The Jewish Theological Seminary Association [prospectus of the projected institution, appealing for "moral and material support"]

a most important document in the development of american jewry. The first page gives the Preamble to the Constitution: "The necessity having been made manifest for associated and organized effort on the part of the Jews of America faithful to Mosaic Law and ancestral traditions, for the purpose of keeping alive the true Judaic spirit; in particular by the establishment of a Seminary where the Bible shall be impartially taught, and the Rabbinical literature faithfully expounded…the Subscribers have, in accordance with a resolution adopted at a meeting of ministers held Shebat 25, 5646 (January 31st, 1886) at the Synagogue Shearith Israel, New York, agreed to organize The Jewish Theological Seminary Association." Sabato Morais (1823-1897) of Philadelphia is generally credited as being the founder of the Jewish Theological Seminary; he was president of the faculty until his death. Shortly thereafter in 1901, a new organization was projected, to be called "Jewish Theological Seminary of America," with which the older Jewish Theological Seminary Association was invited to incorporate. This new arrangement went into effect in 1902. See JE, Vol. VII, p.183; EJ, Vol. XII, cols.294-5