Jewish Theological Seminary Reorganized; New Posts Announced

A reorganization of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America to enable the institution more effectively to carry forward its many activities was announced tonight by Alan M. Stroock, chairman of the board of directors of the seminary. The reorganization, effective immediately, creates a number of new officers of the Seminary administration.

Under the new plan, Dr. Louis Finkelstein, president of the seminary, assumes the posts of chancellor and president of the faculties. Dr. Finkelstein became the fourth president of the seminary in 1940, succeeding Dr. Cyrus Adler. Appointed as vice-chancellor and vice-president of faculties is Dr. Simon Greenberg, leading Jewish educator, who has served as provost since 1946.

Also appointed to the position of vice-chancellor is Dr. Max Arzt, who has been director of field service and activities since 1939. Dr. Moshe Davis, lecturer in American Jewish History on the faculty of the Rabbinical School, will become provost under the reorganization. Named to the post of Dean of Students is Rabbi Bernard Mandelbaum, secretary of the faculty and registrar of the Rabbinical School since his ordination at the seminary in 1946. Dr. Max J. Routtenberg and Dr. Bernard Segal have been named executive vice-presidents in the new reorganization.

The current reorganization of the seminary administration is the second major change in the history of the institution, according to Mr. Stroock. The seminary was founded in 1887 and Prof. Sabato Morais became the institution’s first president, serving from 1887 to 1897. It was reorganized in 1902, when Prof. Solomon Scheciter assumed the presidency. He served until his death in 1915, when he was succeeded by Dr. Cyrus Adler. The reorganization, said Mr. Stroock, has become inevitable because of the vast increase in the responsibilities of the institution.