Rabbis and synagogue secretaries employed in affiliated synagogues of the United Synagogue consider salary increases planned for them “totally unacceptable, ” sources close to the United Synagogue Council reported today.
The Council of Ministers of the United Synagogue and the Association of Synagogue Secretaries have so informed Sir Isaac Wolfson, president of the United Synagogue, in connection with the meeting of the United Synagogue Council next Sunday.
The proposed increase is one of 10 percent to bring up salaries of rabbis to 2, 000 pounds ($5, 600) a year. Salaries of religious court judges (dayanim) would be raised to 2, 600 pounds ($7, 250) per year. The total cost of the increases was estimated at about 22, 000 pounds ($61, 600) annually.
The Council of Ministers, representing the rabbis in the congregations, took the unprecedented step of sending a letter to each member of the United Synagogue Council setting forth the reasons for their stand on the increases.
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.
