A statement denying a newspaper report that Dr. Nelson Glueck, president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, who is now on an archeological mission in Israel will become a rabbi of a Reform congregation to be established there this year was issued here by HUC-J.R. The statement reads.
“Some months ago the College-Institute announced that it will establish, in Israel, the American Jewish Cultural Institute, a branch of HUC-JIR. This latter institution will not be a congregation. It will be a school for research for graduate students, and for those College-Institute students who wish to come there to catch the spirit of the prophets of old, by which they were able to utter the great ethical truths, the only verities that can save our world today.
“Through our projected cultural center of American Judaism in Palestine, we hope to bring the spirit of American Liberal culture to Israel, and to demonstrate to the Israelis how we have tried to effectuate a synthesis of the finest ideals of America. The Institute in Israel will include a chapel.
“The College-Institute is cooperating with the World Union for Progressive Judaism and with other Liberal Jewish agencies in the United States toward creation of an indigenous Liberal Jewish movement in Israel. But the American Jewish Cultural Institute is an entirely separate endeavor. Dr. Glueck would certainly have confided in us if he had any plans for establishing or leading a congregation in Israel.”
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