Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-06
WEIGHTY GATHERING
Of Hebrew Rabbis to Be He'd This
Evening in New York City.
DELEGATES FROM MANY STATES
To Take Tart in Proceedings That Will
Likely Result in
IMPORTANT CHANGES in DOCTRINE
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE p1sPATcH1

ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DIsPATCH1
NEW YORK, July "a number of dis
tinguished Hebrew rabbis have just reached
this city from various States of the Union,
and more of them will be here tomorrow
to take part in the Central Conference of
American Rabbis. which will be opened
here in the evening, and the sessions of
which will be continued till next Sunday
night. The Conference will be held in the
vestry of Temple Bethel, Fifth avenue and
Seventy-sixth street.
This body is representatives of the
greater part of !, ,O00, 900 Hebrews now liv-
Ing in the United States, one-fourth of whom
are in this city. There are 100 members
of the Union of American Rabbis, by which
the conference is to be held, and efforts
have been made to bring the whole of them
here on the occasion, but the result of these
efforts is yet in doubt. for reasons that are
likely to appear during the sessions. There
is an older organization of Rabbis, known
as the "Hebrew Ministers Association of
America" the President of which is Rabbi
Gottheil, of this city, and attempts have
been rendered futile, through the recent
action of Rabbi Gottheil.
An Important Conference Mt Hand.
Secretary Levi SAYS that the New York
conference will be one of the most serious
Rabbinical conferences yet held, and he
notifies American Rabbis that it is their sa-
cred duty to take part in it. It is also like
ly that preparations will be made for send
ing a Hebrew delegation to the Congress
of Religions" that is to be held in Chicago
during the Worlds Fair
The Rabbinical conference, being desir-
Gus of establishing harmonious relations
with the Hebrew Ministerial Association,
asked the members of that association to
take part in the proceedings. 1t was re-
bu1fed by Rabbi Gottheil, who replied that
"for various reasons" he could not lay this
invitation before the association, of which
trow, Jacobs and De Sola Mendes are Off
GERS. The executive committee has now
sent an official invitation to the individual
members o: the association.
The founder of the conference, Rabbi
Wise, explains that it is not Legislative
body and cannot exact binding laws. yet it
can act in an advisory way and render de-
cisions upon disputed questions, as the
Rabbis of all post-talmudical times haro
doLe. The conference can give Judshen.,
for example, whether the ALBANIAN r1te
shall be imposed upon proselytes 10
Judaism.
Intelligent Action ls WanteO.
Rabbi Wise has attempted to prepare the
minds of the members for intelligent action
upon it by publishing series of very
erudite and elaborate discourses under the
title: s'The Proselyte Question" In these
discourses he quotes from the chief anthori-
ties upon Mosaic law who have written
within the past 1000 years, and after max
ing their prescriptions the subject of full
argument, he reaches the conclusion that
GentiIes ought to be admitted into the fold
of Israel without the Abrahamic rite
His judgment in this matter is disput ed
with great acrimony BY Hebrew and rab-
binical scholars who have explored the
depths of the Jovah and he Is regarded
by them as no better than false prophet
who would undermine Israel and destroy
orthodoxy. He maintains, however, up to
this time, and despite all opposition, that
the adoption of his views by the Rabbinical
Conference would be the means of bringing
over to Judaism multitude of Christians
For nearly quarter of century he has
held this opinion, and he has repeatedly
laid it before bodies of rabbls.
Chances for a New Church.
His followers say let the Abrahamic rite
be abrogated, and the abrogation officially
adopted and promulgated, and thousands of
pecially American reform Judaism will not
insist upon the observance of any religious
rite that could not be easily dispensed with
if too exacting Marriages between He
brews and Christians would be contracted in
larger numbers than now, and before long a
new church would be forming, neither He
brew nor Christian. but little of both.
Such church would attract thousands
of young dissenting Hebrews and nominal
Christians. The formation of such new
church would be the one thing for which
thousands have been looking these many
years. The abrogation of the rite was
the most radical reform carried out BY
ST. Paul. 1t opened door to the re-
formed Judaism, for which Christianity
stood at the outset, and admitted thousands
who would have been barred out, and it
subsequently, led to the universal spread of
Christianity equivalent to Judaism. But
it did also that which the Hebrew sages
were afraid of. They said: ''The proselytes
are as injurious to Israel as leprosy."