Newly ordained Reform rabbis were told here today that they must activity concern themselves with the plight of the Jews in urban centers like New York City and that if they did not, the "hysterical" and militant approaches of groups like the Jewish Defense League could supplant the present institutional structure as the new voice of the Jewish community. Dr, Abraham Joshua Heschel, professor of Jewish ethics and mysticism at the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Conservative school, issued that warning here to the 1972 graduates of the Hebrew Union College Jewish institute of Religion at graduation exerciser. Ten new Reform rabbis were ordained and five graduates of the School of Sacred Music were invested as cantors.
(Sally Preisand, 25,was ordained yesterday at the Cincinnati branch of the Reform Seminary as the first woman rabbi in history, She and 35 male rabbinical candidates were ordained by Rabbi Alfred Gottschalk, president of the Seminary, Rabbi Preisand has already been named assistant rabbi at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in Manhattan.) At the 78th annual commencement of the Jewish Theological Seminary, 32 new Conservative rabbis were ordained today. The Seminary College of Jewish Music awarded two degrees of doctor of sacred music and six diplomas as cantors.
Dr. Heschel said that "unless there is a more sympathetic and compassionate response to the anguish of those caught in the crisis of our times, the despair in the Jewish community will only deepen and the charlatans with their demagogic slogans will be hailed as the spokesmen of our people." He described the "neglected constituencies of our community "as the Jewish poor, the aged trapped in changing neighborhoods, Jews in the civil service and teaching professions who feel threatened by "other groups," and scatter-site housing projects like the much-debated low-income apartment project in Forest Hills.
JEWISH ‘CRISIS OF SELF-CONFIDENCE’
Dr. Heschel said that today’s Jewish community was suffering from an "unprecedented crisis of self-confidence, borderline hysteria and massive depression. He declared that for the first time "voices are heard questioning the viability of the American Jewish community, coupled with predictions of imminent Holocaust," While not mentioning directly either Rabbi Meir Kahane, JDL head, or the JDL, Rabbi Heschel made it clear he was referring to a newly-launched campaign by Rabbi Kahane calling for a massive American Jewish emigration to Israel on the basis of JDL predictions of a new wave of anti-Semitism. Dr. Heschel called on Jews to continue to fight for America’s Blacks and other minority groups for improved conditions for them but he cautioned against "gimmickry or quotas." Rabbi Harold Saperstein, former president of the Board of New York Rabbis, told the Reform graduates they should not base their future on any "magic formula" He cited a return to more ritual liturgical experimentations or wearing of robes and yarmulkas He said "these are not the answers What we need is commitment in an era of cynicism."
JTA official said two foreign students were among the 32 new Conservative rabbis ordained today, David shofet of Teheran, Iran; and Alfred Winter of Monte-video, Uruguay both plan to return to their native countries to serve Jewish communities there they are both sons of rabbis and came to the JTS for their rabbinical studies because there are no graduate schools of Jewish studies in either Iran or Uruguay, JTS officials said Jews in both countries had learned they can best assure themselves of trained leaders by sending selected young Jews abroad to study Rabbi Shofet expects to work primarily with young people in Jewish educational activities in Iran Rabbi Winter expects to work with youth groups in his father’s congregation in Montevideo.
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.
