Funding Opportunities

We are always grateful for financial support for our sacred work. Rabbis of the Assembly provide support through annual dues commitments and through voluntary contributions. In addition, financial support is secured through the sale of books and publications, and through foundation grants.

There is an ongoing need to provide greater support for special funds of the Rabbinical Assembly which help both in the mitzvot of caring and providing for the success of projects and programs which strengthen the Conservative movement and Jewish life.

RABBI WOLFE KELMAN ASSISTANCE FUND/SCHIFF FUND This fund provides financial help to rabbis, widows/widowers, and families of rabbis in time of need. The RA has been fortunate to be able to provide grants and loans for medical and personal emergencies, to provide burial funds, and to provide monthly subventions for seven widows and rabbis without sources of financial support. We need ongoing support for this fund's continued strength and the ability to participate in the mitzvah of caring for rabbis and their families.

RABBI WOLFE KELMAN MEMORIAL GROVE The Rabbinical Assembly now has its own grove in Israel that was dedicated at the 1998 Israel convention in memory of Rabbi Wolfe Kelman, z"l. Colleagues and their congregants are encouraged to plant trees in this grove. For more details, click here.

ENDOWMENT FUND Income from this fund will be utilized for special projects. Funds are currently being accumulated, and to date the fund has grown to $1.5 million. Rabbis have provided monies for this fund through bequests, through insurance policies naming the RA, through synagogue contributions and through outright gifts. In addition, several individuals have provided contributions in honor of rabbis or others. For the past several years, each 50th year ordination class of rabbis has raised money for our endowment fund.

Within the endowment are two additional funds: A RABBINIC DEVELOPMENT FUND to provide help to supplement rabbinic work in communities outside of North America to strengthen the Conservative/Masorti movement and the WEISS SCHOLARSHIP FUND started by Loel and Patty Weiss to provide scholarship aid for rabbis' children to attend summer programs or educational programs.

PUBLICATIONS FUND We have been fortunate to have been able to secure donors to underwrite the cost of major literary and liturgical works. We are delighted to provide dedication possibilities. Prior works so dedicated have been our Humash Etz Hayim ; Siddur Sim Shalom ; a commentary on the siddur, Or Hadash ; Megillat Hashoah ; the Siddur for Tisha B'Av ; and our Rabbis manual, Moreh Derekh .

Works in progress which are available for dedication include:

From Generation to Generation: Theories of Conservative Jewish Law , by Elliot Dorff
Living a Jewish Life: A Conservative Jewish Guide to Ritual and Ethics (2 volumes), edited by Michael Katz and Martin Cohen
An Introduction to Mussar, by Ira Stone

You or someone you know may wish to provide rabbinic help for communities outside North America and will consider contributing to our Rabbinic Development Fund; or who is a devotee of good Jewish literature and would love to be associated with one of our major works; or a congregation that wishes to provide for the future work of the rabbinate as a whole; or perhaps would consider leaving a legacy to benefit the rabbis of the Assembly. Feel free to give our Executive Vice President, Rabbi Joel Meyers a call or to be in touch with any of our RA officers.