ABSTRACT
When I was ordained in June 1951, the Reform movement in America was on the threshold of a tremendous physical and religious explosion. Before the beginning of World War II the number of Reform congregations in the United States was as little as 250. Within a decade and a half the movement tripled to about 750 congregations, embracing almost a million members. Most of this new congregational growth took place in the booming suburbs of major metropolitan cities. Upon ordination every one of my classmates from our New York school stepped into these brand-new congregations, located mainly in the greater New York suburbs.
