Ralph Tannenbaum, Interviews with Jews in Utah, Accn 998

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OHI Ralph Tannebaum 6-18-82 s3:49 when the vote finally came on the merger, it was better~anned. And was passed by like 98% of the Jewish community who belonged to either synagogue. There was a great fear that many people who disassociate themselves. I doubt that there were ten familie- who disassociated themselves and of those ten, I would say atleast five have come back into the fold as far as member-ship. Another thing was the fact thatMontefoire had had diffi-culty with finding rabbis. Rabbi Bergman while he was a reform rabbi, had a very good knowledge of tadtiion. Consequently, he was acceptable as the merger rabbi. Fromthe day that Rabbi Bergman was engaged, there was already conversation that during your tenure there's a very good possibility that you will become the rabbi of a merged congregation. So right away, you see, the the whole format fell into place. L What was your personal rolan the merger What kind of influence? RT No. 1: We had a joint committee that was formed under the chairmanship of Sam Bernstein. Sam, inthose days, after all, I'm talking about .... lS years ago, Iguess. And Sam was an attorney. He was very well respected by all factions. And a committee was formed to study the various problems, etc. etc. And with Sam as an arbitrator, a chairman, they were able to meld the whole thing. To resolve the differences. To offer the compromises where they were needed. As far as my part, I was the president of the congregation. My departed friend Jerry Pepper was the president