How many rabbis are there in the world

At the same time, Reform Rabbis serve as religious, spiritual, educational, pastoral, and organizational leaders. In creating these opportunities, the CCAR calls upon the best scholars, visionaries, and leaders from both the non-profit and for-profit worlds.

The organization also runs CCAR Interim Training for Rabbis: Fundamentals in Transitional Rabbinic Work, a multi-day, two-year program that helps congregations make healthy transitions to new settled rabbis. And the CCAR organizes annual educational leadership trips to Israel for rabbis, helping them stay current on the latest realities of Israel, learn to run and lead congregational trips, and helping them gain skills in bridge-building between North American Jews and Israel.

Throughout its history, the CCAR has contributed to the unification of the Reform Jewish community and the feeling of connection between individual Jews through the publication of liturgy. With its rich history of giving professional and personal support to Reform rabbis, the CCAR is uniquely positioned to meet the ongoing professional needs of its more than 2, member rabbis — virtually the entire Reform rabbinate — and to develop and provide programs and projects focused on fostering excellence in rabbinic leadership.

The CCAR also offers rabbinic placement services to rabbis, congregations, and other organizations. Research Hub. Press Room. Congregational Resource Center. Syntax Repository Download syntax files and recreate popular religious classification schemes in survey data. View More Measurement Wizard Browse concepts used in the study of religion, review how survey researchers measured them in the past, and quickly compare the results of more than 7, survey questions.

Data Archive The archive is a collection of surveys, polls, and other data submitted by the foremost scholars and research centers in the world. Review and analyze data online, or download free of charge. Data Archive. Compare Nations. Compare Regions. Israel was made to be a 'holy people.

We have not chosen God; He has chosen us. There is no concept of a chosen God but there is the idea of a chosen people. The idea of a chosen people does not suggest the preference for a people based upon a discrimination among a number of peoples. We do not say that we are superior people. The "chosen people" means a people approached and chosen by God.

The significance of this term is genuine in relation to God rather than in relation to other peoples. It signifies not a quality inherent in the people but a relationship between the people and God. Alone among Jewish theologians and philosophers stood Mordecai M. Kaplan in his assault on chosenness and excision of references in the liturgy to the chosen people. He believed the doctrine to be racially tinged and dangerous as a breeder of contempt for others. Later on, he added that "we cannot assume that Israel must at all times possess that spirit to a higher degree than other people.

Kaplan carried his theory into practice as he expunged references to the chosen people from his Reconstructionist prayerbook. Thus, he reformulated the blessing upon receiving an honor to the Torah to read:.

Curiously, many among the new generation of Reconstructionists are urging the restoration of the classic doctrine. More recent attempts at redefining the idea of election fall into the category of "Covenant Theology. I believe we must supplement human choosing with God's own action if we are to explain to ourselves our fundamental commitment to the continuity of the people of Israel. Yet I believe the traditional view that God "chose us from all peoples and gave us the Torah" clashes too much with our sense of history and reality for us to reaffirm it Covenant theology expresses my belief in an enhanced reciprocity between God and people.

Does the idea of chosenness still serve a function today? Has it still value and meaning? Can it elicit passion from the modern Jew? I believe it is still a vital and compelling component of Judaism for several reasons. First, chosenness recognizes the unique contributions of Jews and Judaism to civilization. We are, after all, a speck of a people, a mere fraction of the world's population. Yet we spawned two major faiths claiming some two-billion adherents, and we brought the message of monotheism, ethics, social justice, and messianic fulfillment to countless numbers.

And we continue to enrich this planet disproportionate to our numbers as evidenced by the list of Nobel laureates. I think not. Second, we draw inspiration from the notion of election and are urged on to seek to spread God's word to an all-too-often obdurate, indifferent, cruel world.

As long as violence, bloodshed, racism, bigotry, exploitation, wars and all the other man-made ills of society continue to afflict us, we are unfulfilled and unredeemed.

There is yet much to be done. There is a teleology to our election: we must become a "kingdom of priests and a holy nation," a people created in the image of the Divine. The rebirth of the State of Israel has added a new dimension to the ancient summons. The State must be a laboratory of the highest Jewish and human values and exemplify the Prophetic ideals by championing righteousness and justice for all citizens of all faiths and ethnic groups. It must preserve moral and spiritual values and be more than just another nation or political entity.

Thus it will serve as a light for the nations and fulfill the Divine mandate and mission and respond to God's charge and challenge. Third, the notion of election offers us a transcendent raison d'etre for remaining Jewish in a gentile society, even as it inured us to withstand the pressures of paganism, Christianity and Islam from ancient times until the modern area.

After all, the ancient question, "Why be a Jew? The only compelling answer, I believe, is: We remain Jews because God elected us to our mission and our task is not yet fulfilled. Fourth, a belief in the chosen people enables us to better handle the subject of the bloody fate of Israel.

If we are not the elected Suffering Servant of the Lord, then why continue our perilous journey? Our bloodied footsteps have stained the terrain of many a land, most recently in the Holocaust. Why not give it all up and enjoy some measure of tranquility as many have done through the ages? Why not, indeed, except that national suicide would annul forever the charge laid on Abraham and his seed so many millennia ago and erase the Jewish factor from civilization.

Finally, the notion of chosen people is a constant goad to us to be loyal Jews and to lead Jewish lives; to champion righteousness and justice, morality and truth, love and peace; to be involved as God's partners in the never-ending process of tikkun ha-olam, mending and repairing our fractured world and building a saner, safer society.

The process is on-going and reciprocal and we are both the chosen and the choosing. God places his charge on us in every generation: will we now repudiate and reject it?

If we do, the consequences for Israel and the world would be disastrous. But if we accept the call and persevere in the mission, we will be a blessing to ourselves and humanity We will preserve the uniqueness, the mystery, the majesty of our role in history:.

Your people Israel, a unique nation on earth. Mordecai M. Rabinowitz Jerusalem: Mosad Harav Kook, , pp. Husik 3 vols. Press, ; Ephraim E. Genesis The verb, yada, has many meanings including "know, love, have sexual relations, single out," etc.

On the many nuances of bahar and its application to people, land, Zion, Jerusalem, Priestly tribe and House of David, see Deut. Exodus Rabbah III, Book 1, pp. On the Suffering Servant see Isaiah ff. Exodus ff. To be sure, while God warns Israel of dire consequences for their sinfulness, He doesn't quite threaten to annul the brit and revoke their election, although the intimation is present.

Urbach, Hazal, op. Shabbat 88a; A. Buber , p. Sifre Deut. Ish Shalom , p. Lauterbach, 3 vols. See Louis Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews 7 vols. Tanhuma Vaera 1, p. The theme of reciprocity or of a duet between God and Israel appears often in rabbinic literature. See Sifre Deut. Some texts seem to indicate that Rabbi Yehudah conceded the point to Rabbi Meir. See L. Tanhuma Ekev 4, p. Rashi on Betza 25b interprets the election as designed to break Israel's stubborness but Maharsha views election of Israel as a reward for its stubborn refusal to forsake the service of The Holy One.

Salo W. Press, , II, George F.