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.
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