Rabbis in Michigan

Like Gaul, U. S. Jewry is divided into three parts: Orthodox, Conservative and Reform. Orthodox Jews are the fundamentalists, who observe intact the Mosaic code and dietary regulations. Reform Jews are the modernists, who largely disregard the old traditions, believe in religious evolution. The Conservatives are middle-of-the-roaders. Last week, with the future of Jewry in Europe darker than ever, two of these U. S. branches met in Michigan for rabbinical conferences, voiced clearly what was troubling Zion in the world's No. 1 Jewish country. At-Charlevoix, 130 members of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (Reform ) discussed "The Jewish People in the World of Today: Its Status and Its Problems." At Detroit the Rabbinical Assembly of America (Conservative) chose as its theme "The American Rabbi in the Modern World."

The week's most penetrating summation came from the Rabbinical Assembly's retiring president: ruddy, usually genial Dr. Max Arzt of Manhattan's Jewish Theological Seminary. Said he to the 100 assembled rabbis: "I submit that the world cataclysm of our day powerfully, if tragically, confirms the truths enunciated by the God-inspired seers of Israel. The uniqueness of our Torah lies in the unequivocal assertion that the moral law comes from God. This means that human happiness is inconceivable without obedience to that law. . . . Morality is not an elective in the school of human life. . . . The forces of evil which now threaten our very existence pursued their diabolic purposes with fierce and unflinching determination. . . . Contrast their remarkable steadiness of purpose and resolute will with the indecision, halfheartedness and hypocritical behavior of those who rendered profuse lip service to the cause of peace and democracy. . . .

"We Americans have a major share in the sins of omission which have led to the present debacle. We proclaimed the golden vision of a League of Nations. ... It was a moral, if you will, a religious issue. There was a precious opportunity for church and synagogue to champion an indispensable plan for removal of the blight of war from the earth. But the record speaks for itself. We permitted politicians and narrow-visioned isolationists to destroy the only possible good effect of the World War and have thus nullified the sacrifice of ten million lives. . . .

"If democratic civilization is defeated, it will be because of its own moral disintegration. . . . The objective before us is crystal clear. We must mobilize all our resources for the strengthening of our democratic system and for powerful de fense against the bloodthirsty brutalitarians. . . . Equally important and equally indispensable is an immediate program for the economic rehabilitation of our twelve million unemployed whose morale is shattered and whose allegiance to democracy is tenuous because the hungry and the hopeless fail to see what they are called upon to defend. . . . We rabbis must do more than echo the despair and perplexities of our people. We must bring to them a message of hope, rekindle their faith, inspire them with fortitude and courage."

More philosophical was short, sad-eyed Rabbi Emil William Leipziger, well-loved rabbi of New Orleans' Touro Synagogue, president of the Central Conference, in addressing his brother rabbis at Charle voix: "Remedies for Israel's agony and the world's pain will not come from what we say here nor do here. We may even in our human frailty or under controlled forces do that which deviates from the main stream of the ideal--but right or wrong, in victory or in defeat, in self-fulfillment or in frustration, we will not dissolve our partnership with God. He wages no Blitzkrieg against the forces of destruction and evil, but acts inexorably like the orderly succession of the hours, and brings doom upon the haughty pretenders to divine prerogatives. . . . Israel dare not die--because humanity needs its message."

The U. S. has 4,228.000 Jews, of which Jewish congregations lay claim to 4,000,000. For the 1,500,000 actively practicing Jews there are about 2,000 rabbis. Most rabbis (literally, teachers) are the spiritual pastors of a congregation; like a Protestant pastor or a Catholic priest, a rabbi conducts services, preaches, supervises the religious teaching of the children, visits the members of his congregation, marries them and buries them, is their leader in social and charitable work. For Jews who observe strict dietary laws, many a rabbi is required to supervise slaughterhouses, butcher shops, restaurants and dairies.

Rabbis are trained in seminaries, must become skilled in the law and the prophets. Manhattan's Jewish Theological Seminary, which has a $2,000,000 endowment and which is headed by grave, bearded Dr. Louis Finkelstein, is the most famed in the U. S. Elected last May to succeed the late, great Cyrus Adler, Dr. Finkelstein is, like Dr. Arzt, a graduate of the Seminary.

From the Seminary, neighbor of Union Theological Seminary, have graduated, since 1886, some 300 rabbis. There today candidates still spend four or five years studying the Old Testament and the Talmud, Hebrew literature, theology, homiletics. All rabbis know Hebrew, though English is now used for many services in the U. S.

From the time of his circumcision, on the eighth day after birth, until his death and burial, the practicing Jew keeps close to his rabbi, is guided by him.

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