The Rabbinical Council of America announced today formation of the first international agency of Orthodox rabbis with offices in New York City and London. The Orthodox group also announced the appointment of its president, Rabbi Zev Segal, as head of the new agency. Serving with him as co-chairmen are Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovitz. Chief Rabbi of the British Commonwealth, Haham Solomon Gaon, Chief Rabbi of Britain’s Sephardic community, Rabbi Pynchas Brener. Chief Rabbi of Caracas, Venezuela, and Rabbi Eugene Duschinsky of Cape Town, South Africa. A spokesman said a name for the new agency will be chosen soon and that Orthodox rabbis in Mexico, Australia, Belgium, Argentina and other countries were expected to join the agency, which will be an association of rabbis and not one of organizations of rabbis. He said it was expected that some 250 Orthodox rabbis throughout the world would join the new agency. The Rabbinical Council claims around 950 members in the United States and Canada.
Rabbi Segal said that the new rabbinic organization would help “to bind the relations of Jewish communities,” and added that the “decimated European Jewish communities” were in great need of the backing of the “large, vital and dynamic Orthodox rabbinate” in this country. He said similar difficulties existed in many Latin American countries. He said another function would be to help meet the lack of rabbis in such countries as Greece, Japan, Norway, Finland and other nations.
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.
