Judaism in Germany and England look to us for the strengthening of their cause, and we certainly should extend the hand of fellowship to them, whenever and wherever the occasion demands.

So let me, while congratulating the President, the officers and members of the Central Conference of American Rabbis on our Silver Anniversary, conclude with the Scriptural prayer ; thus much for life; that is, n twenty-five years of blessed activity and noble achievement for the life and revitalization of Judaism under God's grace and blessing. May they augur another quarter century more of similar signal success! May the Conference continue to grow and prosper under the banner of light and progress in mutual friendship, reaching out the hand of brotherhood and fellowship to other Jewish organizations of whatever shade of opinion, for cooperation, for the moral, the spiritual, and the social welfare of all Israel, for the promotion of the Thorah, the Jewish faith and Jewish learning, for the glory of God, the blessing of humanity, a lasting monument of honor to the sainted founder, Isaac M. Wise!

II.

RABBI JOSEPH SILVERMAN, PRESIDENT 1900-1903.

The year 1900 was the crucial year of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. It was the year in which its founder and first President died, and which consequently reechoed with many misgivings and forebodings as to the future of the Conference. As first Vice-President, it became my duty to step into the breach and preside at the convention of 1900, held in the city of Buffalo. Feeling the weight of the responsibility that rested upon us all at that time, I used the following words in my message as Acting President, "And Elisha took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and smote the waters". This Conference must take up the mantle that has fallen from its Elijah, Isaac M. Wise, and with it, as it were, smite the waters until they be divided; that is, it must attack the problems that confront

it, until they are solved. As God took the spirit of Moses and put it upon the seventy elders, so He has put some of the spirit. of our departed leader upon the members of this Conference. Each one of us must realize that to him individually has come the call to take up the master's work where he laid it down and carry it forward. There must be no doubt as to the future of this Conference. The devotion to the cause that we inherited

from our teacher and guide, besides our love and reverence for his memory, dictates our course of action and our solemn duty and obligation. If it were not so, Dr. Wise would, indeed, have almost labored in vain.

Thus I interpreted our sorrow in 1900 and also the resolve that the Conference shall live; that the spirit of Isaac M. Wise shall not die; that we shall prosper the work he had so nobly begun. We were, indeed, like an army, bereft of its general, still rallying around the flag-like the marines who will not give up the ship, though the commander has fallen. Our grief at the loss of the founder and first President of this organization was tempered by the grim determination not to falter, not to swerve from the original purpose of the Conference to unite the Rabbinate in a phalanx that shall labor and fight for the cause of American Judaism. Those who were present at the Buffalo Convention in 1900 will recall this fine spirit of loyalty to the memory of Isaac M. Wise that permeated every member of our organization.

I lay particular stress upon this fact because I feel confident that the later success of the Conference was in great measure due to the spirit in which every Rabbi present at Buffalo consecrated himself to the great task of not only conserving what Dr. Wise had established, but of building upon that foundation an imperishable and progressively beneficent union of American Rabbis, whose deliberations shall redound to the glory of Israel.

To properly estimate the real value of such a union of American Rabbis, we must clearly understand the conditions that had existed in Judaism in this country prior to the organization of this Conference. The spirit of liberty had degenerated into license in American politics and had permeated even religion. In every direction there was a breaking away from the ancient

moorings, from the old institutions-a loss, namely, of respect for tradition and historical authority. This, coupled with a spirit of skepticism and materialism, led to a weakening of religious sentiment. Individualism, that had done so much for progress in democratic government, exerted a deleterious influence upon religion. The breaking up of the churches into numerous small sects had its parallel also in Israel. Individual interpretation of the Bible, of the Talmud, of the creed and of the most sacred institutions in Judaism was pursued almost without restriction. This attitude of the Rabbis and leaders in Israel had created a spirit of similar independence on the part of the laity. If every Rabbi was a law unto himself as to creed, practice and interpretation, why could not also the individual in the pew be a law unto himself? And he did make unto himself a law; very often was the authority of the Rabbi questioned by the individual layman. If this tendency had been permitted to continue a few years longer no doubt a tide would have been ushered in of disintegration, which it could have been almost impossible to stem. The prevision of Isaac M. Wise anticipated this and led him to create the Central Conference of American Rabbis. And at his death emphasis was laid upon his inspiring and constructive wisdom, and this animated the members of the Conference to sacrifice every personal ambition and interest for the sake of perpetuating our fraternity, and in order to present to American Israel a united Rabbinate that would become the basis for a united Israel.

There are some who see in the Central Conference a meeting of a group of Rabbis merely for social and academic purposes, and who, therefore, either look with indifference upon our conventions or feel that at best they can do no harm. Others have feared and still fear that this Conference offers the machinery by which a few radicals can find support for their erratic measures that will eventually lead to the detriment of Judaism. History has proven that both views are incorrect. The Conference does not exist for purely social and literary purposes, but rather for the purpose of creating a central body in Israel, trained Rabbis, whose duty it is to study and understand the literature and history of Israel; to expound that history and lit

erature in accordance with the needs of our times. In this manner the idiosyncracies of individuals have been exposed and the real merits of wise measures for the benefit of Judaism have been presented in an acceptable manner to Israel at large.

The Conference is not a Synod in any sense. It does not assume to exercise ecclesiastical authority, or in any way to enforce its decisions upon its members or upon congregations. In fact, there never was a Synod in Israel, in the sense of an absolute and binding authority. The ancient Sanhedrin, whose decisions have stood the test of time, in its day wielded authority because of the recognized ability of its members to deal with the religious and ethical issues presented to it. In the days of the Sanhedrin there were decisions which were not universally accepted. But no one on that account doubted the utility or the importance of the Sanhedrin in the development and preservation of Judaism.

It is not claiming too much to say that this Conference is the Sanhedrin for American Judaism. The achievements of the Conference attest this fact. Need I, in confirmation of this assertion, refer to the unique place the Union Prayerbook holds in American Judaism and to the influence that nearly all of the decisions of the Conference have had upon the vital issues of American Jewish life? It is, further, not claiming too much. to say that the spread of radical individualism has been stopped through the growing recognition on the part of Israel of the validity of the work of the Conference and of the futility of the vagaries which it has discountenanced.

The Central Conference is more than merely a substitute for the ancient Sanhedrin. It is not a Synod-as I have said-but it possesses all the merits of a Synod without creating the evils of an autocratic, ecclesiastical authority. The very fact that the members of the Conference are not bound by any of its decisions, but that public sentiment demands a justification from those who refuse to accept them, acts as a check upon refusal dictated merely by whim and arbitrariness.

This is an unrecorded achievement and has a high moral value. It is an achievement that results from the very genius of the organization and the character of the Conference. Because

it is a union of independent individuals who feel their responsibility to Judaism and to Israel and recognize the necessity and importance of unison of action, the Conference has risen to the high plane of a conserving force of American Judaism.

But the Conference means more than this to present and future Judaism in this country. It is a veritable clearing-house, I might say, of modern Jewish religious thought. It is not intended that the Conference should be limited to any one group of Israel's leaders, or that its discussions should be delimited only to those issues that concern one phase of American Jewish life. We have learned to recognize that American Judaism is a composite of several aspects or interpretations of Israel's history, ritual, laws, creeds and ceremonies. The usual divisions of Orthodoxy, Conservatism and Reform have a great bearing upon the development of American Judaism. Without these three there would be no American Judaism and it would be detrimental to the development of our faith to ignore or minimize the merits of any one of them. It is our proud boast that in this Conference any Rabbi, with whatever group or division he may align himself, can find a welcome and recognized place.

Within our ranks the most conservative and the most radical, the Zionist and the non-Zionist, the rationalist and the universalist can sit side by side and plead, each for his particular view.

The purpose of this attitude is to create for American Judaism an institution for the presentation of various phases of every question in order to arrive at decisions through enlightenment without fear or prejudice. The sessions which we are at present holding in this city illustrate this fact. This was the spirit that animated Dr. Wise; this was the spirit which I endeavored to maintain during the four years of my administration and which, I am glad to say, also actuated my successors. This important fact was illustrated in the decision on the Sabbath Resolution adopted at Detroit in 1903.

This Conference has maintained the tradition of absolute freedom of expression, along with unanimity of purpose, of liberality in judgment and hospitality toward diverging views upon Jewish thought and action.

We are now celebrating the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of