate its basic principles, to develop its aims and methods and to lay the foundations of many of its most important institutions. He has deservedly become the foremost figure in America in the promotion of systematic public health service. Through him the lives of thousands of American citizens of today and tomorrow have been prolonged, their environmental conditions immeasurably improved, their welfare and happiness fncreased, and the standard of living of our American people appreciably elevated. He has been called to labor for many causes and has never failed to respond. He has filled high and responsible positions in general as well as in Jewish service, with dignity and honor and likewise with high idealism and worthy achievement. He has borne himself ever as a Jew, proud of his heritage and eager to enrich it through his own works. He has ever sought to emphasize the spiritual content of Judaism and interpret this to his fellow Jews as an active force in their daily lives. Through his aspiration, planning and building, Judaism has been strengthened, Israel has been honored, mankind has been blessed, and the name of God has been truly sacrificed.”
In conferring the honorary degree on Mr. Brown. Dr. Morgenstern declared that it was presented to him “in recognition of valuable, life-long service to Israel and mankind.”
“As a loyal citizen,” Dr. Morgenstern continued, “he has labored for many years on behalf of every wo-thy cause in his home city and contributed materially to the welfare and social progress of its people. As a faithful Jew he has always been a generous supporter of and ardent worker for every constructive project in his own congregation and in the larger Jewish community.
“Since 1919 he has been an able and indefatigable leader in the pressing task of alleviating the sufferings and needs of his fellow-Jews in Eastern Europe and Palestine. At great personal sacrifice, and with unsurpassed zeal he has Iiterally given himself to this task.
“He has spared neither means, time nor strength in this high cause. He has traveled through all lands where Jews dwell and with warm fellowship and understanding sympathy, with keen observation and constructive effort he has met and labored with and ministered to his Jewish brethren of all stations and opinions.
“He has investigated, planned and built wisely and with vision, so that throughout the world Israel might again raise its head in peace and walk with self-respect and dignity and that Judaism might live and grow and serve in ever larger measure and with more and more bounteous blessing. Among the Jewish leaders of this age he stands deservedly in the foremost rank.”
Both Dr. Frankel and Mr. Brown have been active in the Jewish cause, taking leading parts in all important Jewish movements. Mr. Brown is identified with the raising of funds for philanthropic purposes, and Dr. Frankel’s service has been in the administration and utilization of philanthropic funds.
Dr. Frankel is vice-president of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, a member of the Executive Board of the Union of America Hebrew Congregations and is one of the two American members of the Non-partisan Survey Commission of the Jewish Agency.
Mr. Brown is Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Union of America Hebrew Congregations. He is also chairman of the United Jewish Campaign. He recently was head of a flying squadron of laymen and rabbis who toured the country in behalf of the Union.
Of the Jewish laymen who have ever had this honor bestowed upon them, the two most outstanding, before Mr. Brown and Dr. Frankel were the late Jacob H. Schiff and Simon Wolf, of Washington, D. C.
The program of the graduation exercises included addresses and greetings by Alfred M. Cohen, chairman of the Board of Governors of the College, and Charles Shohl, honorary president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. Rabbi Solomon Starrels, of Lincoln, Neb., gave the invocation, and Rabbi Charles S. Levi, of Cincinnati, pronounced the benediction.
Rabbi Morris M. Feuerlicht of Indianapolis, of the class of 1901, delivered the baccalaureate sermon.
Speaking on the position of the Rabbi in American life, he said:
“The position of Rabbi is perhaps unique in the history of the rabbinate as it is in the long and varied history of Israel itself.
“When the rabbi in the average community of America speaks today, he is the spokesman not alone of Israel, but also of that relatively large non-sectarian population which though formally unaffiliated with the church, is yet a formidable part of the community’s religion. The name of the Jew, though a relatively insignificant numerical minority, is invariably added as the third to the two dominant sectarian elements usually selected to cover the community’s religious representation. When, as happens all over America so frequently as to be taken as a matter of course, a rabbi in a community is selected to arbitrate an industrial dispute; when he is appointed to a Public School, or Charities, or Library Board; when he is picked by some of our latter-day militant and perambulating Apikoresim to publicly debate certain questions of untversal theological and social concern-certainly these things are to be attributed to something more than a mere intended tribute to the alleged business acumen and influence of Israel; they mean something more than a merely personal compliment to the probable intellectual versatility of the rabbi. Is it too inaccurate or too sanguine a conclusion that, consciously or unconsciously, they signify a distinctive recognition of the vitality and power of Israel’s spiritual heritage in the environment wherein it is found?”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
