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>From: judgergm@swbell.com
>To: klarnold@flash.net
>Subject: NYTimes.com Article: Suspended Rabbi Quits Seminary Presidency
>Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 00:02:21 -0500 (EST)
>
>This article from NYTimes.com
>has been sent to you by Bob Moss judgergm@swbell.com.
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>Karen
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>Bob Moss
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>Suspended Rabbi Quits Seminary Presidency
>http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/07/national/07RABB.html
>
>December 7, 2000
>
>By GUSTAV NIEBUHR
>
>Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman, a leading figure in Judaism's Reform
>movement as president of its seminary, has resigned from his job
>after being suspended by the movement's rabbinic organization for
>having entered into "personal relationships" in the past that the
>organization said violated its ethical code.
>
> Rabbi Zimmerman, president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish
>Institute of Learning, where he had been considered a charismatic
>and innovative leader, quit that post on Monday, after the Central
>Conference of American Rabbis suspended his rabbinical functions
>for at least two years, college and conference officials said.
>
> In a statement, the college said the suspension followed an
>investigation by the conference into "personal relationships" of
>Rabbi Zimmerman, which it did not specify other than to say that
>they predated his appointment as president in January 1996. Rabbi
>Zimmerman was the seventh president of the college, which was
>founded in 1875.
>
> Rabbi Paul J. Menitoff, the conference's executive vice president,
>said its board approved the penalty on Monday, based on a
>recommendation by its ethics committee, which looks into complaints
>about the conference's 1,700 members.
>
> Rabbi Menitoff said that conference rules prevented him from
>discussing the case but that the board decided Rabbi Zimmerman had
>violated a part of the ethics code, paragraph 2A, which deals with
>sexual conduct.
>
> It is included in the section of the code on "personal
>responsibility," which covers such matters as family life, personal
>honesty and finances. It calls on rabbis "to be scrupulous in
>avoiding even the appearance of sexual misconduct, whether by
>taking advantage of our position with those weaker than ourselves
>or dependent on us or succumbing to the temptations of willing
>adults."
>
> Hebrew Union, which trains men and women as rabbis and cantors and
>in other graduate and professional fields, has 1,500 students on
>campuses in Cincinnati, Los Angeles, New York and Jerusalem. Before
>becoming president, Rabbi Zimmerman, 58, was senior rabbi of Temple
>Emanu-El in Dallas from 1985 to 1995, and senior rabbi at Central
>Synagogue in New York, from 1972 to 1985. He is married and has
>four children. From 1993 to 1995, he was also the conference's
>president.
>
> Rabbi Zimmerman's resignation was first reported yesterday in The
>Cincinnati Enquirer and The Dallas Morning News.
>
> Efforts to reach him through the college and its officials were
>unsuccessful. The college said it appointed its provost, Norman
>Cohen, as acting president and would search for a permanent
>replacement.
>
> Rabbi Menitoff said the conference followed "the same process that
>we'd follow with any rabbi in the conference in similar
>circumstances." He said complaints against a rabbi are referred to
>and investigated by the ethics committee. Depending on that
>committee's findings, the conference may dismiss the complaint,
>privately reprimand or publicly censure a rabbi or suspendn or
>expel a rabbi.
>
> Rabbi Menitoff said the decision to suspend Rabbi Zimmerman was
>"very difficult and painful for everyone involved."
>
> Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, president of the Union of American Hebrew
>Congregations, the Reform movement's synagogue organization, said
>Rabbi Zimmerman did not contest the findings or the judgment
>against him but responded to the decision "with great dignity."
>
> Rabbi Yoffie said that during his tenure as president, Rabbi
>Zimmerman added younger scholars to the faculty and expanded the
>college's Los Angeles branch so much that it will begin ordaining
>rabbis in 2002.
>
> Another member of the conference, Rabbi A. James Rudin, emeritus
>director of interreligious affairs at the American Jewish
>Committee, said Rabbi Zimmerman's resignation was "a real loss" and
>"a shock to the movement."
>
> Hebrew Union's chairman, Burton Lehman, praised Rabbi Zimmerman as
>"a great, great leader." Mr. Lehman said that Rabbi Zimmerman's
>resignation would "have an impact" but that the college was strong.
>
> "Transitionally, we'll be fine," Mr. Lehman said. "We have a
>strong faculty that will carry this institution through this
>tribulation."
>
>
>
>
>The New York Times on the Web
>http://www.nytimes.com
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