Rabbinical Assembly in 33rd Annual Meeting at Seminary This Week

More than 150 delegates from 75 American and Canadian cities will attend the 33rd annual Rabbinical Assembly Convention of the Jewish Theological Seminary which will open Tuesday morning at the Seminary, 331 West 123rd St. The convention will end next Thursday afternoon.

The session will open in the library of the Teachers’ Institute of the Seminary with a message of greeting from Dr. Cyrus Adler, president of the Seminary. Additional greetings will be voiced by Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan, president of the Rabbinical Assembly and Louis J. Moss, president of the United Synagogue of America.

Rabbi Kaplan will deliver the keynote address of the opening session. This will be followed by a report of the Committee to Study the Type of Organization Needed to Represent American Jewry, rendered by Rabbi Eugene Kohn of Bayonne, N. J., and a report of the Committee on Social Justice by Rabbi Israel Goldstein of Temple B’nai Jeshurun.

Tuesday evening will be devoted to a social program, the principal feature of which will be a concert of Jewish music. Rabbi Abraham Heller of Brooklyn will be chairman of the evening session.

The third session will open Wednesday morning at 10 o’clock. Rabbi Leon S. Lang of Newark will report as chairman of the Education Committee, to be followed by an address by Rabbi Eugene Kohn on “Objectives in Jewish Education.” Discussion on Rabbi Kohn’s paper will be led by Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan and Rabbi Arthur H. Neulander.

Rabbi Julius Greenstone of Philadelphia will preside during the third session.

Rabbi Greenstone will deliver a report as chairman of the Committee on Interpretation of Jewish Law during the fourth session Wednesday afternoon. An address on “Jewish Nationalism” by Rabbi Simon Greenberg of Philadelphia will be followed by a general discussion led by Rabbi Ira Eisenstein. Rabbi Morris Silverman will report on the results of a survey conducted by him on the liturgies of the synagogues of this country and Canada. Election of officers for the ensuing year will be the final event of the Wednesday afternoon session, which will be presided over by Rabbi Benjamin Birnbaum.

The fifth session to be held Wednesday evening will consist of a symposium on “Economic Justice” to be participated in by George Soule, editor of The New Republic; Edward L. Bernays, public relations counsel, and Rabbi Israel Goldstein. The members of the rabbinate attending the convention have been asked to bring lay members of their congregations to this session.

The Thursday morning session will open with reports from the treasurer, Rabbi Louis J. Schwefel of New Rochelle; Rabbi Alexander Basel of the Jacob Schiff Center in the Bronx, chairman of the Membership Committee and Rabbi Schwefel and Rabbi Elias Margolis of Mt. Vernon, cochairmen of the Placement Committee. Additional reports will be rendered by Rabbi Simon Greenberg of the Rabbinical Assembly Committee; Rabbi Leon S. Lang of the Publication Committee and Rabbi Louis Finkelstein for the Seminary and Symposium Volume Committees. Rabbi Moses J. Abels will preside during this session.

During the seventh session Thursday afternoon, the convention will act on the reports and recommendations of the Resolutions and President’s Message Committees.

The Rabbinical Assembly is composed of the graduates of the rabbinical department of the Jewish Theological Seminary and has a membership of approximately 350. Its officers are Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan, president; Rabbi Elias Margolis, vice-president; Rabbi Louis J. Schwefel, treasurer; Rabbi Israel M. Goldman, recording secretary and Rabbi Henry M. Rosenthal, corresponding secretary.