The Jewish Theological Seminary of America
The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, known in the Jewish community simply as JTS, is one of the academic and
spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism. Along with the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano in Buenos
Aires, Argentina, and Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in
Jerusalem, it is one the movement's main rabbinical seminaries. It takes its name and basic ideology from the no longer extant
Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau.
University
The Jewish Theological Seminary comprises five schools: Albert A. List College of Jewish
Studies,which offers double degree programs with both Columbia University and Barnard College, The Graduate School, The
William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education, H.L. Miller Cantorial School and College of Jewish Music, and The
Rabbinical School. The latter four schools are graduate schools.
The Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau
Rabbi Zecharias Frankel (1801-1875) at one time was
in the traditional wing of the nascent Reform Judaism movement. After the second Reform
rabbinic conference (1845, Frankfurt, Germany) he resigned after coming to believe that their
positions were exceedingly radical. In 1854 he became the head of a new rabbinical school, the Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau. In his magnum opus Darkhei
HaMishnah (Ways of the Mishnah) Rabbi Frankel amassed scholarly support which showed that
Jewish law was not static, but rather had always developed in response to changing conditions.
He called his approach towards Judaism 'Positive-Historical', which meant that one should accept
Jewish law and tradition as normative, yet one must be open to changing and developing the law in the same historical fashion
that Judaism has always historically developed.
Positive-Historical Judaism in America
About this time in America, Rabbi Sabato Morais championed the reaction to American
Reform. At one time Rabbi Morais had been a voice for moderation within the coalition of
Reformers. He had opposed the more radical changes, but was open to moderate changes that would not offend traditional
sensibilities. After the Reform movement published the Pittsburgh Platform, Rabbi Morais recognized the futility of his efforts
and began the creation of a new rabbinical school in New York City. He was soon joined by
Rabbi Alexander Kohut and Rabbi Bernard
Drachman, both of whom had received semicha (rabbinic ordination) at Rabbi
Frankel's Breslau seminary. They shaped the curriculum and philosophy of the new school after Rabbi Frankel's seminary.
In 1902, Professor Solomon Schechter assumed presidency of JTS. In a series of
papers he articulated an ideology for the nascent movement. In 1913 he presided over the creation of the United Synagogue of
America. (The name was changed in 1991 to the United Synagogue of
Conservative Judaism.)
Prominent professors at the Seminary were such luminaries as Saul Lieberman,
Alexander Marx, Louis Ginzberg and
Louis Finkelstein and others as well.
Between 1940 and 1985, the Jewish Theological Seminary produced a radio and television show called "The Eternal Light." The
show aired on Sunday afternoons, featuring well-known Jewish personalities like Chaim Potok
and Elie Wiesel. Broadcasts did not involve preaching or prayer, but drew on history,
literature and social issues to explore Judaism and Jewish holidays in a manner that was accessible to persons of any faith.
Admission of GLBT students
Effective March 26, 2007, the Jewish Theological Seminary accepts openly gay students into their rabbinical and cantorial
programs. An announcement in the press, first posted on the school's website and
typified by Haaretz.com has
been made about the admission of and ordination of homosexual students for the rabbinate and for cantorship.
A Conservative Jewish seminary in New York has agreed to admit gays and lesbians who want to become rabbis and cantors, but
declined to take a stand on whether rabbis should officiate at same-sex unions. The Jewish Theological Seminary announced
its decision yesterday, more than three months after the Rabbinical Assembly's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards authorized
the ordination of gays and lesbians.
Notable Faculty
Notable alumni
- Chaim Potok, author, and rabbi
- Judith Hauptman, feminist Talmudic scholar
- Joseph H. Hertz, British Chief Rabbi and Author; first graduate of JTS
- Norman Podhoretz, former Editor, Commentary magazine
- Dr. David Gordis, President of Hebrew
College
- Rabbi Dr. Jacob Neusner, Chair of the Judaic Studies Department at Bard College.
- Rabbi Dr. Arthur Green, Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis and Rector of the Rabbinical School
at Hebrew College.
- Dr. Daniel Boyarin, Hermann P. and Sophia Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture, Departments of Near Eastern Studies and
Rhetoric, University of California at Berkeley.
- Henrietta Szold, founder of Hadassah
- Rabbi Irwin Kula, Director of CLAL
- Matthew Eisenfeld, student killed in the Jerusalem bus 18 massacres
- Rabbi Samuel Schafler, past president of Hebrew College, superintendent of the
Chicago Board of Jewish Education
External links and references
See also
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