Federation and UJC to Co-Sponsor
Rabbis Described as 'Lonely Group' Tax Institute in Two Sessions Oct. 13
6—Friday, September 73, 1970
By BEN GALLOB
(Copyright Me. JTA, Inc.)
A leading Reform theologian has
reported that his "most vivid im-
pression" from a seminar on the
contemporary rabbinate which he
led in New York City last winter
was that he and his colleagues
were "an incredibly lonely group
of men" whose devotion to Juda-
ism had made them "the most
alienated of people in this society."
The seminar, attended by 12 Re-
form rabbis, was 'held at the New
York School of the Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Reli-
gion, one of a number of such
courses held at the Reform semi-
nary for rabbinic alumni in the
New York area. The seminar was
led by Rabbi Eugene B. Horowitz,
professor of education and Jewish
religious thought at the seminary.
Dr. Borowitz reported on the
seminar and his reactions to it in
an article in the June issue of the
Journal of the Central Conference
of American Rabbis, the associa-
tion of Reform spiritual leaders.
He presented his report in the
form of an "open letter" addressed
to Dr. Theodore I. Lenn, a Hart-
ford sociologist, who is making a
study of the rabbinate and the
synagogue for the CCAR. Rabbi
Sidney Regner, CCAR executive
vice president, said the study is
expected to be completed in the
spring of 1971.
Dr. Borowitz reported that the
12 regular participants in the
seminar included rabbis serving
metropolitan, semi-urban and
suburban congregations, plus one
Mel director. He described the
group as containing neither
"rabbinic stars nor failures," a
"reasonably well-rounded group
of rabbis," who indicated by their
participation that they were
serious "about study and the
rabbinate."
TIE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
areas of great unhappiness" for
the rabbis in a "positive frame of
reference"—a unanimous reaction
that the men "by and large felt
happy in the rabbinate. They all
had some deep dissatisfactions
with contemporary Jewry but they
honestly did not wish to be doing
something other than trying to be
a rabbi."
The other area was the rabbi's
financial situation. Dr. Borowitz
reported that participants agreed
that the money problem "had less
to do with the quantity than with
the method of making arrange-
ments." It was summed up this
way: "Hoy) could one give moral
leadership to people who control-
led one's salary?" The participants
felt that if they took as strong a
stand as they should on financial
matters, "they compromised their
effectiveness as spiritual leaders.
Yet not to make demands resulted
in gross under-payment."
He reported that, of all rab-
binic activities, "only one was
the focus of universal discon-
tent: the Friday night services."
None of the participants felt this
could be abandoned "because
no one knew what to replace It
with." On the subjective level,
the rabbis "felt that the em-
phasis upon that service regular
ly prevented them from having
a proper Shabbat evening with
their own families."
In fact, it was agreed that for
rabbis, particularly those with
young children, the household
strains and tensions in getting to
the synagogue "generally made
Friday evening quite traumatic,"
a situation worsened at the sync
gogue. While Friday evening serv-
ices were "somehow expected to
show the reality -of Jewishness in
A Tax Institute to discuss the
impact of the Tax Reform Act of
1969 on philanthropy, will be
held Oct. 13, at the Standard
City Club, under auspices of the
Jewish Welfare Federation and
the United Jewish Charities, it was
announced by Alan ,E. Schwartz
and Paul Zuckerman, presidents
of the two agencies.'
Milton J. Miller, chairman of the
endowment committee, has plan-
ned the institute with two ses-
sions, one from 4 to 6 p.m. for
attorneys, accountants, insurance
men and trust officers; and a din-
ner meeting for people interested
in the advantage of an established
public foundation to accomplish
their philanthropic objectives.
Invitations are in the mail to
professional-men and philanthropic
leaders of the Detroit Jewish com-
munity.
At the afternoon session, a panel
of local authorities under the lead-
ership of Miles Jaffe, will discuss
important changes which affect
giving to charitable organizations
and foundations, and the ways in
which the endowment committee
can serve the professional and his
clients.
Norman A. Sugarman of Cleve-
land, nationally known tax codsul-
tant, will headline the evening ses-
sion and will speak on "Federa-
tion Foundations Instead of Private
Foundations."
HELP YOUR COUNTRY AS
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"The Federal Tax Reform Act
has a profound affect on current
and philanthropic plans. Men in-
terested in determining how to
benefit from the changes in the
new law should consider attend-
ing the dinner," Miller said.
'vv."
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the life of the congregation," what
actually happened was that the
weekly event made it evident to
the
rabbi how little Judaism meant
Rabbi Borowitz said the aliena-
to
the congregants. Rabbi Horo-
tion of the rabbis stemming from
witz
wrote that "this pattern of
their love for their faith affected
expectation/disaipointment
their ties to their congregation:,
their families and their colleagues.
"The most painful problem in the
area of rabbinic service proper"
indicated by the participants was
"the chasm" between their Jewish-
ness and that of their congregants.
"The rabbi cared about Juda-
ism, believed in it, loved it and
was giving his life to it," but "no
one else was." Accordingly, the
-rabbis had found it ''a task of
overwhelming difficulty"- to meet
expectations that they serve "as
teachers, missionaries, exemplars,
to devote their lives to bringing
Jews back to Judaism." From
time to time, the seminar discus-
sions indicated, "the realizatibn of
the abyss that separated them
from their people drove them to
deep despair."
This was found to be one of "two
Israel Plans to Settle
More Occupied Land
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Acting
Premier Yigal Allon disclosed that
the government has decided to es-
tablish five more settlements in
administered areas.
It is assumed that the new settle-
ments will be situated in accord-
ance with the Allon Plan, under
which paramilitary settlements are
set up along the Jordan River with
a view toward demilitarizing the
West Bank and returning it to Jon':
danian control.
There are already 24 settlements
in the occupied territories — 12 on
the Golan Heights, five in the Jar
dan Valley, three each in the
Hebron area and in the Sinai and
one near Latroun, on the outskirts
of Jerusalem.
;:r e g u-
larly re-traumatized" the rabbi.
Another problem which "came
home with unparalleled pathos,"
the seminar leader reported, "was
the way in which our major insti-
tutions do not help us with our
most personal needs." He argued
that those institutions should be
carrying out -policies "of binding
the rabbis together as a com-
munity of brothers so that our be-
liefs and commitments would be
reinforced by a common under-
standing and concern." Instead, he
asserted, the seminary, the Union
of American Hebrew Congrega-
tions, "and most particularly thc
CCAR, perpetuate all . the worst of
the American values of competive-
ness and success.
"The institutions of American
Reform Judaism," he wrote, "tend
to pit one man against the other
in a struggle for prizes of power
and preeminence rather than to
provide the one place in our so-
ciety where we might reinforce
our Jewish sense of what consti-
tutes true personality accomplish-
ments and worthy social associa-
tion" for a rabbi. Dr. Borowitz
concluded that "if someone could
restructure the rabbinate so that
-we could at least fund community
with our colleagues, that might
make the rest of our rabbinic tra-
vail bearable."
Rabbi Regner, asked for corn
ment, told the Jewish Telegraphic
Agency that the Lenn study was
aimed - at just those problems of
the rabbinate and the congrega-
tions and that both the seminary
and the UAHC had pledged their
fullest possible cooperation to the
study.
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