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organizational than religious in nature and did not require
performance from one who held ministerial authority.
Equally revealing, however, were the religious rites and
ceremonies petitioner did not perform. Petitioner admitted that
he never fulfilled the role of either rabbi or cantor. The
record displays his lack of such responsibility. Petitioner
assumed responsibility over the Bar and Bat Mitzvah students only
in the last week or two of their training and only to enhance the
efforts of the rabbi and cantor. The rabbi and cantor, however,
held the main parochial responsibilities for the students'
training.
Further, petitioner acted as the marriage ceremony director
and participated in wedding ceremonies as a witness. His
responsibilities as director, however, were mostly secular in
nature. While petitioner participated in wedding ceremonies, he
never officiated. Further, petitioner assisted the rabbi with
various functions during religious services. It was the rabbi,
however, not petitioner, who actually led those services for
which petitioner assisted. Finally, although petitioner visited
and conducted services for mourners, he, presumably, did not
officiate at the funerals.
As illustrated above, with the sole exception of conducting
services for mourners, petitioner did not regularly perform those
duties that ministers of the Jewish faith customarily perform.
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Last modified: May 25, 2011