Eighty-five graduates of the Rabbi Isaac Elchan an Theological Seminary, including ten now serving as military chaplains with the United States Armed Forces, today received Smicha, the Orthodox ordination, at a special ceremony held at Yeshiva University here.
The ceremony, held only once in three years, this time coincided with the celebration of the 56th anniversary of the founding of the seminary, which has since been expanded to become Yeshiva University. The recipients of the ordination were graduated from the seminary between 1950 and 1953. Dr. Samuel Belkin, in an address to the 1,500 persons who witnessed the ceremony, called upon Jewish religious leaders to remain steadfast in their beliefs and to stand as a “reserve for a saner future.”
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