Fund-raising Groups Warned They Must Have Religious Leadership

The Jewish religious community was urged to demand that the leadership of Jewish secular and philanthropic organizations be spiritually committed to Judaism if they are to continue to receive the support of rabbis and their congregations.

Addressing the biennial convention of the Southwest Council of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations here, Rabbi Nathan A. Perilman of Temple Emanu-El in New York City, told the lay and rabbinic leaders of the 66 Reform member congregations of the Council that “too long have the temples, the rabbis, and our national institutions been content with being spear-carriers and chorus and ticket sellers in the grand opera of Jewish community organization.”

Rabbi Perilman said: “The least that we have a right to insist upon is that Jewish leaders watch their posture, that they be indeed Jewish as well as leaders; that they find their continuing inspiration in Jewish idealism, and that they not only know where synagogues and temples are located, but that they frequently be found in them for the same purpose of prayer, study, and fellowship, as that of their followers and sustainers.” He called upon the congregational and rabbinic institutions of Reform Judaism in America, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the Central Conference of American Rabbis, to issue a proclamation.

“The Jewish religious community–Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform–separately or in concert, should inform the policy-makers and professionals of all agencies that they will no longer honor or follow a leadership whose religious commitment is so tenuous as to be indiscernible, or whose attitude toward religion is mere formality or lukewarm, when it is not hostile or contemptuous,” Rabbi Perilman said.

“We have a broad tolerance for difference in the patterns and points of emphasis in Jewish life. We need and mutually profit from all of the agencies that make up the multifaceted structure of the Jewish community. We need the philanthropically minded, the defense-motivated, and the Israel-directed, among us. But let us insist that they also need us, not in subsidiary or supporting roles, but as central to Jewish life,” he demanded.