Newspaper Page Text
eluiah! A Rabbi Is Born
W ITH the American Jewish scene already
so tragically blurred, it may not seem in
good taste to reveal another blemish.
However, when I point it out, I am not heralding
a new discovery. To many observers it is an old
sore spot. Unfortunately, most of them mini
mize the condition and prefer to shut their eyes
and minds to it, and silence both their tongues and
pens. Responsible individuals and organizations
who should be the first to combat the evil and
seriously attempt to eliminate it, step back timidly
in order to avoid the issue. Hence it is that by
both outer and inner necessity, I am compelled to
expose the taint to the salubrious influence of pub
lic opinion. With this natural aid it will, perhaps,
be easier for the “doctors of the Jewish spirit” to
successfully remove the enervating growth at its
source.
For more than twenty years American Jewry
has tacitly watched the invasion of “free lances,”
or unordained men, in the rabbinate. During the
post-war inflation period this invasion came more
and more to resemble an inundation. Cantors,
teacher, collectors, field and social workers, center
directors—all suddenly became “rabbis,” religious
leaders in Israel. 'The remarkable fact is that so
many of them actually found congregations and
communities which accepted them as rabbis. Even
more remarkable, not only did these men succeed
in procuring raw and undeveloped, small and com
paratively unimportant posts, but also some pulpits
of the first rank. And in the meantime, during
this very same gold-plated era of the twenties, we
observe the unprecedented phenomenon of an un
usually large number of college trained youths
enrolling in the seminaries; youths
with a basic residue of idealism left
even after their rabbinical short
comings have been gloatingly “ex
posed " by Jewish muckraking
novelists taking their sadistic fling.
For these young men sought the
rabbinate not only as a career, but
as the only medium through which
they could express their inner selves
while serving Israel and its God.
The number of pulpits having al
ready been seriously curtailed by
the influx of “free lances,” the
available (not the potential) field
of service thus became rapidly sat
urated. And at the present, due to
the crisis, this available field has
been still further diminished, so
much so that it has produced a state
of hyper-saturation which has pre
cipitated many worthy individuals
trained for the rabbinate into the
ranks of the unpulpited.
What, then, are some of the main
factors responsible for this “free
lance” evil? Perhaps the first is
bargain hunting. We find congre
gational nimrods hunting for rabbis
and rabbinical nimrods hunting for
congregations. For bargain hunt
ing is a characteristic not strictly
confined to economical housewives.
Synagogues, through their boards of
directors, also embark upon the
enterprising chase. A congregation
or a community needs a rabbi, of
course, they reason. But it also
needs a cantor, for he is indispensa
ble. And what Jewish community
could tolerate the thought of being
without a shochet? He is a sine
qua non. And Jewish education,
By Rabbi Jacob Freedman
Why Are There So Many Unemployed Rabbisf
What Is This Free Lance Evilf Must a Rabbi Be
a "Maedchen Fuer A lies”? Do Women Play an
Important Part in the Selection of a Rabbit Must
a Rabbi Be Handsomef Who Creates the RabbisT
Do the Rabbi’s Qualifications and Previous Rec
ord Mean Anythingf Who Were the Rabbinical
Fiolators of the Volstead Actf Do We Need a
Jewish Popef How Can the Free Lance Evil Be
Remediedf This and^ many more questions are
answered in this article by Rabbi Freedman, of
Chelsea, Mass.
yes, of course a 'Talmud Torah. 'The “patriotic”
few, the old-new guard, many of whom haven’t
even the remotest idea of what constitutes a true
Jewish education, must have a Hebrew teacher.
Each of these public servants exclusive of the rabbi,
they reckon, must have a minimum income approxi
mating two thousand dollars a year, including
salary, donations and perquisites. Thus a grand
total of six thousand dollars is arrived at. A
“good” rabbi, including in that epithet all that
represents a “good” rabbi in the popular mind,
should command a salary not too much on the
nether side of that figure; and a “real good” one
from a little to considerably more than that. Now
then, if some one who is perpetually flitting about
on the fringe of the rabbinate chances into town,
presents his candidacy and offers to “do every
thing;” or one of the congregational officers hears
from a personal friend about such a “find,” a
Courtety ot the American Art Association Anderson Galleries, Inc
REMBRANDT’S “RABBI IN A WIDE CAP”
. . . a leering by-word in the mouth of the rabble"
“metsieh,” they quickly sense the bargain to be
and procure this “three-or-four-in-one-m n” tor
what it would ordinarily cost them to engage j
teacher only. So, by virtue of some miraculoj.
formula, being by profession neither cantor teacher
nor shochet, he becomes a “rabbi.” (Ii he*
actually one or more of these, his pretension> to the
rabbinate are all the better grounded.) Halle
lujah ! A rabbi is born!
'The second element involved is congregational
pride and rivalry. If a congregation di>es not
actually need a rabbi, nor even, as a matter oi
fact, a teacher—for these are provided either fo
another congregation or by the community «
large—then what? Then another pleasant char
acteristic symptomatic of our synagogal activirr
crops out. What ? “Congregation Sha’arei This
has a rabbi, but we, “Congregation Sha’arei That”
have no rabbi! Aren’t we as good or as important I
as they? 'They have a “bona fide” rabbi! What !
of it? We’ll get a rabbi, too, even if he is not !
so “fide,”—and it will cost us less! And mirabilt
dictul From seemingly out of nowhere a “rabbi”
appears. 'The congregation’s pride has been it-
deemed. And Jewish equality has been restored!
Dank Gotti
'The “better” conservative and reformed coo
gregations are not beyond the scope of “free lance
activity. In fact, these represent the more tor
tunate “kills.” Several new elements, not totalh
lacking in the other congregations discussed abou. j
enter this arena of rabbinical selection. One ot the
most important of these is—women. For it i*
in truth, women who play an important part in
the selection of a rabbi, as of almost everything
else in this world. If the women
like him, then he is “all right.” II
the unknown candidate is blessed
with a striking appearance, hand
some features and pleasant ways—
for they are of inestimable value in
insuring the success of almost am
quest, and if, in addition, he is an
emotional speaker, a sighing sister
hood will not be content until the
said candidate has been made ‘their
rabbi.” So spurred by the wishes
of the women, the congregation
“makes” and takes unto itself a
“rabbi.”
Thus it is that many a congre
gation arrogates unto itself the right
to create, if not ordain, rabbi'
and bestow upon untested individ
uals the distinguished title ot
“rabbi,” teacher and preacher »
Israel. Such cold casualness with
which the title “rabbi” is conferred
and bandied about cannot «
matched anyw’here in our annals
Such downright disregard and d>
respect for our seminaries, suefi
brazenness in ignoring the efforts^
institutions established for the ex-
pros purpose of providing thefl
with properly trained and quality
religious leaders has no counterpart
in our history. Every congregation
seems to set itself as a sort o.
minor “seminary,” wnth its key
as "president” and its board of di
rectors as “faculty,” and bestow 5
the rabbinical degree minus parch
ment upon w'homsoever it delight^
to honor. Congregations who .-nga^
such men and individuals v i°
cept such posts are equally guilty 0
trafficking (Please turn to p0. e ^
[10]
* THE SOUTHERN ISRA XTl*