Despite assertions that their ordinary functions leave them no leisure, the majority of reform rabbis engage in such side activities as lecturing, speaking over the radio and writing for the newspapers and magazines.
This disclosure is made in the current issue of the Hebrew Union College Monthly by Philip Finkelstein and Robert Kahn who report the results of a questionnaire sent to 300 rabbis and answered by seventy-two.
MANY LECTURE
The lecture platform lured the largest number of those who sent in replies, with the radio second and journalism third. The figures were fifty, forty-two and twenty-nine, respectively.
Pointing out that the acceptance of fees is “one of the most debated subjects so far as the rabbi’s income is concerned,” the writers report that the rabbis lined up as follows in taking honoraria for performance of their duties:
Weddings, sixty-one; funerals, fifty-four; confirmations, twenty-three.
All seventy-two accept fees from non-members, they informed the investigators.
### regard to the reduction of salaries, the survey reveals a range from ten to sixty-six per cent. The highest cut occurred in the group embracing congregations having from 100 to 300 members; the lowest in this same bracket and also in the class of congregations having more than 500 communicants.
On the question of intermarriage the reform rabbis split three ways. Thirty declare they do not officiate at ceremonies involving persons of Jewish and other faiths; fourteen stated they perform only if the non-Jew becomes converted, while twenty-seven answered that they officiate without ado.
In reply to a query whether the rabbi requires a pledge that the child born of a mixed union be brought up as a Jew, thirty-six said they did.
OBSERVE LEGAL BARS
With but two exceptions, the seventy-two rabbis declared that they do not perform marriages which, while permitted by Judaism, are prohibited by the State. On the other hand, only twenty-two stated they do not perform ceremonies which are barred by Judaism but permitted by the State.
Sermons range in length from ten minutes to an hour, the questionnaire determined, with the great majority of the rabbis preaching from notes.
FAVOR MODERN TOPICS
Modern problems as subject matter are in greatest favor, followed in order by personal religion, social ethics, lectures on Jewish past and book reviews.
As part of the investigation, the following four questions were asked:
1. Would you negotiate with a congregation for a position before all its negotiations with previous candidates had been closed?
2. Would you apply for a pulpit still occupied without first consulting with the incumbent, even when invited by an authorized committee?
3. Would you officiate in a family belonging to another congregation without the consent of the rabbi of that congregation?
4. Would you occupy a colleague’s pulpit except at the direct invitation of that colleague?
“In good faith and in the proper spirit,” the collaborators announce, “our rabbis answered no—to all four.”
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.
