Growing a Synagogue Part Six - Synagogue Finances: Part A

It is easy to get inspired by the creative thinking that is going on in the Jewish world today. It is easy to think of how a synagogue can be changed for the better and what that would mean for the members of the congregation and for those in the community looking for a spiritual home. I can hear the financial people in the congregation saying, “But how much is this all going to cost?”

I started out this book with the issue of financial problems that congregations are facing. I really hesitated as I started my writing because I didn't want either the Jews or the non-Jews to think that synagogues are all about money. But in some ways, that is a big part of the problem. We have become so focused on fundraising, dues and budgets we are in danger of forgetting our mission and our core principles. A synagogue is not about money, it is about people, teaching them, sharing with them and directing them on how to live better, more meaningful lives. The reality eventually hits us, however, that to do these things, we need to raise the money to make them happen. That is not a bad thing. The problem in American synagogues has been, over the past five or six decades, that money has been the main focus of our synagogues and we continue to struggle because we are so focused on the finances that we have forgotten our values. Now we are facing a future where nobody wants to buy what we are selling. We are selling memberships but we never make clear why membership is important. The value, we say, is belonging to a community, but what kind of a community and what meaning does it have in a person's life? How valuable can it be in facing life's challenges? That we never clarify.

Financial managers in the private sector teach us that money is not a value; it is the means to attain our values. If we say that we are saving money; that tells us nothing. If we say we are saving for retirement, for a special vacation, for our children’s college education, then we have stated the value. Retirement, college and vacation are values; saving is the way we attain what we value. The same applies to the non-profit world. What is it that we are trying to accomplish? If we are creating a new adult education program, if we are bringing in a Scholar in Residence, if we are planning a weekend of intensive study, we are raising money to help educate our members. If we are raising the money to create a program to help educate migrant workers, to support Habitat for Humanity in our neighborhood, to take out an ad in the local newspaper in support of Israel, it shows that we value social and political action and the money is just the tool we use to support our causes.

The same applies to membership. What are we spending the money, that members pay, on? We have many good causes in our congregations. We are paying dues in order to conduct beautiful services with the help of a Rabbi and Hazzan. We are supporting Jewish education for children by subsidizing the cost of our religious school. We are also showing our concern for those who are in need in our community, making religious services available even for those who may be suffering financial hardships. Those are also values.

All too often, we get caught up in the details of fundraising and forget the values that are important. Congregations get so upset that someone might be not paying their fair share that they begin to deny membership for those who can’t pay. High Holiday tickets must be bought if you want to pray on the Holy Days. On the one hand, seating is limited and we need to know how many will be attending the service, but we forget that we also have to be welcoming at our High Holiday services and to make those attending feel at home. All too often, we treat members and non-members as just another ticket and we wonder why they don’t connect spiritually with the service. Sometimes we get so caught up in making a building beautiful that we forget that the building is to be used, not just to be another pretty place. It is important that we don’t get disconnected from our values.

If the programming aspects of synagogue life has drastically changed, so too have the financial aspects of a congregation. We live in a world where the best intentions die due to lack of funding. All the hopes and dreams that are in this book will be useless without the financial backing to make it all happen. Let me say this right here and now; there is nothing evil or non-spiritual about raising money. Money is not the root of all evil but another tool that we can use to advance our goal of a more spiritual and meaningful Judaism. What is worthwhile is worth paying for. We must not forget this. Fund raising is not a necessary evil, but the way we prioritize the many important parts of our life. Money is not the reason a spiritual program exists, but it is one of the many devices we use to bring God into the lives of others. The Torah teaches, “Six days you shall labor and on the seventh day you shall rest.” this means that work and raising money should take up 6/7 of our time. To be sure, some things are beyond money, but an underfunded program will not help us grow either.

The usual synagogue model is to charge members annual dues. This is the fee that is required to belong. In most congregations it is one fee for the entire family. The dues for singles and those without children are often half the price. Membership does have its privileges, there are discounts on other fees and there are some programs open for members only. Only members can vote on vital matters to the community and members have a hand in selecting clergy for the congregation. When a family joins the synagogue, they are usually asked about what parts of synagogue life they would like to get involved with, but the sad story is that far too few congregations have anyone from the Membership committee who will actually read the application or contact the family about their interest. The usual story is that a new member will have to show interest in an area of synagogue life and persist in asking to be a part of the program. As I mentioned in the section of cliques and fiefdoms, breaking into a group in a synagogue can be not just hard, but almost impossible for a new member. I believe that for this reason alone, we are seeing most of the disinterest by Jews in synagogue membership. Synagogues are asking for significant sums of money but never invite new members to be a part of the inner circle. After a while, the money is not worth the expense anymore and ignored members take their money elsewhere. It is not that families are poorer today than in the past. It is rather that they are more careful where they spend their money. One financial adviser noted that if you only join a synagogue for the High Holy Days and only use your membership three days a year, it is a poor investment. But if you get involved and take part in the ongoing programming at the synagogue, it is a really good buy. A membership committee has to make sure that new members are “getting their money’s worth” from their dues.

By laying out reasons for people to get involved; in the learning program, in the social action program and in services, we give people in our community a reason to join. This is not as easy as we might think it should be. It is not a matter of creating a website, printing a membership brochure or knocking on doors. These membership activities may have worked in past decades, but they will no longer work today. Why? Because there has been a fundamental shift in how and why people join a synagogue. I noted before, that in the past, people would join and then look for a way to get involved. Today, people need to be engaged, they need to be connected to the synagogue before they will give their money and become members. This means that the first contact with our synagogue will be through events open to the community. We will have to invest in engaging Jews in Jewish activities if we hope to bring them into membership sometime in the future.

If we hold adult studies programs open to the public. If we take our ongoing study groups and open them up to all those who are searching, we will find that there is a great untapped group of Jews who will commit to an ongoing study program. If we make public our social action/political action programs, we will soon attract those from the larger community who share our goals and who will be willing to give their time and effort for the cause. Once they are engaged, they will come to pay for what they are doing. Nobody in this country really expects anything for free. If we show them the value of what they are getting, they are usually happy to pay their fair share. Once they have strong ties to our program and to the current members, they will affiliate and they will remain active. They will come to understand that the dues and other fees are worth the investment. That is how people get connected today. It is all about doing something important and making the personal connections that eventually bring in the commitment.

This is also why I believe that denominations in Judaism are not as important as they once were. My teachers once told me that there really are only two kinds of Judaism, fundamentalist Judaism, and non-fundamentalist Judaism. I believe that most Jews don't know the difference between Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist Judaism and really don't care. Only the leadership and scholars really know and argue the fine points between movements. Once a Jew finds a group that meets his intellectual, spiritual and social needs, they will join and adjust to Jewish life in that denomination. If the congregation then fails to live up to those needs, the Jew will eventually quit the congregation and will go where they will be fulfilled. If that congregation is a different movement, they will adjust. For some synagogue leaders that may sound like heresy, but you can see the truth of this almost every day. Jews who affiliated with one denomination, will move to another community and affiliate with a different denomination because they like the programs there more that the other synagogues in their new community. Certainly there are some Jews who could not belong to a congregation, for example, that is not egalitarian, or one that does not have a social action program, or that does not have a kosher kitchen, but I believe that most Jews are looking for a welcoming place, as place where people care about causes that are important to them and who offer them some meaning and purpose in their lives, and when they find that place, they join. Christian mega-churches grow so very large by getting their membership to find meaning and purpose in any combination of the myriad choices they offer. No matter what denomination they may be coming from, they stay because they find fulfillment in their lives. If there are some religious details to observe, like dressing conservatively, eating vegetarian at events, or separate seating for men and women, then they just go along. It is the purpose that drives the commitment. Most Jews today don’t really care about the use of microphones on Shabbat, if swordfish is kosher or not, who wrote the Bible and they don’t care if there are stained glass windows or not. The real issue for these “seeking” Jews is, at the end of the day, they feel that their participation has made a difference in the world. If it does, they will pay what they can to support that program.

As I noted, for some Jews, there are some exceptions to this rule. Egalitarianism sometimes can be a big issue. While there are families that will even connect to an orthodox synagogue if it meets their intellectual, spiritual and social needs, I suspect that the women in the family will eventually be less than enthusiastic about the limited role they play in orthodox congregational life. There are families that don't mind the different gender roles, and some orthodox congregations work hard to keep the genders separate but equal. When we look at long term commitments, however, if there is an inequality of genders, it eventually will turn off members who don’t feel appreciated.

Kashrut can be another important issue. Families who already keep kosher want their synagogues to be kosher as well. This may be only a small minority of Jews, but they are adamant about Kashrut. They will be surprised and disgusted if they find a synagogue serving food that is treif. Most of the people who don't care about Kashrut will not care if the congregation is kosher or not, and if they attach themselves to a Kosher synagogue, they will easily embrace the rules and live by them, maybe not in their homes and personal lives, but certainly in their Jewish communal life. If the family has children they may keep their membership with a Kosher congregation longer so as to be consistent with the rules they have taught their children, but once the children have gone, if Kashrut is not important, than it will not be a barrier to changing communal commitments. Once again, it takes a special commitment to belong to an Orthodox community since the laws of Kashrut are far more demanding and change more frequently. One has to be current on what is considered kosher, what has been rejected, who is accepted and who is no longer accepted and a host of minutia that make keeping Kosher a challenge. Those who like that kind of detail will not be put off by this but the constant addition of new kosher regulations can put off someone who does not arrive at the door with that commitment.

Shabbat can be a third area of some concern. If there are affordable homes in the area around the synagogue where families can afford to live within walking distance to the synagogue, then those who are already Shabbat observers will feel welcome. Since most non-fundamentalist congregations allow driving, most Jews will not find this an issue. For those who want to walk on Shabbat and have a community of other walkers to share time on Shabbat afternoon, this could be an issue that will keep people away. It is a small part of the community but a vocal one. Often it is the Rabbi who is the leader in this group. If the Rabbi lives within walking distance, he or she sets a good example. If the Rabbi rides to shul on Shabbat, then it will be up to others to create this “walking community”.

But even with these few areas of concern, many Jews, especially young Jews who are just beginning to form their ties to the Jewish community, they are less concerned with the details of observance in the congregation and more concerned about getting what they need from the synagogue programming. If all they are looking for is a place to have a Bar/Bat Mitzvah for their children, these parents will not really care at all even about egalitarianism. They will have their ceremony and then go on to have a party somewhere else. They will pay for the service and move on. Such Jews have no interest in long term communal relationships. If we work to engage Jews at a younger age, when they are in their mid to late twenties, we will find them open to what we offer in their lives and eventually open to the way we connect with Judaism and Jewish ritual. If the first thing we ask from these young Jews is thousands of dollars in dues, we will find them uninterested. First we must engage them in Jewish activities and only later will they see the value in joining.