A study of the comparative incomes of clergymen in Toronto indicated today that rabbis are the highest-paid spiritual leaders in the city. The data were contained in a feature story in the Toronto Star’s church page, giving figures on the income of clergy of the United Church, a union of Methodists, Congregationalists and some Presbyterians; Anglicans, Baptists, Unitarians and Jews.
The minimum income of United Church clergymen–including salary, auto allowance and the equivalent of a home–is $6, 000 a year. The top United Church salary in the city is $20, 000 plus a free parsonage. Some United Church ministers receive $10, 000 a year.
The best paid Presbyterian minister receives $11, 000 a year. The Anglican minimum is $3,600. At least two Anglican ministers in Toronto receive $10, 000 annually. One Baptist church pays its minister $10, 000. Catholic priests do not receive a salary but do get non-taxable living allowances. Some priests belonging to certain orders take vows of poverty. One Unitarian minister with a comparatively small congregation of 700 receives $13, 000 a year. Other Unitarian clergymen receive about $9, 000 a year in annual income.
Star Church Editor Allan Spragget reported that rabbis’ salaries, which are not published, are on the whole the highest of any group of spiritual leaders. He said that top pay of $35, 000, plus at least another $10, 000 in set fees for weddings, funerals and Bar Mitzvahs, goes to Dr. Stuart Rosenberg, rabbi of Beth Tzedec Congregation. With his free house, Dr, Rosenberg’ s income is equal to $50, 000 annually, which places him near the top for rabbinical salaries in North America, the newspaper asserted.
Rabbi Gunther Plaut, of Holy Blossom Temple, receives $30, 000 annually, according to the report; and Rabbi Jordan Pearlson of Temple Sinai receives $18, 000. In very small synagogues, the salary is probably considerably less than $10, 000 a year.
The church editor attributed the relatively high salaries of rabbis to “the lack of an anti-money bias in Judaism, ” One rabbi was quoted by Spraggett as saying that poverty and piety are not related in Judaism as they are in the Christian tradition, that the rabbi is respected by the congregation and it is proud to pay him well.
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.
