Maxwell Abbell, prominent Chicago Jewish leader, and Mortimer J. Cohen, spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Sholom in Philadelphia, today received the honorary degrees of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, and Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa, respectively, at the 60th annual commencement exercises of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
The degrees were conferred in recognition of their outstanding service to the American community as a whole and to their local communities. Professor Ezekiel Kutscher, visiting professor of Hebrew Language and Philosophy and Rabbi Haim Joshua Kosofsky, well known Israeli scholar, received the Louis Ginzberg Awards for outstanding Jewish scholarship at the ceremonies.
Nineteen students of the Rabbinical School were ordained as “rabbi, teacher and preacher” and received the degree of Master of Hebrew Literature at the ceremonies. Doctor Robert Gordis, associate professor of Bible at the Seminary, adjunct professor of religion at Columbia University and spiritual leader of Temple Beth El in Rockaway Park, was the principal speaker at the ceremonies.
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