The 90 Conservative rabbis attending the 38th Annual Convention of the Rabbinical Assembly promised today to exert efforts to raise $100,000 to save their parent institution, the Jewish Theological seminary of america, from the necessity of curtailing its curriculum.
The action was taken after Dr. Louis Finkelstein, provost of the Seminary, had told the delegates that the board of directors had decided that the seminary could not be conducted on a deficit basis and would have to close one or more of its departments unless sufficient funds were raised during the coming year.
Establishment of machinery to survey the work of “free lance” rabbis and to check the abuses resulting from there being unqualified men in the rabbinate was proposed by Rabbi Jacob Freedman, of Fall River, Mass. He suggested that the supervision be undertaken by the Synagogue Council of America, central organization of all rabbinical associations.
Rabbi Freedman said that “free lance” rabbis were officiating in many American communities without Authorization from any center of Jewish learning and without any supervision of their qualifications to lead and teach.
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.
