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November 17, 2000/Heshvan 19, 5761, Vol. 53, No.8
Rabbi Alexander Schindler dies at 75
JULIE WIENER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
NEW YORK - Rabbi Alexander Schindler, longtime leader of the Reform movement and in the larger Jewish community, died of heart failure Nov. 15 at age 75, at his home in Westport, Conn.
As president of Reform Judaism's Union of American Hebrew Congregations from 1973 to 1996, Schindler advocated revolutionary changes. Reversing the tradition of discouraging proselytizing, he devised a controversial "outreach" program for non-Jewish spouses of Jews.
He called on the Jewish community to welcome intermarried couples into synagogue life and supported patrilineal descent, the view that a child with a Jewish father and gentile mother can be considered Jewish if the child is raised Jewish.
The Reform movement's rabbinic arm officially recognized patrilineal descent in 1983, a move more traditional Jews termed a major blow to Jewish unity.
In addition, Schindler championed equality for women in Judaism, as well as acceptance of gay and lesbian Jews.
At the time of his death, Schindler was serving as president of the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture and vice president of the World Jewish Congress.
Born in Germany in 1925, Schindler fled the Nazis with his family, arriving in the United States at age 12. He was ordained as a rabbi in 1953 at Hebrew Union College.
He is survived by his wife, Rhea, and five children.
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