The Rabbinical Council of America, an Orthodox group which is holding its annual convention here, today announced that it has made a formal application to the Soviet Embassy in Washington to allow a delegation of rabbis to visit the Jews of the Soviet Union.
The announcement was made by Rabbi David Hollander, president of the Council. He told the convention that the Soviet Embassy has asked for full details on the “nature and purpose” of the visit. “We are hopefully awaiting an affirmative response from the Soviet Government,” he stated.
Noting that the “forthcoming meeting at the summit of the heads of the Four Power holds out the distinct possibility for the lessening of international tensions,” Rabbi Hollander stressed that “our request, if granted, will foster the growing spirit of understanding between the East and the West which appears to be emerging on our world horizons.” He added: “We seek only to visit our co-religionists in order to re-establish our spiritual ties which will enhance and strengthen the bond between our people.”
Rabbi Hollander declared that “the granting of our request will have far-reaching effects not only for Jews but for a waiting world eager to see increasing signs of trust and friendship among the peoples of the world. We firmly believe that such acts of sympathetic understanding gradually build the firm foundation on which can be securely rested the structure of peace and amity among nations.”
EISENHOWER GREETS RABBINICAL PARLEY; CHAPLAINS HONORED
Meanwhile, a message from President Eisenhower to the convention expressed the hope that the Rabbinical Council’s endeavors in the communities “will continue to heighten in Americans of every faith an awareness of the spiritual and moral heritage which all of us share.”
Rabbi Israel Miller, chairman of the Council’s chaplaincy committee, presented 30 Orders of Merit to members of the Rabbinical Council “who have served with outstanding distinction in the Armed Forces since the outbreak of the Korean conflict.” In making the presentation, Rabbi Miller paid tribute to the “sacrificed efforts of the entire Chaplain Corps ministering to the spiritual needs of the men and women serving our country.” A total of 95 Orthodox Rabbis have served as chaplains in the U.S. Armed Forces since World War II.
Rabbi Israel Klavan, executive secretary of the Rabbinical Council, in his annual report, outlined the Council’s program for the coming years, which featured the establishment of a national Beth Din (religious court). He said “the court’s stature is such that its authority will be recognized by the entire Jewish community in religious matters.”
At the same time, Rabbi Klavan announced the formation of a revolving fund to aid in the development of new synagogues and religious institutions in the newly-formed suburban centers of populations. He announced the Council’s program includes the formation of a commission “that will begin a sociological study of the character and trends of the American Jewish community.”
PROPOSAL FOR ADMITTING WOMEN TO RABBINATE SCORED
In his presidential statement, Rabbi Hollander, referring to the forthcoming meeting at the summit, paid high tribute to President Eisenhower “for his persistent quest for peace, undaunted by external frustrations and internal skepticism.” The president of the Rabbinical Council urged that the United States “with its great prestige and power, should enter into a security pact with Israel and thus remove the festering threat of war in an area where the forces of democracy must win the battle for the minds of the people.”
Taking up the recent proposal that women serve as rabbis, Rabbi Henry R. Gold, a practicing psychoanalyst, scored “this agitation in certain non-traditional Jewish circles” as stemming from the “excesses of hyper-feminism which threatens the whole fabric of American society.” He said: “It is preposterous to think that women’s happiness should depend on their occupying 50 percent of all jobs as taxi drivers, engineers and ministers. Those who seek to sell women on such goals are substituting the “ersatz” of self-inflation for the dignity of self-acceptance.”
Dr. Gold elaborated on this theme by pointing out that the “classic rabbinic law never regarded the mate as the king of the family or its benevolent despot, but considered him at least as, the president of the family, ever subject to emotional re-election. This attitude was transferred to the organized religious life in the synagogue and home. It was a system of distribution of function. To be sure this system did not always work ideally but it gave the Jewish family much of its stability.”
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.
