Temple Emanu-El Protests

Manhattan's Temple Emanu-El, the world's largest Jewish congregation, has long been an uncomfortable maverick in the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, a federation of 680 Reform synagogues. The temple was initially reluctant to join the union; over the years, its leaders have opposed a number of U.A.H.C. actions, including a decision to create a Religious Action Center in Washington.

Last month the longstanding feud between Emanu-El and the U.A.H.C. came to a head when the temple's trustees voted to withdraw from the federation.

They charged that the union's highly vocal president, Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath, who is a critic of the Viet Nam war, had illegally arrogated the right to speak for all of Reform Judaism on political and social issues. They also objected to the way he takes stands. As an example, they cited his comparison of President Johnson to Attila the Hun-- a statement that otherwise has gone unquestioned by U.A.H.C. synagogues. Insisting that he spoke only for himself, Eisendrath angrily replied that the real reason for the break was the conservative trustees' "disagreement with the union's whole program of social action."

In 1964, Emanu-El resigned from the union during a dispute over elections to the U.A.H.C. board. A compromise brought the temple back into the fold later; Reform leaders doubt that the present rift can be easily healed.

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