U.A.H.C. Announces Plan to Publish ‘liberal’ Commentary on the Torah

The Union of American Hebrew Congregations announced plans here today for the publication of a “liberal” commentary on the Torah “to meet the problems and perplexities the Bible poses to modern man.” The project, the first of its kind in the history of Reform Judaism, will be under the supervision of the Commission on Education of Reform Judaism, a joint body of the UAHC and the Central Conference of American Rabbis.

Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn, who reported details of the plan at the annual meeting of the UAHC’s board of trustees, estimated that the project would take three to five years to complete and would involve expenditures of some $250,000. He said that, “while drawing richly on the insights offered by traditional interpretations,” the commentary “will seek to reinterpret the Bible in the light of contemporary scientific discoveries.” He said the work “will use a bilingual — Hebrew and English — approach to the Biblical text.”