A recommendation that a new type of American synagogue, one that “will be neither Orthodox, Conservative nor Reform, but a non-denominational, non-sectarian synagogue that will be patterned after the synagogue in Israel,” should be established in this country, was made here today by Rabbi Israel Tabak, president of the Synagogue Council of America.
Asserting at a public reception tendered him and 11 other Council members who recently returned from Israel that “American Jews are confused and bewildered by the multiplicity of religious causes and institutions and by the divisiveness in Jewish ranks,” Dr. Tabak stated: “Now that there is one people of Israel, let there be one faith of Israel.” American Jewry, he continued, “should do away with the denominationalism which is dividing us more and more painfully.”
Rabbi Tabak also declared that the “competitive efforts in fund-raising for religious institutions, and the overlapping in the various campaigns for educational institutions, are not only a great waste of effort and expense, but are calculated seriously to jeopardize the future of Judaism in this country.” Reporting that “Judaism in Israel is developing along new lines altogether,” he said that studies are now being undertaken “to bring the ancient laws and traditions of Judaism into harmony with the new dynamic form of life which is now growing up in Israel.”
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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.
