Rabinowitz, Stanley

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RABINOWITZ, STANLEY

RABINOWITZ, STANLEY (1917–), U.S. rabbi and president of the Rabbinical Assembly. Born in Duluth, Ia., Rabinowitz received his B.A. from the State University of Iowa in 1939 and was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary (1943). He began his career as an itinerant rabbi of congregations whose rabbis were away serving in the Armed Forces; as director of the Midwest office of the Jewish Theological Seminary; and then as director of field services for the United Synagogue of America. For a time, he served as acting director of the United Synagogue.

In 1947 Rabinowitz assumed the pulpit of B'nai Jacob Congregation in New Haven, Connecticut, where he served for five years, and then moved to Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Minneapolis (1953–60) before coming to Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, d.c., where he served for 26 years. As the rabbi of the largest Conservative congregation in Washington, Rabinowitz often had Israeli ambassadors and prominent national leaders in the pews. A champion of women's rights in Conservative Judaism, he initiated the bat mitzvah ceremony at his three congregations and counted women in the minyan at Adas Israel well before it was sanctioned by the Rabbinical Assembly.

He was instrumental in pushing for the desegregation of Washington, d.c., encouraging building owners in his congregation to desegregate their facilities. He allowed and encouraged Adas Israel to hold multiple services on Shabbat morning including a Havurah service and an Orthodox minyan. Adas Israel also did not follow the lead of many other inner city synagogues that moved to the suburbs following the 1968 riots.

Rabinowitz was also a national leader. Handsome and charismatic, he was a well-respected orator; he chaired the Committee on Synagogue Standards for the Rabbinical Assembly; and was later vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly in 1974–76 and then president in 1976–78. He represented the Conservative movement in its confrontations with Prime Minister Menaḥem Begin over an amendment to the *Law of Return regarding non-Orthodox conversions. He also traveled to Egypt soon after Anwar Sadat's path-breaking trip to Jerusalem.

His national career was thwarted by a technicality of the Rabbinical Assembly bylaws that limited the presidency to two one-year terms. A leading candidate to be chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organization and thus the major spokesman of American Jews, his nomination hinged on his remaining a third year as president of the ra, at least until he secured the chairmanship of the Conference. The timing was not propitious and Rabinowitz became ineligible to serve as chairman since he was no longer president of a major American Jewish organization. Rabbi Alexander *Schindler had used the bully pulpit of the chair to advance his movement's prominence. Since then no Conservative movement figure has had comparable influence.

Rabinowitz' experience with the Israeli prime minister convinced him that Conservative Judaism needed a strong presence in Israel. He thus became founding president of the Zionist Organization of the Conservative Movement (mercaz) (1977–1985) and chaired the Rabbinic Cabinet of United Jewish Appeal (1986). He retired in 1986 and was named rabbi emeritus of Adas Israel.