Creation of a pension plan for rabbis, representing the fruition of an idea made possible in part by the generosity of the late Jacob R. Schiff, was announced today by Jacob Aronson, chairman of the Rabbinical Pension Board.
In 1917, Mr. Schiff gave $100,000 to start a pension fund for rabbis. That part of this gift plus additional funds approximately $100,000, accumulating over the years, will be used by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the Central Conference of American Rabbis for rabbinical pensions. The Central Conference has a separate pension fund of $150,000 which will also be used.
The plan, as announced today, follows the pattern long employed by American religious bodies except that in this case all risks will be insured in a legal reserve life insurance company. The Northwestern Mutual has been designated for this purpose. The chairman of the Rabbinical Pension Board, Mr. Aronson, has had much experience with federal pension legislation. He is a vice president of the New York Central Railway System, in charge of its legal department.
Under the program, the employing congregation, the rabbi, the UAHC and the CCAR will join in paying the annual premiums. Each congregation is to pay seven percent of the rabbi’s salary. The rabbi is to pay three percent of his salary and the UAHC and CCAR will pay amounts graduated according to the ages of the rabbis at the time they enroll in the plan. The UAHC and the CCAR will each pay $5,000 a year to enlarge the existing available pension funds which now approximate $200,000. The contributions towards the annual premiums from these pension funds are intended, in a measure, to make up for the difference in ages of all those who enter at the outset of the movement.
While the pension is the result of the total contributions made from date of entry to age of retirement, the congregations employing older men are privileged to enter their rabbis at a salary level above $3,000 if agreed upon by rabbi and congregation. The pension can thus be set at any reasonable figure desired, The Rabbinical Pension Board of the CCAR and the UAHC will secure a policy combining life insurance and annuity for those that are insurable and a pure annuity for those that are uninsurable or above 60.
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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.
