With a deliberate absence of ceremony to avoid provoking demonstrations by extreme Orthodox elements, construction began yesterday on the Jerusalem school of the Hebrew Union College, the Reform Seminary, near the King David Hotel.
The two-story Reform school will offer advanced courses in Bible, archaeology and Near East studies and will contain a chapel for worship by students. Dr. Nelson Glueck, president of the parent seminary in the United States, arrived last month to supervise the start of construction and will remain until August.
Application last year for a building license for the school produced heated debate in the Jerusalem Municipal Council whose Orthodox members sought to block the project on grounds that the chapel would be used to introduce Reform services to Israel.
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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.