Pioneers of the Conservative Rabbinate: Reports from the Field by Graduates of “Schechter’s Seminary”


 

Publication Date: January 1995

Publisher: Rabbinical Assembly of America

Author(s): Jack Wertheimer

Research Area: Culture and religion

Keywords: Religious denominations; History; Religion

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

It requires considerable imagination to reconstruct the daunting task faced by early graduates of the "Schechter's Seminary" as they ventured into congregational life. How did they define their goals when there were virtually no other Conservative congregations and no United Synagogue to offer models and legitimation? How did early graduates of JTS fare? Who were their allies and antagonists? A series of letters written in the decade beginning in 1910 by recent graduates to their former professors at JTS brings to life the tribulations of pioneering Conservative rabbis.