Community
Organizing
A Rabbi, Cantor,
Jewish Educator, or a teacher can only be in so many places at once.
Because these professionals are so important to the Jewish world we
need to use these precious resources wisely. The principles of
community organizing teach us that if each professional can train
5-10 others as par-professionals, who in turn lead another group of
5-10, the growth in Jewish activities grows exponentially. Our
trained Jewish leaders can have a far greater impact on the wider
Jewish community. Over a serious of years, this leadership core can
become an important part of how the new Jewish community operates.
Rabbi Harold
Shulweiss first talked about Rabbinic Para-professionals about twenty
years ago. Their roles was to be like the judges of parshat Yitro,
trained to address the everyday concerns of the Jewish people and
using the Rabbi to address larger or more difficult issues. In the
world of Cantors, volunteers would be trained to lead daily and
Shabbat auxiliary services freeing up the Cantor to both compose new
music and bring new musical possibilities to the congregation. These
Cantors would not just be a pretty voice, but a true music
professional coordinating all the musical resources the congregation
has at its disposal. The same kind of system could also be used to
create Jews who can lead others in learning and growing Jewishly.
This community
organizing principle can also work in the area of fundraisng as
well. The more people a congregation can touch, the more
opportunities there will be for contributions and volunteer activity.
As I described earlier, a community of different vaadot (different
missions) under one roof, all can work together to provide for the
common institution that stands behind them. The wider the net we
spread, the greater the participation in our mission and the greater
the financial possibilities.
What is important
is to put people before finances and involvement before dues. I do
not, for one minute believe that synagogues can operate without
proper financial funding. But it must not and can not be the
motivating factor if we are looking to increase participants and
interest in our programs. First comes the engagement, only later
will the financial resources come. One thing is for sure, we can no
longer mortgage the future of our synagogue to big beautiful
buildings. We need to use the building we have more efficiently and
perhaps partner with those who have extra building space to keep our
costs down. We can not afford to take literally anymore, the slogan
“If you build it, they will come”.
Final Thoughts
1. Non profit
organizations are complicated institutions. I know that sounds
obvious, but we also must understand that no two organizations are
exactly alike and no two synagogues share exactly the same issues.
While there are issues that all congregations share, there are also
significant ways they differ. Congregations in an urban setting do
have fundamental differences from synagogues in the suburbs. Large
city synagogues are different from small town shuls. Congregations
with large memberships do not see the world the same as do
congregations with smaller memberships. I have tried to keep things
generic in my discussions here but remains the responsibility of the
leadership of the organization to pick and choose the sections that
speak to their issues and pass by the sections that do not seem
relevant.
It is important,
though, to be aware that while your congregation may not feel like it
shares some of these problems, a third party or some other outside
adviser may think that the leadership is fooling itself if they think
they are immune from some of the problems I have outlined above. It
is very easy for congregational leadership to want to stick to what
they know and ignore the signs that times have changed and that they
are falling very far behind. Sometimes everyone on a synagogue board
“knows” what the problems are and has their own pet project that
will solve all the problems in one swoop. Maybe they have a good idea
and maybe their idea may work for your congregation. What I am
proposing, however, is not a “cure all pill” for synagogues, but
a long term program for synagogue renewal and growth. Nothing happens
quickly. A synagogue does not get in trouble quickly, it takes years
to really get into trouble and it will take years to dig out of the
hole. Anyone who promises a quick fix should be greeted with a raised
eyebrow.
The first step
before using any part of this book is to take a good hard look at
your community demographics. Some suburban areas don't have the
influx of singles that can be found in urban or near urban areas.
University towns and those with large numbers of transient people,
for example tourist destinations or large medical school/hospital,
will have different needs than those who are in more stable
communities. Congregations also get pegged for being the place where
one demographic is preferred over another. One congregation may have
a great deal of success dealing with those who retired or nearly
retired and then may find it hard to attract a younger population. As
I mentioned earlier, congregations with couples and families often
have a difficult time welcoming singles into their community. If an
established synagogue suddenly finds itself surrounded by a growing
community of Jews who are radically different than the current
population, i.e. immigrants from Israel, Hispanic Jews, gay and
lesbian Jews etc.; it can be hard to welcome those who somehow were
never welcomed before. What is important is to recognized the changes
and challenges that the new realities present and then face them
head on. Prejudice and bigotry will kill a congregation. Turning away
members because they don't fit a stereotype of “those who are
members here” could explain why your synagogue is struggling. If we
close our eyes or our hearts to those who are seeking Jewish
community because they don't look or act like us, or because they
have new ideas that we don't like, will mean that we will be turning
away our best members. As Rabbi Akiva said, “Don't look at the
flask, rather pay attention to what is inside.”
We need to
establish that our congregations are open to all, to singles and
couples, families and childless couples, young and old, men and
women, gay and straight, black, white and yellow, Jew by birth and
Jew by choice. It is not good enough to have the community segmented
into different groups that never talk to each other. Social Action
projects are one way that all elements of the community can gather
together and get some good work done. We need to build bridges
between communities and not keep them apart. If we can reach out to
all groups of Jews who are in our community, we will be blessed with
a strong membership and one that is loyal to the congregation that
has given them a spiritual home. In the 1960's, there was one
congregation on Miami Beach that welcomed Jewish refugees from Cuba
after Fidel Castro came to power. These refugees were so thankful for
the welcom that this congregation gave them that they continued their
membership long after they became successful and moved away and even
after they joined another synagogue. It is important that we not
overlook this kind of loyalty that comes from being welcoming and
accepting.
2. Synagogues
must be continually motivating their staff and volunteers to work for
the institution. One would think that Rabbis, Cantors, Educators,
Youth Directors and Executive Directors as well as the Teachers and
Classroom Aides, would need no more motivation than their monthly
paycheck. This is a wrong assumption. Every member of a synagogue
staff could easily make more money in some other related occupation.
Clergy and staff work for synagogues because they believe in the work
that is done in synagogues and have dedicated their lives to it.
While everyone needs to make sure that they are taking care of their
families, synagogue work rarely pays enough to really compensate for
the hours and stress that come with congregational work (full
disclosure: Just a reminder, I am a pulpit Rabbi who has almost all
of my working life in synagogues and my wife's career is in Jewish
Education. My knowledge of staff motivations come from my own family
and from the motivations of those whom I have had the pleasure of
working with over these many years.) Contract negotiations can be
difficult for both the congregation and the Staff. If we treat our
staff with respect and appreciation for the work that they do, it
will make a profound difference in the way they conduct themselves on
behalf of the synagogue. I know that there are staff members who have
not fulfilled their responsibilities and of congregations who not
only don't appreciate the work that staff does, but treats them like
some kind of hired help. Both situations are bad for the synagogue.
We need to employ staff that are dedicated to the mission and goals
of the synagogue and then pay them a living wage and show our
appreciation in word and deed when they go above and beyond the
duties outlined in their contract.
Rabbi
Charles Simon of the Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs has written a
whole book on how to motivate volunteers (Building
a Successful Volunteer Culture: Finding Meaning in Service in the
Jewish Community: Jewish
Lights Press) This
is just a reminder that volunteers need to be thanked “early and
often”. You can never thank a volunteer enough. Working for a
synagogue is not their full time job, it is an act and labor of love.
This includes board members who serve each year, they too deserve a
verbal and written thanks for their service. All the more so this
applies when a volunteer steps down from the board or a committee. If
we hope to have them volunteer again someday in the future, we better
show our appreciation on the day they step down. If they tell you
they don't need any thanks, then don't go overboard in thanking them
but make sure they get a personal note anyway. They may not need to
be publically awarded a plaque for their service, but they do need to
know how much the leadership, staff and lay leaders, appreciate their
service.
It is also
important, when it comes to volunteers, not to let any volunteer get
too connected to any one position. While some work is skilled work.
Not everyone can answer a phone, make table seating arragements or
put together the pages of an ad journal. Still it is important that
every volunteer train the person who will eventually replace them. No
matter how crucial a person may be in a job, nobody is irreplaceable.
Volunteers on committees should be asked to chair the committee.
Committee chairs should be asked to join the board. Board members
should be asked to become officers and officers should be asked to
serve as different officers and eventually to asked to be president.
Two terms in any office is enough. When someone is given “life
tenure” in any position (other than an honorary one) whatever
benefits the synagogue may gain, it will be lost by good people not
being able to rise past that one position. It will form a wall that
will lock out new, up and coming talent from serving the congregation
and they will take their time and effort somewhere else that
appreciates their commitment. While the immediate past president
should have a voice and vote on the board due to his or her recent
experience and knowledge of recent decisions, even past presidents
should be consulted and even venerated, but they should not have a
vote on the board.
3. It is not
uncommon to have other congregations in the same town or nearby. Some
of these may be start up groups, others may be congregations in
decline and some may be going strong and are widely accepted as
“cross town rivals” to your community. Whenever and wherever
possible, try and build bridges rather than enter into competition
for members or programming. We need to work together and not
duplicate services or programs. It should not be difficult to create
an agreement between congregations to end the rivalry, i.e. to not
solicit membership from those who are already members of another
congregation. The return on this cooperation is very large. By
sharing resources and programming it saves both congregations time
and money. It created the impression that the Jewish community is
united and supportive of each other and this environment is welcoming
to those who are thinking about joining. It opens up new
opportunities to engage Jews who are not yet connected to the
community and lets them know that their participation, no matter
which building or organization is running it, is appreciated. Large
congregations with empty space should invite new or smaller kehillot
to share their space and perhaps some administrative help. Even when
two congregations share space in a building, it does not mean that
they are competing for members. If the two congregations are
different in halachic approach or in age of the members, there will
be little serious movement of members between them. If they are very
similar, then, it could be the beginning of a merger that will
strengthen the overall community. There just is no good reason to
build rival buildings and congregations. If there are those who are
“angry” with one congregation for some reason, outside
arbitrators could be brought in the help heal the rift before it
becomes unbridgeable. We need to work together whenever possible.
I also believe
that any congregation who insists on “going it alone” and refuses
to participate in communal programming and fund raising should not be
a part of the community and should not receive communal funding. I
personally believe that those organizations who work against the
communal agenda for their own promotion or purposes, are free to do
so but the community should be free to stop supporting them as well.
For example, Federation funding should not be shared with those who
do not participate in the campaign. (I find it rather weird that
Synagogues are often asked to participate in the campaign but are
then refused funding for their programs because “Federations do not
fund synagogues”. It is well documented that when there is full
cooperation between Federation and synagogues the entire community is
stronger and the fund raising is stronger as well.)
National
synagogue organizations have been in the news a lot lately. At one
time these organizations were vital to provide services to
congregations that they could not provide for themselves or services
that would make congregational life easier. The largest areas were in
professional searches and educational/teen activities. These
organizations also helped congregations by publishing books that the
congregations needed and advice on best practices so each
congregation was not out there going at it alone. These national
organizations were mostly reactive to the expressed needs of the
congregations who paid membership dues to receive the services
needed.
For a number of
reasons, the need for these organizations has changed over the years,
and, like the congregations they served, they too fell behind the
curve, and were not able to provide the leadership and resources
needed for the changing role of synagogues in the twenty-first
century. Because they operate in a reactive manner, that is, they
react to the issues rather than anticipate them and offer a way
forward, they were not always helpful when the synagogues needed
them. They also, over the years, became over staffed and bloated and
needed larger and larger dues contributions to keep going. It is no
big surprise that the congregations began to resent the fact that a
lot of dues was being paid and no real help was coming from the
national offices. These national organizations are now going through
the same kind of soul searching that the congregations are struggling
with. They are trying to become leaner and to provide more resources,
especially in the area of technology. They have had to take a new
look at their mission and regional structure.
It is not my
intention to critique their struggles or to help them chart a new
path. They will do what they think is best for their organization and
for synagogues. I will only say that congregations need to follow
what is going on nationally closely. There are many advantages to
being part of a national organization and they are trying to find
ways to be helpful. It is not a good idea to reinvent the wheel every
time we have a new issue to address. National presidents list-serves,
Rabbinic list-serves, Regional offices and nationally known advisers
who are part of these national organizations can be a source of good
ideas, solutions to problems and advice on “what NOT to do” to
address an issue. (Like all of life, sometimes the obvious answer is
a wrong answer.) I am a big believer in getting good advice from
every source and these organizations can be a good source for issues
that congregations face. But they will never replace the local
synagogue board of directors who know their community and know what
the congregation is ready to support and what will never work in this
setting. If a congregation needs outside help in creating a mission
statement, organizational remodeling, leadership training or if they
need advice on websites, social networking, web hosting, then a good
place to start for information and advice can be national synagogue
organizations.
4. There has been
a lot of talk about if we are in a “post denominational” age,
where people don't care any more about the denomination of their
congregation. They will go the the synagogue that meets their needs.
As I have mentioned before, this is true, especially in congregations
serving a population of Jews under the age of 35. I am not under the
age of 35 so I am not sure that denominations are ready to be cast
into the dustbins of history. But I think that what a denomination
defines may be in flux more today than in any other time in our
history. We live in an age where most Jews define themselves as “Just
Jewish” rather than Conservative, Orthodox or Reform. In fact, over
the past half a century, there have been all kinds of new
“denominations” that have come onto the scene: There is
Reconstrucionist, Renewal, traditional, Modern Orthodox, liberal,
spiritual, havurah, ultra-orthodox, Jew-Bu, gay/straight
congregations, senior congregations; and each has its own issues and
contributions to the overall Jewish community. But the titles of the
denominations have hidden the real differences between them,
differences that more often than not were differences of degree and
not differences in kind. Forty years ago it was apparent that there
really were only two kinds of Judaism, those who were biblical
literalists and those who were not. We might say today that there are
congregations that are egalitarian and those that are
non-egalitarian. Other than this, most congregations specialize in
various kinds of programming and that is how they identify themselves
from the other congregations. My point in this book has been that
these differing programs began to take center stage from the real
business of synagogues. We began to be social centers, fund raising
organizations and architectural wonders. Synagogues forgot about
their core mission of Torah, Avodah and Gemilut Hasadim (learning,
prayer and social action). As synagogues return to their “roots”
we will see that the different denominations will slowly coalesce
into larger generic groupings. The ties will be looser to national
differences and more about the needs of the local community. Learning
will demand that we follow either the literal understanding of Bible
or the Non-literal approach. Synagogues that are egalitarian will not
have a following that is non-egalitarian even if both groups meet
under the same roof. There may be differences in approach to the
community as well. For example, Habad has long held itself outside
the local community, working only for its own national organization.
Other congregations remain committed to the local Federation, Jewish
Family Service and Community Day School. The national organizations
will try to cast their approach as widely as possible and the meaning
of Reform or Conservative may represent less and less the differences
between congregations. We will still find ways to “classify” our
synagogues, but I predict (and I know predictions are always
dangerous) that the classifications of tomorrow will not be the same
as the denominations of today.
5. Synagogues
remain the foundational and fundamental unit of Jewish involvement. I
have no reason to doubt that what has always been in Jewish History,
will change in modern times. But I also understand that there are
many other worthy organizations, both secular and Jewish that should
share our time and efforts. Some of these are active in the world of
political action. Some are social action oriented. Some are dedicated
to raising funds for worthy causes and some are the worthy causes who
fill important needs in the community. In an age where government is
getting out of the social agenda due to budget concerns and political
sniping, it will fall more and more upon the religious community to
help support those who are in need. Jews should be a big part of this
movement. I have encouraged congregations to partner with outside
organizations that could help the synagogue with its own agenda. For
example, a congregation that has a core of members who are interested
in political support for the State of Israel, could forge alliances
with Israel Bonds, Zionists organizations, political organizations
and tour operators. A congregation that has a group that wants to
work with the local community on economic issues could forge bonds
with a soup kitchen, food pantry, job bank, homeless shelter and
thrift store. Any of these organizations could be the recipient of
both financial support or volunteer support. Just as I support
congregations joining together to combine resources, we do not need
to create new organizations to compete with existing organizations
serving the public. We should look for ways to collaborate and not
compete.
