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Aini ll
"Every member of
the RCA . . . is a full
member . . . It
means they're trying
to do the service of
the Lord . . . It
doesn't mean we
don't want them to
change."
members of the congrega-
tion by officiating at non-
kosher weddings. But since
Rabbi Angel took over,
that practice has been
eliminated.
It's an example, he said,
of adhering to standards
that were always there, but
just not met.
Finding an Orthodox
rabbi today who will of-
ficiate at a non-kosher
wedding is rare, even out-
side of New York.
However, more than a few
congregations around the
nation led by RCA-
affiliated rabbis do not
adhere closely to halachic
guidelines regarding
height requirements for
mechitzahs, the dividers
that Orthodox synagogues
are supposed to have to
separate men and women
worshippers.
At one time, it was com-
mon practice for Orthodox
yeshivas to send rabbis to
such halachically loose
congregations, the think-
ing being that half an Or-
thodox loaf was better than
none. That approach has
now fallen out of favor,
however, and it's become
an issue over which the Or-
thodox right is making
waves. For Rabbi Angel,
it's an issue that allows his
moderate leanings full ex-
pression.
"Within the RCA, ob-
viously we can't approve of
those kind of synagogues,"
he said. "But they exist,
and what is our respon-
sibility to them, if any? We
have members of the RCA
who serve those kind of
congregations and it's been
no secret that there has
been unhappiness express-
ed by those men, that they
don't feel like they're first-
class citizens within the
Orthodox community. I say
they are first-class citizens,
absolutely first-class
citizens.
"My feeling is that every
member of the RCA who is
there because their yeshiva
sent them there, is a full
member of the RCA with
all the rights and privi-
leges thereof. It means
they're trying to do the
service of the Lord in those
communities...It doesn't
mean we don't want them
to change. We want them
to conform to Orthodox
practice in every respect."
Rabbi Angel said he also
wants to pull more RCA
Continued on Page 34
A Synagogue
With A History
abbi Marc D. An-
gel's home pulpit,
the historic and
prestigious Congregation
Shearith Israel, commands
the corner of Central Park
West at 70th Street on
Manhattan's Upper West
Side. Established in 1654, it
is considered the oldest
Jewish congregation in
North America. Shearith
Israel, which currently has
a membership of about 650
families, has been at its pre-
sent site for nearly a
century.
It is a genteel congrega-
tion in the Western
Sephardic tradition. The
main sanctuary, with its
upstairs womens' section
and its dark wood benches
worn smooth by time, is
reminiscent of another
time, one that preceded the
denominational intrigue
that now pervades the
American Jewish scene.
The sanctuary is devoid
of the memorial plaques
that clutter most contem-
porary synagogues and
Rabbi Angel's job title is
still officially "minister,"
an outmoded term if ever
there was one in Judaism.
One of the few hints of
today's turbulent times is
the rumbling of subway
cars passing below. An-
other is the window bars
that protect his office from
break-ins.
It is in this environment
that Rabbi Angel, a one-
time marathon runner, oc-
casional golfer and widely
published and award-
winning writer on Jewish
themes, has spent his en-
tire career in the rab-
binate.
Rabbi Angel came to
New York from Seattle,
where his parents'
families, both of which
came from Turkey, had set-
tled. His upbringing was
traditional in the cultural
style of Sephardic Jews. He
is not, he noted, the latest
R
in a long line of
distinguished rabbis.
"My father was a
grocer," he explained while
pointing to the family
photos that line much of
one wall in his office. "We
come from a family of
average citizens. My
grandfather was a barber.
My other grandfather was
in the shoe business. One
The main
sanctuary, with its
upstairs women's
section and its dark
wood benches
worn smooth by
time, is reminiscent
of another time.
uncle was a bartender, an-
other was a printer."
There was one uncle,
however, who was a rabbi,
and it was partly because
of his influence that Rabbi
Angel decided to attend
Yeshiva University after
receiving a Seattle public
school education. His
motive was not to become a
rabbi, however.
He merely wanted to get
out of town, and New York
seemed a good place to go.
When he enrolled, his goal
was to be a writer and pro-
fessor of literature.
Instead, he met his wife-
to-be, Gilda, now a well-
known writer on Jewish
cooking, who was then a
student at Yeshiva's Stern
College. Her desire to stay
in New York, plus the
guidance of Yeshiva's
Sephardic studies chair-
man, Rabbi Haham
Solomon Gaon, led him
into the rabbinate.
Rabbi Gaon also helped
him obtain a job as
Shearith Israel's assistant
rabbi in 1969. Eight years
later, Rabbi Angel became
the rabbi for the congrega-
tion.
I.R.