Insight

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JULIE WEINER

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

T

emple Shalom in Wheeling,
W.Va., was offering
$80,000 and various perks
to its next spiritual leader,
but the 110-family Reform congrega-
tion searched for almost two years
before finding the rabbi of its dreams.
And some 52 Reform temples, 35
Conservative synagogues and 15
Orthodox congregations are still looking.
Some say it's the high demands of
the job that is keeping rabbis off the
pulpit. Others point to a swelling and
diversifying field in which rabbis have
a range of on- and off-the-bin2a (dais)
career options.
Whatever the reasons, a number of
synagogues are approaching the busy
High Holiday season without a rabbi or
without enough rabbis, say officials of
the three major Jewish movements.
And leaders in the smaller
Reconstructionist movement expect
that as their branch of Judaism con-
tinues to grow, their congregations
may face a shortage as well.
It's not a crisis — fewer than 10
percent of any movement's congre-
gations are without rabbis. But the
shortage of rabbis is a concern and
also being felt at educational and
organizational institutions.
Especially hard hit for all the
denominations are small and mid-
sized congregations located in
shrinking and isolated Jewish com-
munities, such as Temple Shalom.
"The biggest problem is convincing
people that the quality of life is good
here, that they're not entering a cultural
wasteland," said Jack Mendelson, who
was chairman of the Temple Shalom
search committee that ultimately chose
Rabbi Ronald Goff. The rabbi was
recruited from Florida State University,
where he was director of the Hillel.
But even large synagogues in big
cities — once viewed as the apex of
the profession — are experiencing a
drop in applications, particularly in
the Reform movement.
"Our largest congregations, when
looking for a senior rabbi, have among
the smallest number of applications,"
said Rabbi Charles Kroloff, the new
president of the Reform movement's
Central Conference of American Rabbis.
The Reform movement — which
anticipates more than 70 new positions
in the coming years — has experienced

8/6
1999

N

Remember
When

6

a steady drop in rabbinic school enroll-
ment in the past decade. This, officials
say, is in part a response to an antici-
pated shortage of jobs a decade ago.
The shortages in Conservative and
Orthodox Judaism, however, come
despite steady and even rising seminary
enrollments. Rabbi Joel Meyers, execu-
tive vice president of the Conservative
movement's Rabbinical Assembly, said
that while he would like to see more
rabbis, he is reluctant to dramatically
step up recruitment for fear that the
marker will experience a glut.
Despite the concerns, there are
more American rabbis than ever
before, even as the Jewish popula-
tion is stagnant, if not declining
in number.
The 1,500 Conservative rabbis
now compare to 1,200 two decades
ago. The 1,100 members of the
Orthodox Rabbinical Council of
America are up from approximately
700 over the same time period.
And despite recent drops in semi-

Reconstructionist rabbis chose jobs
outside synagogues.
The majority of Orthodox rabbis go
into educational jobs, but there are not
enough of them to fill these posts
either, said Steven Dworken, executive
vice president of the rabbinical council.
Some rabbis — a growing number
of whom are women — perceive non-
pulpit jobs as being more family-

... .

1989

•

The Baltimore Orioles became the
first major league sports franchise
in the U.S. to offer a kosher food
concession.
Oak Park gymnast Sean
Stephenson spent two weeks in
Leningrad at a training camp run
by the Gymnastics Federation.

1979

Dr. Harold Shapiro was selected as
the new president of the University
of Michigan.
Cantor Binyomkele Ruben was
slated to lead services at
Congregation Mishkan Israel
Nusach H'ari in honor of his grand-
parents, Mr. and Mrs. Isadore Starr.

1969

In honor of the birthday of Mrs.
Rachel Kurtzman, chairman of
the medical center project at Kfar
Chabad in Israel, the chairman of
the Hebrew University Board of
Governors donated $10,000 to
the center.
George M. Zeltzer, president of
the American Savings Association,
was elected first vice president of the
Michigan Savings and Loan League.

The Nils
Mystery

Congregations,
day schools face shortages.

nary enrollment, the total number
of Reform rabbis — 1,700 — is still
considerably more than the 1,100
from two decades ago. The number
for all the movements includes pul-
pit and non-pulpit rabbis.
But the number of jobs is grow-
ing faster than the number of rabbis.
Synagogues, seeking to meet
demands for alternative services and
more programs, are increasingly hiring
— or trying to hire — second, third
and even fourth rabbis. As they search,
they are competing with other institu-
tions, such as day schools, hospitals,
campus Hillels and Jewish community
centers, which didn't hire as many rab-
bis previously.
In this year's crop of newly ordained
rabbis, slightly under half of the 48
Conservative rabbis, one-quarter of the
45 Reform rabbis and half of the 10

From the pages of the Jewish News
for this week 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50
years ago.

1959

U.S. senators condemned the purge
of Jewish and other books from the
American exhibition in _Moscow.
A special library was established in
Cologne devoted to "bringing light
to the question of the relation of
Germany to her Jewish population."

friendly than the 24-hours-a-day,
seven-days-a-week reputation of the
congregational position.
"I've been a rabbi 20 years and was
pregnant with my first child when I
Was ordained," said Rabbi Ellen
Dreyfus of Wriai Yehuda Beth Sholom
in Homewood, Ill.
"It hasn't been easy, but its not easy
to balance any career with a family,"
she said. "If anything, the entry of
women into the rabbinate has helped
humanize the rabbinate and helped
lay people realize that all rabbis need
time with their families." 1_1

1949

Mrs. Benjamin Jaffe of Huntington
Woods was named Volunteer of the
Week by the Red Feather
Community Organization.
A group of 20 Polish Jewish
refugees arrived in Austria, fleeing
Poland because of "renewed Jew
baiting."
The Jewish Agency announce
that it would approach major
Zionist fund-raising organizations
in the United States with a request
to consider a joint campaign with
the United Jewish Appeal.

