[2] Siegel was associated with JTS for 41 years, first as a student and later as an instructor, holding the Ralph Simon Professor of Ethics and Theology chair, succeeding his friend and mentor, Abraham Joshua Heschel, in that position.

In his obituary, New York Times religion writer, Ari L. Goldman, wrote that the writings of Seymour Siegel "helped open the door for the ordination of female rabbis" in the Conservative movement.

[2][3] At a news conference after a ten-week trip to Buenos Aires to help set up the Seminary, he spoke out about the fear of the Argentinian Jewish community regarding the antisemitism it faced.

"The rabbi, who said he had witnessed the machine-gunning of an Israeli shipping line while he was in Buenos Aires, said that such attacks were a recurrence of anti-Semitic acts that date back more than thirty years.

In contrast with his early visit to Vietnam during his time as an anti-war activist, he later traveled to Moscow in 1967, at the request of President Nixon, to deliver a packet and a personal message to Llewellyn Thompson, the U.S.

"[1] Additionally, Siegel's struggle with both the lessons of the Holocaust and theological responses to it, increased his concern about what he viewed as the way liberals focused on principles at the expense of reality.

He was deeply affected by the writings of Emil Fackenheim, who spoke of a post-Auschwitz theology, where Jews were commanded to survive in this world, despite the threat from enemies like the Nazis, even if that meant taking actions for their own good rather than "sacrificing Jewish existence on the altar of humanity.

"[1] With that editorial, Siegel announced his changing political allegiance, and his involvement soon earned him the title of "rabbi of the neo-conservatives," "forging close ties with the movement's major thinkers, like Irving Kristol, Michael Novak, and Norman Podhoretz.

New realities and plain common sense should now move us to allow the government to do what the original framers of the Constitution intended: to found a commonwealth based on religious foundations, without favoring any one particular sect or faith-community.

Under his leadership as CJLS Chair, the committee issued a number of landmark rulings, including the 1973 decision that women could be counted in a minyan, the traditional quorum required for many Jewish prayers, in Conservative synagogues.

The Columbia University riots, which he witnessed from his seminary office across the street, and the rise of what he felt was an accommodationalist philosophy toward left-wing governments by McGovern Democrats caused Rabbi Siegel "to reassess political liberalism as an automatic Jewish reaction," he says.

It is not the exact halakhic [Jewish legal] norms that should be primary but the goals of the Law, indeed of Judaism, which are to follow the derekh haShem (the way of the Lord), la'asot tzedakah umishpat (to do righteousness and justice).

[49] Additionally, during his time as director, he was involved in some very difficult negotiations (and some would say, confrontations) with groups such as the Romani, who objected to the fact that there was no one from their community on the council that would plan a Holocaust Museum, despite the number of gypsies killed during that era.

Martin, who had been a prisoner of war for more than five years in Vietnam, spoke of his admiration for the men and women who could survive the barbarity and evils of the Holocaust, and yet accept the challenge, and even the "commandment," to hold on to faith—and hope—for a better future.

"[55] In calling for the defeat of the resolution, Siegel said that the local rabbi would always be the final authority in matters related to Jewish law, including the decision as to whether an individual congregation would count a woman in the minyan, but that the committee had a crucial role to play in the legal process.

Although the U.S. President is not a king, he is the head of State with tremendous power and responsibility, Siegel explained, and—as other Conservative leaders, including Wolfe Kelman, asserted, "throughout Jewish history, rabbis and other learned Jews have recited these blessings when they have called upon or received kings, governors, and other high civil officials," because "according to Jewish traditional practice and precedent," they "may be recited whenever one is in the presence of someone who holds chief executive office in a political sovereignty.

However, as the New York Times reported, this "special way" was "not 'special enough' to forestall criticism for his choice of blessing, or for his participation in a ceremony carried by loudspeakers, radio, and television, on the Jewish Sabbath.

Additionally, the White House provided him with kosher food both for his hotel room and at the luncheon following the ceremony, something they also did for the parents of Henry Kissinger, who were also religiously observant.

For example, when he made the statement that "Israel is salvation, but not redemption," Christian theologians understood his position as one close to their view of "signs of the Kingdom," opening up possibilities of dialogue and understanding.

For example, in the debate on continuing or ceasing medical treatment for terminally ill patients who are suffering, he said,"It is the individual's duty to live as long as he can, but if a person is destined to die soon, there is no obligation to prevent that death from happening.

Zecharias Frankel, the founder of the Positive-Historical school, and Schechter, who proposed the idea of Catholic Israel, saw as their main goal the need to defend the halakhah [Jewish law] against the attacks of the reformers.

This inheritance, no less valuable and no less "commanding" in his eyes than the legal teachings, must be considered in any religious struggle to understand how we are to act to make the world better, to "mend" or "repair" its flaws.

In fact, he was sometimes described as being part of the group that included Louis Finkelstein, Heschel, and Max Kadushin," occupying "their traditional middle position of respect for the law but wide latitude for differing interpretations.

"[75] In fact, Siegel often argued that the "bulk" of Conservative Jews were centrists, "accepting deliberate and reasoned change," even though critics of the movement often seem to speak in terms of "left" and "right.

[77] All writers about God recognize, he wrote, "the experience of the Divine as Power," and that the human response to such an encounter or awareness is the fear and trembling that the Protestant theologian Rudolph Otto called the mysterium tremendum.

He accused critics of mistaking "discussion and debate" for a "split" within the movement, writing that leaders, including the members of the Committee on Jewish Laws and Standards, respected the views of their colleagues, "even when they disagree with them."

"[76] However, he spoke out regarding the need to strengthen the level of observance on the part of the laity: If we are to abide by the principles informing the Conservative Movement, we must work harder to develop interest in, and commitment to, Jewish law in our communities.

In many ways he inspired and enabled me to research and write this book.From his office at JTS or from his home, Siegel responded to questions on Jewish law, ethics, and sometimes just requests for personal advice, by phone or by mail, from rabbis throughout the world.

Conservative movement theologian Neil Gillman speaks of Siegel as a "beloved teacher of theology and Talmud, who exerted a significant religious influence on generations of students.

The UJA-Federation sponsors a Rabbi Seymour Siegel Scholarship to select graduate students interested specifically in the field of Jewish education or synagogue life.