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U.S. Rabbis Urged to Reestablish the ‘traditional Role’ of the Rabbi

April 20, 1967
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American rabbis were urged here last night to reestablish the “traditional role” of the rabbi as “the interpreter of Judaism to the Jew and the sympathetic guide of the Jew to the inner resources of Judaism.”

Addressing the 85th anniversary observance of the New York Board of Rabbis, Rabbi Robert Gordis, professor of Bible at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, said that “Our people are readier than we sometimes think to recognize the function of the rabbi as a student, a scholar and a teacher. If we recapture this traditional role, we shall have no occasion to be troubled by the negative image of the rabbi.”

Rabbi Edward T. Sandrow, president of the Board, announced that Rabbi Harold H. Gordon executive vice-president for the past 20 years, would be honored by the organization with the establishment of annual student prizes in his name at each of the three major rabbinic seminaries — the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University (Orthodox), the Jewish Theological Seminary (Conservative) and the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (Reform).

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