A challenge to the American rabbinate and to American Jewish communities to evolve a new approach to converts and conversion was issued yesterday by Rabbi Ralph Simon, spiritual leader of Rodfei Zedek, Chicago. “The threat of intermarriage, the inevitable price we pay for the privilege of living in an open society, can be converted to a new source of strength,” Rabbi Simon told the more than 500 rabbis gathered here for the 70th annual convention of the Rabbinical Assembly, the international association of Conservative rabbis. Rabbi Simon urged the Assembly to create a commission to help Jewish communities develop an “atmosphere of general hospitality and helpfulness for the newcomers.”
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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.