In a move to accommodate otherwise qualified young men who desire to enter the rabbinate but have not mastered the Hebrew language, the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion here has established the policy of inviting college graduates to spend a year on the Ohic campus for an accelerated program to prepare them for admission as candidates for the Master of Hebrew Letters degree and ordination as rabbis, it was announced today by Rabbi Robert L. Katz, director of admissions and field activities at the Liberal rabbinic college.
“Many Jewish young men,” Rabbi Katz said, “have discovered in recent years a new and greater interest in understanding their Jewish heritage, and themselves as Jews, because of the impact of international tensions, the shadow of the stom war and the crisis in human relations. Many of them are turning from the physical sciences to a concern with people, and are rediscovering the moral values in, and a need for, religion.”
Rabbi Katz pointed out that the armed forces have lowered eligibility rules, and are now accepting rabbis for chaplaincy commissions on graduation instead of waiting until after the candidate has completed a year of rabbinical service. In addition to the needs of the Chaplains Corps, Rabbi Katz said, places are opening up in congregations that are relinquishing their spiritual leaders to the military services. “Other calls for rabbis are coming in constantly from new Liberal and Reform Jewish congregations springing up throughout the nation, and for educational posts in Jewish religious schools and higher institutions of Learning,” Rabbi Katz stated.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
