All Topics  
Rabbinical Council of America

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Rabbinical Council of America
 
 
  Topics Rabbinical Council of America Topic Home

The Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) is one of the world's largest organizations of Orthodox Jewish
Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism is a Jewish denominations of Judaism that adheres to a relatively strict constructionist and application of the laws and ethics first canonized in the Talmudic texts and as subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and Acharonim....
 rabbis; it is affiliated with The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, more commonly known as the Orthodox Union, or OU. Most rabbis of the RCA belong to Modern Orthodox Judaism
Modern Orthodox Judaism

Modern Orthodox Judaism is a movement within Orthodox Judaism that attempts to synthesize halakha and Jewish principles of faith with the secular, modern world....
.

History
The roots of the organization go back to 1923 when it was founded as the Rabbinical Council of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Rabbinical Council of America'
Start a new discussion about 'Rabbinical Council of America'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


The Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) is one of the world's largest organizations of Orthodox Jewish
Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism is a Jewish denominations of Judaism that adheres to a relatively strict constructionist and application of the laws and ethics first canonized in the Talmudic texts and as subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and Acharonim....
 rabbis; it is affiliated with The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, more commonly known as the Orthodox Union, or OU. Most rabbis of the RCA belong to Modern Orthodox Judaism
Modern Orthodox Judaism

Modern Orthodox Judaism is a movement within Orthodox Judaism that attempts to synthesize halakha and Jewish principles of faith with the secular, modern world....
.

History


The roots of the organization go back to 1923 when it was founded as the Rabbinical Council of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. Its purpose was to perpetuate and promote Orthodox Judaism
Judaism

Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts....
 in the United States of America.

Its members attempted on a number of occasions to merge with other Jewish groups, for the purpose of developing a unified traditional rabbinate for the American Jewish community. A number of attempts were made to join with groups such as Agudat Israel
Agudat Israel

Agudat Israel began as the original political party representing Haredi Judaism in Israel. It was the umbrella party for almost all Haredi Jews in Israel, and before that in the British Mandate of Palestine....
, but all such attempts were rebuffed. A merger took place in 1935 between the Rabbinical Council of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations and another Orthodox rabbinical group, the Rabbinical Association of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary
Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary

Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary , or Yeshivat Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan, is the most important yeshiva component of Yeshiva University and a preeminent seminary for the training of Orthodox Judaism rabbis....
, a part of Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University

Yeshiva University is a private university in New York City, with six campuses in New York and one in Israel. Founded in 1886, it is a leading research institution, ranked 50th in the United States among national universities in 2008.....
. With this merger the combined group took the name Rabbinical Council of America, known in the Jewish community as the RCA. In later years the RCA attempted to merge with another Orthodox rabbinical group, the Rabbinical Alliance of America, but this attempt failed.

Most of its members are actively working as pulpit rabbis; a significant minority are working in Jewish education.

For many years, the RCA was led by Rabbi Steven Dworkin, who served as Executive Vice-President and who passed away in January 2003. Since 2003, the RCA has been run by Rabbi Basil Herring, who previously served as director of the Orthodox Forum.

In recent years, complaints have surfaced within the Orthodox Jewish community about a lack of leadership and direction by the RCA and that the RCA has failed to meet the challenges posed by recent changes within the Orthodox Jewish community.

It publishes an English quarterly journal, Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought, which began in 1958, and a Hebrew journal, Hadorom, which began in 1957.

The RCA is also affiliated with two Yeshiva
Yeshiva

Yeshiva or yeshivah , or metivta or mesivta ) also frequently referred to as a Beth midrash, Talmudical Academy, Rabbinical Academy or Rabbinical School is an institution unique to classical Judaism for Torah study, the study of Talmud, Rabbinic literature and History of responsa....
s in Israel
Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
 – Yeshivat HaDarom and the Gan Yavne
Gan Yavne

Gan Yavne is a in the Center District of Israel, located near the city of Ashdod. It was founded in 1931 and declared a local council in 1950....
h Youth Village.

See also

  • Orthodox Judaism
    Orthodox Judaism

    Orthodox Judaism is a Jewish denominations of Judaism that adheres to a relatively strict constructionist and application of the laws and ethics first canonized in the Talmudic texts and as subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and Acharonim....
  • Modern Orthodox Judaism
    Modern Orthodox Judaism

    Modern Orthodox Judaism is a movement within Orthodox Judaism that attempts to synthesize halakha and Jewish principles of faith with the secular, modern world....
  • Rabbi
    Rabbi

    Rabbi , in Judaism, means a religious ?teacher?, or more literally, ?my great one?, when addressing any master. The word rabbi derives from the Hebrew root word , rav, which in biblical Hebrew means ?great?, used in many senses, including the sense of a ?master? and apprentice, whence someone who is a distinguished ?teacher?....


External links