/OpEd in the Jewish Week: "Needed: An End to Ho-Hum Conservative
> Services"/
>
> by Brett Cohen
> Special to the Jewish Week
>
> We need a deeply engaged, committed, non-fundamentalist Jewish
> center. The tragedy of Conservative Jewish decline is not that
> we've stopped needing Conservative Judaism, but that Conservative
> Judaism has failed to live up to its mission.
>
> I challenge a spiritually serious Jew to go to pray at your
> friendly neighborhood Conservative shul and not to come away with
> the impression that something has gone very wrong. Empty
> McMansion sanctuaries, graying membership, declining ranks,
> stultifying services. . .
>
> Why don't younger, committed folks want to show up on Saturday
> morning? Because the services are rote, hum-drum. You go to a
> religious service to hope for spiritual connection, however
> uncertain and fleeting. You have more chance of finding that
> meditatingor hiking than coming to a shul where
>
> they don't really pray. But the rare egalitarian service where the
> intensity bolts around the room, that service can speak to a whole
> swath of us who want to touch something holy in our lives. A
> Conservative service that works is a spiritual on-ramp for those
> many of us who walked out of the twice a year suburban Judaism,
> vowing not to return. But without meaningful services (and here I
> am focused primarily on Shabbat services), all you have is a
> community center with a Torah in it. If you want Conservative
> Judaism to work, you need Conservative services to work.
>
> To that end, here's some of what I think you need to have a good
> synagogue service:
>
>
> - Heavy participation in the singing. Find me a service with a
> cantor wailing away operatically and I'll show you a bad service.
> If you're being prayed to or sung to at a service, you are not
> praying or singing. To all the cantors who are at shuls - keep it
> simple and beautiful. Song is a central route to devotion; you
> should try to impress the shul with the congregation's singing,
> not yours.
>
> - Lay leadership of the davening. It's hard for anyone to keep the
> energy level up if he is running all levels of the service week
> after week. Let the congregants run parts of the service. Rabbis -
> this is a statement of strength, not weakness. The best way to
> have a vibrant congregation is to have a congregation made up of a
> strong core who can lead the praying.
>
> - A focus on the eternal, not the topical. Synagogue is not a talk
> show, and it should not be a political town meeting. We're reading
> and praying from texts that are thousands of years old. If we are
> going to grapple with topics at shul, why can't we grapple with
> topics from the text, instead of the latest editorial from the New
> York Times? If your talk is ripped from today's headlines, you are
> short-changing the tradition. Worse than that, you're signaling
> that the text is not as interesting or visceral as the latest
> heated political debate. Be timeless, not timely.
>
> - Young people. Get the idealistic college kids. Get the singles
> looking to hook up. Make it easy for the young families with their
> babies "destroying" services. Think of it like this: I tell you
> there's your usual Friday night Shabbat service at your shul. Now
> I tell you that 40 Jewish kids from the nearby college are staying
> at your synagogue and they'll run Kabalat Shabbat. Which service
> will have more earnestness, more vitality, more light? No young
> folks at services means your shul is dying.
>
> -A service run amongst the congregation, not at a distance. The
> large majority of shuls have a large raised bimah from which the
> clergy talk down to the congregation. Tear it down and replace it
> with something small and in the center of the congregation. If you
> can't tear it down, walk right into the middle of the seats and
> run the service from a small bimah there, from the same level as
> the congregants. Think of nearly any time you've prayed in a group
> meaningfully and felt moved (at the Kotel, at a chavurah in
> college, at a small service in one of the side rooms in the
> synagogue where everyone sits in a circle on chairs). The worship
> is happening all around you.
>
> You will not have been craning up at clergy on a huge stage while
> you sat below. The physical structure of most synagogues
> reinforces the vicious cycle of clergy praying for congregants,
> congregants zoning out, and then clergy needing to pray for
> congregants because congregants no longer know what to do. Get
> down from there. Sit amongst the congregation while you are
> praying. There is nothing more ridiculous than those high seats at
> the back of the massive bimahs for the clergy and officers to sit
> on as though you were Supreme Court Justices.
>
> Ever wonder why your congregants don't feel connected? Reduce the
> distance between you and the congregants, and between the text and
> the congregants. Put the heart of the service right where they are.
>
> -Fidelity to the language in your Siddur. While melodic innovation
> (so long as it's singable by the lay person) can be great, messing
> with the text so that your synagogue has a unique way of praying
> is not so great. If your synagogue lightly changes and rearranges
> the text from the prayer book, congregants from other places may
> not feel comfortable at your shul, and congregants from your
> synagogue may not have the ability to comfortably pray elsewhere.
> Stick with the siddur as much as possible.
>
> -More silence. Most conservative and reform synagogues either
> gloss over the silent Amidah (making the vast majority of it
> communal rather than personal) or skip it altogether. Nearly all
> synagogues rush it. Even if you don't believe in having a
> traditional silent Amidah (and I believe very strongly in it, for
> me it is the lynchpin of the service), then at least have quiet
> time for people to silently pray or meditate. Why should people
> come to pray at synagogue? It's not primarily to hear others talk,
> or to eat kiddush, or to socialize, or even to learn.
>
> It is to talk to God. Most shuls are afraid of quiet, silent
> prayer. "People will get bored. They won't know what to do." Let
> go. Create quiet time for the quiet voice of the soul to be heard.
>
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Conservative Leaders Support ‘Living Wage’ and Magen Tzedek, but So Far Little Change at Shul
Pushing for Better Wages, Not Necessarily Giving Them
Conservative Leaders Support ‘Living Wage’ and Magen Tzedek, but So Far Little Change at Shul
By Nathaniel Popper
Published October 07, 2009, issue of October 16, 2009.
Rabbi Michael Siegel has been a leading advocate for improving the treatment of workers in kosher food facilities. As the founding co-chair of the Hekhsher Tzedek program, Siegel was behind the release last month of detailed standards on how kosher companies should properly compensate their employees. Soon after the release of those standards, though, Siegel took a look at the wages and benefits of the janitors at his Chicago synagogue.
ARIEL JANKELOWITZ
Working: Employees at Ansche Chesed, a Conservative synagogue in New York, prepare a Sukkah. The rabbi says all workers are given health insurance and wages that would meet new standards.
He was abashed to find that Congregation Anshe Emet would not currently be in full compliance with the standards he had just released.
“There are issues of benefits that are not where they should be,” Siegel told the Forward. “We are challenged like everyone else in terms of wages and benefits. But that’s one of those deals where if you want to talk the talk, you have to walk the walk.”
Conservative movement rabbis like Siegel have taken a leading role in advocating for better treatment of low-wage employees across the country. Siegel’s Hekhsher Tzedek commission is a Conservative movement project that has provided very specific expectations for how kosher food companies should compensate their employees. It is proposing to award a special “Magen Tzedek” seal — the term translates as shield of justice — to products whose companies are found to meet these standards.
Separately, a year before the Hekhsher Tzedek standards were released, the Conservative movement’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards responded to a call for social justice by passing a teshuvah, or religious ruling, which stated that Jewish employers should pay their employees a living wage.
Despite all this advocacy, people in the middle of the push for better wages say that only a few Conservative synagogues and institutions have begun to do the hard work of looking at how they treat their own janitors and nursery school teachers and caterers.
Related Articles
* New Kosher Food Certification May Be Most Detailed In the Industry
* Orthodox Group Stirs Pot With New Kosher Ethics Seal
* Orthodox Rabbis To Set Voluntary Guidelines for Kosher Businesses
“There’s somewhat of a reluctance to look inward and think and talk about our own employment practices,” said Rabbi Jill Jacobs, who was the author of the living wage teshuvah last year. Jacobs said she had heard of few Jewish institutions that changed their compensation policies to comply with the *teshuvah.
Even among advocates for the Magen Tzedek, there has been a realization of just how difficult the standards can be to meet — particularly in the tough financial climate of the recent recession. At Siegel’s Chicago congregation, wages and benefits were previously raised for full-time employees to comply with living wage standards. But Siegel said that after releasing the Hekhsher Tzedek standards, he discovered that his part-time employees are not given the health benefits the Hekhsher Tzedek documents call for. He is also concerned about wages and benefits received by maintenance people sent to his synagogue by an outside contractor.
“The good news is that we are in a much better place than we were — but we’re not where we should be,” Siegel said.
Near Los Angeles, Rabbi Dov Gartenberg has been outspoken on social justice issues, signing onto a union petition demanding living wages for janitors. But at his own synagogue, Temple Beth Shalom of Long Beach, Gartenberg said he has failed to convince the board to provide health insurance for the synagogue janitor.
“Rabbis may be a moral beacon in terms of discussion, but decisions are made by boards, and they are looking at their bottom line,” Gartenberg said.
The current attention within the Conservative movement to worker treatment arose in full force after the Forward reported in 2006 on the poor treatment of low-wage workers at the world’s largest kosher slaughterhouse, Agriprocessors, in Iowa.
Since then, the Hekhsher Tzedek commission has been working to create a new Magen Tzedek seal for kosher companies that practice good business ethics. A draft of the standards for the Magen Tzedek, released in September, is aimed at food-production companies. The draft does not refer specifically to how a synagogue or other nonprofit institution should follow the standards. Because these standards are aimed at kosher businesses, which are mostly owned and operated by Orthodox Jews, they have been criticized as anti-Orthodox.
But Joe Regenstein, the Cornell University food scientist who designed the new standards, put a full page in the draft he wrote calling on Conservative institutions to recognize their responsibility to adhere to the standards.
“It is to be expected that institutions of the Conservative Movement will rightfully be under pressure to meet those standards that are applicable in all the facilities associated with the movement,” Regenstein wrote in a page that did not appear in the public draft of the standards, which is currently open for public comment.
Regenstein said that he plans to examine how the standards might be tailored for nonprofit Jewish institutions. But a number of basic rules in the Magen Tzedek draft would apply to any institution with staff. The draft calls for every worker to earn at least 115% of the local minimum wage, and to receive benefits that are equal to 35% of the wages — even if the workers are part-time. That level of benefits is generally possible only when workers receive some sort of health insurance.
Morris Allen, the Minnesota rabbi who got the Hekhsher Tzedek movement going, said that when he first started to criticize labor practices of the kosher meat company Agriprocessors, he looked at his own synagogue and realized that it was not providing its own janitor with health insurance. His synagogue quickly changed that.
“We said that it was not appropriate to be in a situation where we were not living by our own values,” Allen said.
Jacobs’ living wage teshuvah has received less attention than Allen’s Magen Tzedek, but seems to have more immediate relevance for Conservative institutions. The teshuvah is addressed specifically to Jewish institutions and, because it was passed by the movement’s rabbinical Committee on Law and Standards, is supposed to stand as the Conservative understanding of Jewish law on the subject. On the other hand, under pressure of debate and compromise over various drafts, the teshuvah’s final language refers to the standards as those that Jewish employers “should” meet rather than the imperative language that more commonly characterizes religious rulings.
“This is something that rabbis in synagogues have to take seriously and try to incorporate into their Jewish practice,” said Rabbi Elliot Dorff, the chairman of the committee, and a rector at the American Jewish University.
It is in some ways easier to follow the living wage teshuvah than the Magen Tzedek standards because the teshuvah goes into much less detail and does not address the need for health care, as the Magen Tzedek does. But calculating a living wage is more complicated: The teshuvah gives four different formulas that provide different minimums. In most localities, however it is calculated, a living wage is higher than the wage floor set by the Magen Tzedek.
In Minneapolis, for instance, the Magen Tzedek standard of 115% of the minimum wage would be $8.34 an hour, while a living wage, as defined by the city (one of the four formulas that the teshuvah advocated), is $11.66 an hour. Most ordinances passed by municipalities have defined a living wage as between $9 and $13 an hour. Another standard advocated by the living wage teshuvah, the so-called “housing wage,” would be $14.69 an hour in Minneapolis.
Since the living wage teshuvah was passed in May 2008, the 667 registered Conservative synagogues in North America have had time to put it in force. But the law had no binding power and no enforcement mechanism, and it does not appear that any effort was made to distribute the text of the teshuvah to synagogues across the country. Conversations with rabbis and Conservative officials showed that there have been few efforts to put a living wage into effect — or even to track progress on the issue.
The largest Conservative institution, the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, did not return multiple phone calls and emails asking for comment about how it compensates its employees.
Rabbi Steven Wernick, the new head of the United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism, said the push for wage justice is “something that leadership of the movement — both lay and professional — is excited about.”
But, he added, “The goal is to make a moral statement of where our institutions need to strive to be when it comes to these issues — and change of this nature doesn’t come about overnight.”
Jacobs, who authored the teshuvah, said she thought that there was more enthusiasm for the Magen Tzedek program than for the living wage teshuvah because the Magen Tzedek has focused on companies outside the Conservative fold, rather than on institutions closer to home.
“It’s always easier to look slightly outside yourself rather than to look inside,” Jacobs said. “There certainly hasn’t been any large-scale change.”
Part of the reason for the slow implementation of the living wage teshuvah is significant opposition to it from inside the Conservative movement. When it was moving through the Committee on Law and Standards, it was voted down a number of times — and it passed only after it was worded so as not to be binding.
Rabbi Paul Plotkin was one of the committee members who opposed the teshuvah. Plotkin, who is also a Conservative authority on kosher food preparation, said that even before the recent financial crisis, many synagogues have been struggling to pay the bills. Plotkin, who is spiritual leader of Temple Beth Am in Broward County, Florida, said his own congregation does not provide its employees with health insurance, and thus would probably not qualify for a Magen Tzedek. He also noted that a number of his employees have second jobs to support their families. But Plotkin said that forcing synagogues to pay higher wages would serve only to hurt the work that Conservative institutions do.
“If applying some of these ideas means significantly raising the cost of the overhead, what we will actually be doing is expediting the self-annihilation of Jewish institutions,” said Plotkin.
More philosophically, Plotkin said he believes that the free market does a good job of determining what a given employee should make. Plotkin said that the long tenure of his employees suggests to him that the temple is providing for them adequately.
“You don’t have to work here,” Plotkin said. “You can work anywhere. We are offering whatever we can afford to keep our staff in the current marketplace.”
In Philadelphia, Rabbi Leonard Gordon said that his synagogue was forced to contend with the issue when the Philadelphia City Council was voting on a living-wage ordinance. When the synagogue board began talking about the ordinance, board members realized that they were not paying their janitors and their pre-school teachers a living wage. (Many synagogues said pre-school teachers tend to be the lowest paid-employees.) Gordon, though, said that his synagogue board did not feel that it could immediately jump to a living wage.
“Even though we feel strongly about it, we recognize that the sacrifices of moving immediately to where we wanted to be would have required other changes in the system that would have been draconian,” Gordon said.
Gordon’s synagogue, the Germantown Jewish Centre, began by increasing its contribution to the health insurance of its low-wage employees. He said he would advocate that the rest of the movement take a similarly slow approach, so as not to anger people with a more free-market perspective on labor relations.
“When you do it without a plan, and from a place of moral absolutism, it freaks out the people who are more fiscally conservative — and you end up with less productive discussion,” Gordon said.
Siegel, in Chicago, said he has come up against board members at Anshe Emet who are “wondering why we are pushing this so hard.” He believes that “part of the job of the rabbi is to do the education.” But at the end of the day, he said, opposition to these measures should not win out.
“It doesn’t have to be popular — but if it’s right, we have to do it,” he said.
One synagogue that did systematically decide to pay a living wage is Adat Shalom, a Reconstructionist congregation in Bethesda, Md. The rabbi at Adat Shalom, Fred Scherlinder Dobb, raised the issue in 2001 — eight years before Jacobs’ teshuvah passed — when the Washington, D.C., City Council passed a living wage ordinance. Scherlinder Dobb faced opposition from the congregation president at the time, Judith Gelman, who is an economist.
“As an economist I thought it would break the bank,” Gelman said, looking back.
Scherlinder Dobb did not give up. His board calculated that paying two janitors a living wage would cost $8,000 extra a year — 1% of their annual budget, or $35 per member each year. For the janitors at the time, this meant $10.20 an hour with health insurance, or $11.80 without. The congregation ultimately reached this standard by raising more revenue and reshuffling its budget priorities.
The executive director at Adat Shalom, Sheila Feldman, said that she tried to promote what Adat Shalom had done at meetings of executive directors from synagogues across the Washington area — but she always heard that the other synagogues could not afford it.
“Believe me, my synagogue was in no better shape than theirs,” Feldman said.
One person who was eventually convinced was Gelman, the economist and executive director. She said she was surprised by the benefits that the move brought to the synagogue — most of all the quality of the employees who were attracted, and the lack of employee turnover. She also heard from one janitor who went to a doctor as soon as he got health insurance, and ended up catching a life-threatening illness early.
“To this day,” Gelman wrote in an essay about her experience, “he says that the congregation saved his life.”
Contact Nathaniel Popper at popper@forward.com
Conservative Leaders Support ‘Living Wage’ and Magen Tzedek, but So Far Little Change at Shul
By Nathaniel Popper
Published October 07, 2009, issue of October 16, 2009.
Rabbi Michael Siegel has been a leading advocate for improving the treatment of workers in kosher food facilities. As the founding co-chair of the Hekhsher Tzedek program, Siegel was behind the release last month of detailed standards on how kosher companies should properly compensate their employees. Soon after the release of those standards, though, Siegel took a look at the wages and benefits of the janitors at his Chicago synagogue.
ARIEL JANKELOWITZ
Working: Employees at Ansche Chesed, a Conservative synagogue in New York, prepare a Sukkah. The rabbi says all workers are given health insurance and wages that would meet new standards.
He was abashed to find that Congregation Anshe Emet would not currently be in full compliance with the standards he had just released.
“There are issues of benefits that are not where they should be,” Siegel told the Forward. “We are challenged like everyone else in terms of wages and benefits. But that’s one of those deals where if you want to talk the talk, you have to walk the walk.”
Conservative movement rabbis like Siegel have taken a leading role in advocating for better treatment of low-wage employees across the country. Siegel’s Hekhsher Tzedek commission is a Conservative movement project that has provided very specific expectations for how kosher food companies should compensate their employees. It is proposing to award a special “Magen Tzedek” seal — the term translates as shield of justice — to products whose companies are found to meet these standards.
Separately, a year before the Hekhsher Tzedek standards were released, the Conservative movement’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards responded to a call for social justice by passing a teshuvah, or religious ruling, which stated that Jewish employers should pay their employees a living wage.
Despite all this advocacy, people in the middle of the push for better wages say that only a few Conservative synagogues and institutions have begun to do the hard work of looking at how they treat their own janitors and nursery school teachers and caterers.
Related Articles
* New Kosher Food Certification May Be Most Detailed In the Industry
* Orthodox Group Stirs Pot With New Kosher Ethics Seal
* Orthodox Rabbis To Set Voluntary Guidelines for Kosher Businesses
“There’s somewhat of a reluctance to look inward and think and talk about our own employment practices,” said Rabbi Jill Jacobs, who was the author of the living wage teshuvah last year. Jacobs said she had heard of few Jewish institutions that changed their compensation policies to comply with the *teshuvah.
Even among advocates for the Magen Tzedek, there has been a realization of just how difficult the standards can be to meet — particularly in the tough financial climate of the recent recession. At Siegel’s Chicago congregation, wages and benefits were previously raised for full-time employees to comply with living wage standards. But Siegel said that after releasing the Hekhsher Tzedek standards, he discovered that his part-time employees are not given the health benefits the Hekhsher Tzedek documents call for. He is also concerned about wages and benefits received by maintenance people sent to his synagogue by an outside contractor.
“The good news is that we are in a much better place than we were — but we’re not where we should be,” Siegel said.
Near Los Angeles, Rabbi Dov Gartenberg has been outspoken on social justice issues, signing onto a union petition demanding living wages for janitors. But at his own synagogue, Temple Beth Shalom of Long Beach, Gartenberg said he has failed to convince the board to provide health insurance for the synagogue janitor.
“Rabbis may be a moral beacon in terms of discussion, but decisions are made by boards, and they are looking at their bottom line,” Gartenberg said.
The current attention within the Conservative movement to worker treatment arose in full force after the Forward reported in 2006 on the poor treatment of low-wage workers at the world’s largest kosher slaughterhouse, Agriprocessors, in Iowa.
Since then, the Hekhsher Tzedek commission has been working to create a new Magen Tzedek seal for kosher companies that practice good business ethics. A draft of the standards for the Magen Tzedek, released in September, is aimed at food-production companies. The draft does not refer specifically to how a synagogue or other nonprofit institution should follow the standards. Because these standards are aimed at kosher businesses, which are mostly owned and operated by Orthodox Jews, they have been criticized as anti-Orthodox.
But Joe Regenstein, the Cornell University food scientist who designed the new standards, put a full page in the draft he wrote calling on Conservative institutions to recognize their responsibility to adhere to the standards.
“It is to be expected that institutions of the Conservative Movement will rightfully be under pressure to meet those standards that are applicable in all the facilities associated with the movement,” Regenstein wrote in a page that did not appear in the public draft of the standards, which is currently open for public comment.
Regenstein said that he plans to examine how the standards might be tailored for nonprofit Jewish institutions. But a number of basic rules in the Magen Tzedek draft would apply to any institution with staff. The draft calls for every worker to earn at least 115% of the local minimum wage, and to receive benefits that are equal to 35% of the wages — even if the workers are part-time. That level of benefits is generally possible only when workers receive some sort of health insurance.
Morris Allen, the Minnesota rabbi who got the Hekhsher Tzedek movement going, said that when he first started to criticize labor practices of the kosher meat company Agriprocessors, he looked at his own synagogue and realized that it was not providing its own janitor with health insurance. His synagogue quickly changed that.
“We said that it was not appropriate to be in a situation where we were not living by our own values,” Allen said.
Jacobs’ living wage teshuvah has received less attention than Allen’s Magen Tzedek, but seems to have more immediate relevance for Conservative institutions. The teshuvah is addressed specifically to Jewish institutions and, because it was passed by the movement’s rabbinical Committee on Law and Standards, is supposed to stand as the Conservative understanding of Jewish law on the subject. On the other hand, under pressure of debate and compromise over various drafts, the teshuvah’s final language refers to the standards as those that Jewish employers “should” meet rather than the imperative language that more commonly characterizes religious rulings.
“This is something that rabbis in synagogues have to take seriously and try to incorporate into their Jewish practice,” said Rabbi Elliot Dorff, the chairman of the committee, and a rector at the American Jewish University.
It is in some ways easier to follow the living wage teshuvah than the Magen Tzedek standards because the teshuvah goes into much less detail and does not address the need for health care, as the Magen Tzedek does. But calculating a living wage is more complicated: The teshuvah gives four different formulas that provide different minimums. In most localities, however it is calculated, a living wage is higher than the wage floor set by the Magen Tzedek.
In Minneapolis, for instance, the Magen Tzedek standard of 115% of the minimum wage would be $8.34 an hour, while a living wage, as defined by the city (one of the four formulas that the teshuvah advocated), is $11.66 an hour. Most ordinances passed by municipalities have defined a living wage as between $9 and $13 an hour. Another standard advocated by the living wage teshuvah, the so-called “housing wage,” would be $14.69 an hour in Minneapolis.
Since the living wage teshuvah was passed in May 2008, the 667 registered Conservative synagogues in North America have had time to put it in force. But the law had no binding power and no enforcement mechanism, and it does not appear that any effort was made to distribute the text of the teshuvah to synagogues across the country. Conversations with rabbis and Conservative officials showed that there have been few efforts to put a living wage into effect — or even to track progress on the issue.
The largest Conservative institution, the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, did not return multiple phone calls and emails asking for comment about how it compensates its employees.
Rabbi Steven Wernick, the new head of the United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism, said the push for wage justice is “something that leadership of the movement — both lay and professional — is excited about.”
But, he added, “The goal is to make a moral statement of where our institutions need to strive to be when it comes to these issues — and change of this nature doesn’t come about overnight.”
Jacobs, who authored the teshuvah, said she thought that there was more enthusiasm for the Magen Tzedek program than for the living wage teshuvah because the Magen Tzedek has focused on companies outside the Conservative fold, rather than on institutions closer to home.
“It’s always easier to look slightly outside yourself rather than to look inside,” Jacobs said. “There certainly hasn’t been any large-scale change.”
Part of the reason for the slow implementation of the living wage teshuvah is significant opposition to it from inside the Conservative movement. When it was moving through the Committee on Law and Standards, it was voted down a number of times — and it passed only after it was worded so as not to be binding.
Rabbi Paul Plotkin was one of the committee members who opposed the teshuvah. Plotkin, who is also a Conservative authority on kosher food preparation, said that even before the recent financial crisis, many synagogues have been struggling to pay the bills. Plotkin, who is spiritual leader of Temple Beth Am in Broward County, Florida, said his own congregation does not provide its employees with health insurance, and thus would probably not qualify for a Magen Tzedek. He also noted that a number of his employees have second jobs to support their families. But Plotkin said that forcing synagogues to pay higher wages would serve only to hurt the work that Conservative institutions do.
“If applying some of these ideas means significantly raising the cost of the overhead, what we will actually be doing is expediting the self-annihilation of Jewish institutions,” said Plotkin.
More philosophically, Plotkin said he believes that the free market does a good job of determining what a given employee should make. Plotkin said that the long tenure of his employees suggests to him that the temple is providing for them adequately.
“You don’t have to work here,” Plotkin said. “You can work anywhere. We are offering whatever we can afford to keep our staff in the current marketplace.”
In Philadelphia, Rabbi Leonard Gordon said that his synagogue was forced to contend with the issue when the Philadelphia City Council was voting on a living-wage ordinance. When the synagogue board began talking about the ordinance, board members realized that they were not paying their janitors and their pre-school teachers a living wage. (Many synagogues said pre-school teachers tend to be the lowest paid-employees.) Gordon, though, said that his synagogue board did not feel that it could immediately jump to a living wage.
“Even though we feel strongly about it, we recognize that the sacrifices of moving immediately to where we wanted to be would have required other changes in the system that would have been draconian,” Gordon said.
Gordon’s synagogue, the Germantown Jewish Centre, began by increasing its contribution to the health insurance of its low-wage employees. He said he would advocate that the rest of the movement take a similarly slow approach, so as not to anger people with a more free-market perspective on labor relations.
“When you do it without a plan, and from a place of moral absolutism, it freaks out the people who are more fiscally conservative — and you end up with less productive discussion,” Gordon said.
Siegel, in Chicago, said he has come up against board members at Anshe Emet who are “wondering why we are pushing this so hard.” He believes that “part of the job of the rabbi is to do the education.” But at the end of the day, he said, opposition to these measures should not win out.
“It doesn’t have to be popular — but if it’s right, we have to do it,” he said.
One synagogue that did systematically decide to pay a living wage is Adat Shalom, a Reconstructionist congregation in Bethesda, Md. The rabbi at Adat Shalom, Fred Scherlinder Dobb, raised the issue in 2001 — eight years before Jacobs’ teshuvah passed — when the Washington, D.C., City Council passed a living wage ordinance. Scherlinder Dobb faced opposition from the congregation president at the time, Judith Gelman, who is an economist.
“As an economist I thought it would break the bank,” Gelman said, looking back.
Scherlinder Dobb did not give up. His board calculated that paying two janitors a living wage would cost $8,000 extra a year — 1% of their annual budget, or $35 per member each year. For the janitors at the time, this meant $10.20 an hour with health insurance, or $11.80 without. The congregation ultimately reached this standard by raising more revenue and reshuffling its budget priorities.
The executive director at Adat Shalom, Sheila Feldman, said that she tried to promote what Adat Shalom had done at meetings of executive directors from synagogues across the Washington area — but she always heard that the other synagogues could not afford it.
“Believe me, my synagogue was in no better shape than theirs,” Feldman said.
One person who was eventually convinced was Gelman, the economist and executive director. She said she was surprised by the benefits that the move brought to the synagogue — most of all the quality of the employees who were attracted, and the lack of employee turnover. She also heard from one janitor who went to a doctor as soon as he got health insurance, and ended up catching a life-threatening illness early.
“To this day,” Gelman wrote in an essay about her experience, “he says that the congregation saved his life.”
Contact Nathaniel Popper at popper@forward.com
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
my 6 high Holiday sermons as podcasts
My 6 High Holiday sermons can be heards as podcasdts at http://rabbiginsburg.podbean.com/
Rosh day 2 and Yizkor are about Israel
Yom Kippur Yizkor MInha sermon Rabbi Jonathan Jinsburg
Posted in Uncategorized by rabbiginsburg on September 29th, 2009
Jonah is told by God to go tell Ninevah the truth about their sins and tries to flee. Yizkor started as a memorial to Jews killed in the crusades. Today’s spiritual heirs of Hitler are at it again-denying the Holocaust, threatening genocide against Jews and the West. they must be stopped
Listen Now:
icon for podbean Standard Podcasts: Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (0)
Permalink | Comments | *****(0 ratings) | Email it
digg:Yom Kippur Yizkor mInha sermon Rabbi Jonathan Jinsburg newsvine:Yom Kippur Yizkor mInha sermon Rabbi Jonathan Jinsburg del.icio.us:Yom Kippur Yizkor mInha sermon Rabbi Jonathan Jinsburg Y!:Yom Kippur Yizkor mInha sermon Rabbi Jonathan Jinsburg reddit:Yom Kippur Yizkor mInha sermon Rabbi Jonathan Jinsburg furl:Yom Kippur Yizkor mInha sermon Rabbi Jonathan Jinsburg
Yom Kippur Morning 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
Posted in Uncategorized by rabbiginsburg on September 29th, 2009
Continuation on living the best life-Yom Kippur does not atone for sins vs. another person
To live an ethical life is crucial to God and Isaiah’s message today
Listen Now:
icon for podbean Standard Podcasts: Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (2)
Permalink | Comments | *****(0 ratings) | Email it
digg:Yom Kippur Morning 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg newsvine:Yom Kippur Morning 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg del.icio.us:Yom Kippur Morning 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg Y!:Yom Kippur Morning 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg reddit:Yom Kippur Morning 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg furl:Yom Kippur Morning 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
Kol Nidre sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
Posted in Uncategorized by rabbiginsburg on September 29th, 2009
The essence of Yom Kippur on how we do what God wants us to do-be the best we can be. It is about the self-but not phony self esteem or based on self pity-but on self awareness, self respect, self reliance, self improvement, self love, self control
Listen Now:
icon for podbean Standard Podcasts: Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (0)
Permalink | Comments | *****(0 ratings) | Email it
digg:Kol Nidre sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg newsvine:Kol Nidre sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg del.icio.us:Kol Nidre sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg Y!:Kol Nidre sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg reddit:Kol Nidre sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg furl:Kol Nidre sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
Rosh Hashanah day 2 5770 We must care. Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
Posted in Uncategorized by rabbiginsburg on September 29th, 2009
We must care that those who hate peace, Israel, Jews, freedom, democracy, the west, the US, are gaining power. They must be stopped
Listen Now:
icon for podbean Standard Podcasts: Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (0)
Permalink | Comments | *****(0 ratings) | Email it
digg:Rosh Hashanah day 2 5770 We must care. Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg newsvine:Rosh Hashanah day 2 5770 We must care. Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg del.icio.us:Rosh Hashanah day 2 5770 We must care. Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg Y!:Rosh Hashanah day 2 5770 We must care. Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg reddit:Rosh Hashanah day 2 5770 We must care. Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg furl:Rosh Hashanah day 2 5770 We must care. Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
ROSH HASHANAH Day 1 Sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
Posted in Uncategorized by rabbiginsburg on September 29th, 2009
Living a more Jewish life as part of a better life
Listen Now:
icon for podbean Standard Podcasts: Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (1)
Permalink | Comments | *****(0 ratings) | Email it
digg:ROSH HASHANAH Day 1 Sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg newsvine:ROSH HASHANAH Day 1 Sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg del.icio.us:ROSH HASHANAH Day 1 Sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg Y!:ROSH HASHANAH Day 1 Sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg reddit:ROSH HASHANAH Day 1 Sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg furl:ROSH HASHANAH Day 1 Sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
Erev Rosh Hashanah 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
Posted in Uncategorized by rabbiginsburg on September 29th, 2009
We do not blow the shofar on Shabbat. What can we learn fro the absence of the shofar this year to improve our lives?
Listen Now:
icon for podbean Standard Podcasts: Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (0)
Permalink | Comments | *****(0 ratings) | Email it
digg:Erev Rosh Hashanah 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg newsvine:Erev Rosh Hashanah 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg del.icio.us:Erev Rosh Hashanah 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg Y!:Erev Rosh Hashanah 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg reddit:Erev Rosh Hashanah 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg furl:Erev Rosh Hashanah 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
Rosh day 2 and Yizkor are about Israel
Yom Kippur Yizkor MInha sermon Rabbi Jonathan Jinsburg
Posted in Uncategorized by rabbiginsburg on September 29th, 2009
Jonah is told by God to go tell Ninevah the truth about their sins and tries to flee. Yizkor started as a memorial to Jews killed in the crusades. Today’s spiritual heirs of Hitler are at it again-denying the Holocaust, threatening genocide against Jews and the West. they must be stopped
Listen Now:
icon for podbean Standard Podcasts: Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (0)
Permalink | Comments | *****(0 ratings) | Email it
digg:Yom Kippur Yizkor mInha sermon Rabbi Jonathan Jinsburg newsvine:Yom Kippur Yizkor mInha sermon Rabbi Jonathan Jinsburg del.icio.us:Yom Kippur Yizkor mInha sermon Rabbi Jonathan Jinsburg Y!:Yom Kippur Yizkor mInha sermon Rabbi Jonathan Jinsburg reddit:Yom Kippur Yizkor mInha sermon Rabbi Jonathan Jinsburg furl:Yom Kippur Yizkor mInha sermon Rabbi Jonathan Jinsburg
Yom Kippur Morning 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
Posted in Uncategorized by rabbiginsburg on September 29th, 2009
Continuation on living the best life-Yom Kippur does not atone for sins vs. another person
To live an ethical life is crucial to God and Isaiah’s message today
Listen Now:
icon for podbean Standard Podcasts: Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (2)
Permalink | Comments | *****(0 ratings) | Email it
digg:Yom Kippur Morning 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg newsvine:Yom Kippur Morning 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg del.icio.us:Yom Kippur Morning 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg Y!:Yom Kippur Morning 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg reddit:Yom Kippur Morning 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg furl:Yom Kippur Morning 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
Kol Nidre sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
Posted in Uncategorized by rabbiginsburg on September 29th, 2009
The essence of Yom Kippur on how we do what God wants us to do-be the best we can be. It is about the self-but not phony self esteem or based on self pity-but on self awareness, self respect, self reliance, self improvement, self love, self control
Listen Now:
icon for podbean Standard Podcasts: Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (0)
Permalink | Comments | *****(0 ratings) | Email it
digg:Kol Nidre sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg newsvine:Kol Nidre sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg del.icio.us:Kol Nidre sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg Y!:Kol Nidre sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg reddit:Kol Nidre sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg furl:Kol Nidre sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
Rosh Hashanah day 2 5770 We must care. Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
Posted in Uncategorized by rabbiginsburg on September 29th, 2009
We must care that those who hate peace, Israel, Jews, freedom, democracy, the west, the US, are gaining power. They must be stopped
Listen Now:
icon for podbean Standard Podcasts: Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (0)
Permalink | Comments | *****(0 ratings) | Email it
digg:Rosh Hashanah day 2 5770 We must care. Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg newsvine:Rosh Hashanah day 2 5770 We must care. Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg del.icio.us:Rosh Hashanah day 2 5770 We must care. Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg Y!:Rosh Hashanah day 2 5770 We must care. Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg reddit:Rosh Hashanah day 2 5770 We must care. Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg furl:Rosh Hashanah day 2 5770 We must care. Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
ROSH HASHANAH Day 1 Sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
Posted in Uncategorized by rabbiginsburg on September 29th, 2009
Living a more Jewish life as part of a better life
Listen Now:
icon for podbean Standard Podcasts: Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (1)
Permalink | Comments | *****(0 ratings) | Email it
digg:ROSH HASHANAH Day 1 Sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg newsvine:ROSH HASHANAH Day 1 Sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg del.icio.us:ROSH HASHANAH Day 1 Sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg Y!:ROSH HASHANAH Day 1 Sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg reddit:ROSH HASHANAH Day 1 Sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg furl:ROSH HASHANAH Day 1 Sermon 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
Erev Rosh Hashanah 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
Posted in Uncategorized by rabbiginsburg on September 29th, 2009
We do not blow the shofar on Shabbat. What can we learn fro the absence of the shofar this year to improve our lives?
Listen Now:
icon for podbean Standard Podcasts: Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (0)
Permalink | Comments | *****(0 ratings) | Email it
digg:Erev Rosh Hashanah 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg newsvine:Erev Rosh Hashanah 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg del.icio.us:Erev Rosh Hashanah 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg Y!:Erev Rosh Hashanah 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg reddit:Erev Rosh Hashanah 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg furl:Erev Rosh Hashanah 5770 Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
USCJ chnages
*Jewish Week: "New Vision For USCJ Gets Mixed Reviews"*
by Stewart Ain
Staff Writer
http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a16766/News/New_York.htmlFaced=
with
a record loss of 33 congregations and a $1.3 million deficit, the
board
of the United Synagogue for
Conservative Judaism approved Sunday a sweeping reorganization plan.
=93A decade ago we had 800 congregations, we had 700 congregations in the
fiscal year that ended June 30, and today we have 667 congregations,=94 Rab=
bi
Steven Wernick, the USCJ=92s new executive vice president and CEO, told The
Jewish Week Monday night. =93The drop-off of 33 congregations is the most
significant single-year decline the United Synagogue has ever experienced,=
=94
Wernick said.
He said 19 of the 33 congregations =93decided not to affiliate because they
were not satisfied with what they were getting for their dollars.=94
When the USCJ=92s board met here Sunday, Rabbi Wernick said its members
realized there was a need for change and it adopted what he called a
=93transformation plan that will assure a more equitable distribution of
resources, no matter where the congregations are geographically.=94
As a result of these changes, Rabbi Wernick said he hopes to convince the 1=
9
to renew their membership.
But Bonim (=93builders=94 in Hebrew), a group of lay leaders from a number =
of
Conservative synagogues around the country, issued a statement Tuesday
saying the actions of USCJ are =93too little, too late.=94
Bonim announced the creation of an exploratory committee to consider formin=
g
a new entity to assist congregations with membership, fundraising,
leadership development and programming. It said it has raised more than
$50,000 to study the need for this new entity and that if there is
sufficient interest, it would be launched by the first of the year.
=93At a time when other national organizations are undertaking wholesale
restructuring in order to meet the needs of their constituency today, the
USCJ is tinkering around the edges =97 focused on preservation rather than
delivering value to their members,=94 the statement said.
One of the group=92s founders, David Sacks of Silver Spring, Md., said he
believes that there are at least 20 congregations just in the Washington,
D.C., area that would join the new entity.
=93There are synagogues that are in trouble, and nothing they [USCJ] are
saying is about synagogues =97 it=92s only about themselves,=94 he said. =
=93They
just don=92t get it. We want to provide synagogues with what we think USCJ
should be providing, and it clearly is not their focus.=94
Another of Bonim=92s leaders, Diana Lerner of Poway, Calif., said in a
statement: =93The group seeks to offer congregations a choice between the
ineffective policies of an expensive institution and a new, more agile
synagogue association that begins with a mantra of client services.=94
But Rabbi Michael Siegel of Chicago, a leader of the Hayom (=93Today=94)
Coalition, representatives of 25 of the largest USCJ synagogues that had
lobbied USCJ for change, said he was impressed by the actions of Rabbi
Wernick, who assumed his new job in July.
=93It shows he is a good listener,=94 he said. =93He took it upon himself t=
o go
around the country and speak to congregations, synagogue presidents and
rabbis, and he took careful note of what have been long-term issues. It=92s
refreshing to see him respond to these concerns as quickly as he has.
=93Obviously it is going to take some time to create mechanisms to properly
respond to the needs of synagogues, but he deserves to be commended for the
good work he has done in such a short amount of time.=94
Rabbi Siegel added that the actions taken by the USCJ board may have been
=93historic=94 in the way it addressed =93an array of issues and come up wi=
th
concrete changes. United Synagogue is responding in ways I have not seen in
my 27 years in the rabbinate. But one should not get confused with what is
taking place at the board level and the long-range strategic plan Hayom is
working on.=94
He said a professional would soon be hired to manage the plan, which should
be completed no later than next September.
=93The faster we get the report out, the more discussions we will have acro=
ss
the country and the better it will be for everybody,=94 Rabbi Siegel said.
=93We=92re going to be looking at every aspect of this organization to ensu=
re
that we will be able to serve the needs of synagogues in the best way
possible.=94
Another critic of USCJ who has been won over by Rabbi Wernick is Arthur
Glauberman of Scarsdale, who had been a founder of Bonim.
=93Having listened to Rabbi Wernick, I think we have a responsibility as
Conservative Jews to be supportive of what he is trying to do to change
United Synagogue to be a more responsive and transparent organization,=94 h=
e
said.
In an interview with The Jewish Week, Rabbi Wernick insisted that his
organization has made a =93strategic decision to change the way we do busin=
ess
and to move in a more directed way and to understand that more adaptation
will be needed in the future.
=93On Sunday we took steps to start restoring our value-added tools.
Synagogues want strengthening. They want meaningful relationships with our
staff and a reinvestment in our youth department. We want a sharing of best
practices and models of success, and we want United Synagogue to play a rol=
e
with other groups in the movement =97 coming together as a movement with a
compelling message of who we are.=94
The 19 congregations that disaffiliated are in areas of the country with
smaller Jewish populations that have received fewer services from USCJ,
Rabbi Wernick said.
=93There has been an inconsistent delivery of services across the system,=
=94 he
acknowledged. =93Service was based on membership, and congregations with fe=
wer
Jews did not get as much service.=94
Rabbi Wernick said a proposal to change the dues structure for synagogues
would be discussed as part of a long-range strategic plan. Dues are now
based on the number of members in each congregation. Under consideration is
a plan to base dues on the size of the congregation=92s budget and financia=
l
position.
The board Sunday approved the elimination of the group=92s 15 regional offi=
ces
and the creation instead of six district offices, each covering a similar
number of congregations.
It also approved shrinking its own board from 180 members to 75 and =93the
creation of a national assembly that is designed to be more representative
of congregations,=94 Rabbi Wernick said.
=93The assembly would appoint the directors, approve the budget, deal with
affiliate members and vote on the appointment of the executive vice
president and chief executive officer,=94 he added.
Those bylaws must now be ratified at the USCJ=92s biennial convention in
December in Cherry Hill, N.J.
Because the USCJ=92s operating budget comes largely from congregational due=
s,
Rabbi Wernick said this year=92s budget has been cut by $1 million to $13
million. And he said last year=92s $1.3 million shortfall was covered by
unrestricted reserves, which will be tapped again this fiscal year to cover
transformation costs and another budget shortfall. At the end of the fiscal
year, $3 million in unrestricted reserves will remain.
Some of the changes being made were recommended in a 2004 report by
consultant Jack Ukeles. Stephen Wolnek, a past president of USCJ, said some
of his recommendations were made at the time but others were deferred
because =93things were going well and there wasn=92t the impetus to do it.=
=94
But now, he said, with demands for change compounded by the economic crisis=
,
the Ukeles report was reexamined.
=93We had a basis upon which to go forward =97 we didn=92t have to reinvent=
the
wheel ... The leadership of United Synagogue heard the problems and is
addressing them. They are listening to their constituency and making
changes.=94
Rabbi Wernick added: =93I=92m creating a clear vision of what United Synago=
gue
should aspire to, and the reorganization is to create the means to get
there.=94
by Stewart Ain
Staff Writer
http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a16766/News/New_York.htmlFaced=
with
a record loss of 33 congregations and a $1.3 million deficit, the
board
of the United Synagogue for
Conservative Judaism approved Sunday a sweeping reorganization plan.
=93A decade ago we had 800 congregations, we had 700 congregations in the
fiscal year that ended June 30, and today we have 667 congregations,=94 Rab=
bi
Steven Wernick, the USCJ=92s new executive vice president and CEO, told The
Jewish Week Monday night. =93The drop-off of 33 congregations is the most
significant single-year decline the United Synagogue has ever experienced,=
=94
Wernick said.
He said 19 of the 33 congregations =93decided not to affiliate because they
were not satisfied with what they were getting for their dollars.=94
When the USCJ=92s board met here Sunday, Rabbi Wernick said its members
realized there was a need for change and it adopted what he called a
=93transformation plan that will assure a more equitable distribution of
resources, no matter where the congregations are geographically.=94
As a result of these changes, Rabbi Wernick said he hopes to convince the 1=
9
to renew their membership.
But Bonim (=93builders=94 in Hebrew), a group of lay leaders from a number =
of
Conservative synagogues around the country, issued a statement Tuesday
saying the actions of USCJ are =93too little, too late.=94
Bonim announced the creation of an exploratory committee to consider formin=
g
a new entity to assist congregations with membership, fundraising,
leadership development and programming. It said it has raised more than
$50,000 to study the need for this new entity and that if there is
sufficient interest, it would be launched by the first of the year.
=93At a time when other national organizations are undertaking wholesale
restructuring in order to meet the needs of their constituency today, the
USCJ is tinkering around the edges =97 focused on preservation rather than
delivering value to their members,=94 the statement said.
One of the group=92s founders, David Sacks of Silver Spring, Md., said he
believes that there are at least 20 congregations just in the Washington,
D.C., area that would join the new entity.
=93There are synagogues that are in trouble, and nothing they [USCJ] are
saying is about synagogues =97 it=92s only about themselves,=94 he said. =
=93They
just don=92t get it. We want to provide synagogues with what we think USCJ
should be providing, and it clearly is not their focus.=94
Another of Bonim=92s leaders, Diana Lerner of Poway, Calif., said in a
statement: =93The group seeks to offer congregations a choice between the
ineffective policies of an expensive institution and a new, more agile
synagogue association that begins with a mantra of client services.=94
But Rabbi Michael Siegel of Chicago, a leader of the Hayom (=93Today=94)
Coalition, representatives of 25 of the largest USCJ synagogues that had
lobbied USCJ for change, said he was impressed by the actions of Rabbi
Wernick, who assumed his new job in July.
=93It shows he is a good listener,=94 he said. =93He took it upon himself t=
o go
around the country and speak to congregations, synagogue presidents and
rabbis, and he took careful note of what have been long-term issues. It=92s
refreshing to see him respond to these concerns as quickly as he has.
=93Obviously it is going to take some time to create mechanisms to properly
respond to the needs of synagogues, but he deserves to be commended for the
good work he has done in such a short amount of time.=94
Rabbi Siegel added that the actions taken by the USCJ board may have been
=93historic=94 in the way it addressed =93an array of issues and come up wi=
th
concrete changes. United Synagogue is responding in ways I have not seen in
my 27 years in the rabbinate. But one should not get confused with what is
taking place at the board level and the long-range strategic plan Hayom is
working on.=94
He said a professional would soon be hired to manage the plan, which should
be completed no later than next September.
=93The faster we get the report out, the more discussions we will have acro=
ss
the country and the better it will be for everybody,=94 Rabbi Siegel said.
=93We=92re going to be looking at every aspect of this organization to ensu=
re
that we will be able to serve the needs of synagogues in the best way
possible.=94
Another critic of USCJ who has been won over by Rabbi Wernick is Arthur
Glauberman of Scarsdale, who had been a founder of Bonim.
=93Having listened to Rabbi Wernick, I think we have a responsibility as
Conservative Jews to be supportive of what he is trying to do to change
United Synagogue to be a more responsive and transparent organization,=94 h=
e
said.
In an interview with The Jewish Week, Rabbi Wernick insisted that his
organization has made a =93strategic decision to change the way we do busin=
ess
and to move in a more directed way and to understand that more adaptation
will be needed in the future.
=93On Sunday we took steps to start restoring our value-added tools.
Synagogues want strengthening. They want meaningful relationships with our
staff and a reinvestment in our youth department. We want a sharing of best
practices and models of success, and we want United Synagogue to play a rol=
e
with other groups in the movement =97 coming together as a movement with a
compelling message of who we are.=94
The 19 congregations that disaffiliated are in areas of the country with
smaller Jewish populations that have received fewer services from USCJ,
Rabbi Wernick said.
=93There has been an inconsistent delivery of services across the system,=
=94 he
acknowledged. =93Service was based on membership, and congregations with fe=
wer
Jews did not get as much service.=94
Rabbi Wernick said a proposal to change the dues structure for synagogues
would be discussed as part of a long-range strategic plan. Dues are now
based on the number of members in each congregation. Under consideration is
a plan to base dues on the size of the congregation=92s budget and financia=
l
position.
The board Sunday approved the elimination of the group=92s 15 regional offi=
ces
and the creation instead of six district offices, each covering a similar
number of congregations.
It also approved shrinking its own board from 180 members to 75 and =93the
creation of a national assembly that is designed to be more representative
of congregations,=94 Rabbi Wernick said.
=93The assembly would appoint the directors, approve the budget, deal with
affiliate members and vote on the appointment of the executive vice
president and chief executive officer,=94 he added.
Those bylaws must now be ratified at the USCJ=92s biennial convention in
December in Cherry Hill, N.J.
Because the USCJ=92s operating budget comes largely from congregational due=
s,
Rabbi Wernick said this year=92s budget has been cut by $1 million to $13
million. And he said last year=92s $1.3 million shortfall was covered by
unrestricted reserves, which will be tapped again this fiscal year to cover
transformation costs and another budget shortfall. At the end of the fiscal
year, $3 million in unrestricted reserves will remain.
Some of the changes being made were recommended in a 2004 report by
consultant Jack Ukeles. Stephen Wolnek, a past president of USCJ, said some
of his recommendations were made at the time but others were deferred
because =93things were going well and there wasn=92t the impetus to do it.=
=94
But now, he said, with demands for change compounded by the economic crisis=
,
the Ukeles report was reexamined.
=93We had a basis upon which to go forward =97 we didn=92t have to reinvent=
the
wheel ... The leadership of United Synagogue heard the problems and is
addressing them. They are listening to their constituency and making
changes.=94
Rabbi Wernick added: =93I=92m creating a clear vision of what United Synago=
gue
should aspire to, and the reorganization is to create the means to get
there.=94
Monday, July 6, 2009
attack on Israel Conservative synagogue
Fire blackened the entrance of the Masorti Yedid Nefesh synagogue in=
Modi'in.
>
>The fire blackened the entrance mat and melted two plastic plants.
>
>Members of the community, which numbers about 40=20
>families, said that the incident comes just two=20
>weeks after a sign was placed on the fa=E7ade of=20
>the synagogue identifying it with the Masorti movement.
>
>But police said that fire was set by bored=20
>teenagers and that there was no suspicion that=20
>the attack was religiously motivated.
>
>The building, the community's first permanent=20
>house of prayer, was built over a year ago with=20
>help from the Housing and Construction Ministry and the Modi'in=
Municipality.
>
>"The damage was minimal but the shock is great,"=20
>said Naomi Dar, chairperson of Yedid Nefesh."The=20
>attack was definitely aimed against us," added=20
>Dar who admitted that except for a few isolated=20
>incidents, Masorti Jews always felt welcome and comfortable in Modi'in.
>
>But Supt. Yoram Barina, commander of the Modi'in=20
>police station, said that the arson incident was=20
>the work of "bored youths on summer vacation"=20
>and rejected the possibility that the fire was=20
>started by individuals ideological opposed to the Masorti movement.
>
>"This was just a prank by a bunch of kids who=20
>played around with fire," said Barina.
>
>Modi'in Reut Spokesman Elad Shimonovich said=20
>that an investigation by the Modi'in security=20
>department and Modi'in Police revealed that the=20
>incident was an act of vandalism by teenagers,=20
>and not an attempt to firebomb a synagogue=20
>motivated by ideology or religious conviction.
>
>"This is a prefab building that from the outside=20
>does not look like a synagogue and therefore the=20
>youths were not conscious of their actions," said Shimonovich.
>
>Chief Rabbi of Modi'in David Lau, who is=20
>Orthodox, said in response to the incident that=20
>"burning synagogues was never the way of the Torah."
>
>Dar said that about three years ago a group of=20
>haredi youths disrupted prayers and scared=20
>children of the community during Pessah=20
>services. Police detained some of the youths,=20
>who were ordered to apologize to the community.
>
>Dar said that in another incident, a former=20
>municipality representative from Shas publicly=20
>denounced the Masorti movement during a=20
>discussion on land allocation for the Yedid Nefesh synagogue.
>
>"But in general, the municipality and citizens=20
>here are very accepting of us. We never receive=20
>bad feelings from anyone," he said.
>Attorney Yizhar Hess, executive director and CEO=20
>of the Masorti Movement in Israel, said in=20
>response, "We are surprised and shocked by the=20
>attempt to damage the synagogue because Modi'in=20
>and the municipality is pluralistic, open and=20
>accepting and open to all three streams of Judaism.
>
>"It is difficult to tell whether this was a=20
>religiously motivated attack or pointless=20
>vandalism but we hope that this is a one-time=20
>incident that will not repeat itself," he said.
>
>This was not the first arson attack on a Masorti=20
>synagogue. On a Saturday night in June 2000,=20
>arsonists threw Molotov cocktails into one in=20
>the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramot, setting=20
>fire to the building's interior and causing thousands of dollars of damage.
>
>The firebombing had been preceded by an attempt=20
>a few weeks before to burn the front door of the same synagogue.
>
Modi'in.
>
>The fire blackened the entrance mat and melted two plastic plants.
>
>Members of the community, which numbers about 40=20
>families, said that the incident comes just two=20
>weeks after a sign was placed on the fa=E7ade of=20
>the synagogue identifying it with the Masorti movement.
>
>But police said that fire was set by bored=20
>teenagers and that there was no suspicion that=20
>the attack was religiously motivated.
>
>The building, the community's first permanent=20
>house of prayer, was built over a year ago with=20
>help from the Housing and Construction Ministry and the Modi'in=
Municipality.
>
>"The damage was minimal but the shock is great,"=20
>said Naomi Dar, chairperson of Yedid Nefesh."The=20
>attack was definitely aimed against us," added=20
>Dar who admitted that except for a few isolated=20
>incidents, Masorti Jews always felt welcome and comfortable in Modi'in.
>
>But Supt. Yoram Barina, commander of the Modi'in=20
>police station, said that the arson incident was=20
>the work of "bored youths on summer vacation"=20
>and rejected the possibility that the fire was=20
>started by individuals ideological opposed to the Masorti movement.
>
>"This was just a prank by a bunch of kids who=20
>played around with fire," said Barina.
>
>Modi'in Reut Spokesman Elad Shimonovich said=20
>that an investigation by the Modi'in security=20
>department and Modi'in Police revealed that the=20
>incident was an act of vandalism by teenagers,=20
>and not an attempt to firebomb a synagogue=20
>motivated by ideology or religious conviction.
>
>"This is a prefab building that from the outside=20
>does not look like a synagogue and therefore the=20
>youths were not conscious of their actions," said Shimonovich.
>
>Chief Rabbi of Modi'in David Lau, who is=20
>Orthodox, said in response to the incident that=20
>"burning synagogues was never the way of the Torah."
>
>Dar said that about three years ago a group of=20
>haredi youths disrupted prayers and scared=20
>children of the community during Pessah=20
>services. Police detained some of the youths,=20
>who were ordered to apologize to the community.
>
>Dar said that in another incident, a former=20
>municipality representative from Shas publicly=20
>denounced the Masorti movement during a=20
>discussion on land allocation for the Yedid Nefesh synagogue.
>
>"But in general, the municipality and citizens=20
>here are very accepting of us. We never receive=20
>bad feelings from anyone," he said.
>Attorney Yizhar Hess, executive director and CEO=20
>of the Masorti Movement in Israel, said in=20
>response, "We are surprised and shocked by the=20
>attempt to damage the synagogue because Modi'in=20
>and the municipality is pluralistic, open and=20
>accepting and open to all three streams of Judaism.
>
>"It is difficult to tell whether this was a=20
>religiously motivated attack or pointless=20
>vandalism but we hope that this is a one-time=20
>incident that will not repeat itself," he said.
>
>This was not the first arson attack on a Masorti=20
>synagogue. On a Saturday night in June 2000,=20
>arsonists threw Molotov cocktails into one in=20
>the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramot, setting=20
>fire to the building's interior and causing thousands of dollars of damage.
>
>The firebombing had been preceded by an attempt=20
>a few weeks before to burn the front door of the same synagogue.
>
Monday, June 8, 2009
New Exec of USCJ
Subject: An Open Letter to the Conservative/Masorti Movement
15 Sivan 5769 - 7 June 2009
L'haverai hanikhbadim:
I am humbled by my selection as the next executive vice president and CEO of
the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. I am looking forward to
beginning my responsibilities in earnest on July 1. As I do so, I invite you
to get in touch with me to share your thoughts and concerns, your hopes and
your dreams on how we can work together to revitalize and grow our movement.
As we all know, this is a time of great complexity for United Synagogue and
Conservative Judaism today. We know the challenges that face us: shifting
demographics and post-denominationalism; intermarriage, assimilation, and
apathy; a competitive marketplace of ideas and allegiances; an increasing
polarization of the right and the left; limited resources exacerbated by an
economy in peril; and varying perspectives on how to address these
challenges both within each organization and at the movement level. Even
though I acknowledge these problems, I remain optimistic. And I am extremely
excited to have this chance to address these challenges because Conservative
Judaism is critically important to the North American and world Jewish
communities, and because great challenges present great opportunities. Our
collective task is to inspire the movement we all love to greater heights
and effectiveness.
Since the synagogue remains the primary locus of Jewish life in North
America, United Synagogue will be a catalyst for the creation, nurturing,
and growth of Conservative synagogues. It also will incubate and nourish
other dynamic Conservative communities, including Koach for college students
and the independent minyanim that the 20- and 30-year-olds who grew up in
our congregations are building. Our role will be to produce, locate, and
deliver the types of services that will enable local leaders, both lay and
professional, to affect North American Jews through Conservative Judaism. We
will pave a path of Jewish growth for people who are looking for spiritually
uplifting experiences and emotional connections to community through our
unique approach to Jewish living and text study, which brings together
tradition and modern scholarship as no other movement does. We will partner
with these local leaders so that our congregations will feel we are serving
them well.
We have heard the criticism that has swelled so pointedly in the last few
months. At its core is many local leaders' profound disappointment because
they feel that we are not serving them well enough. We know that to meet
these challenges we must become a leaner, tighter, more effective, more
responsive, and more transparent organization. We will listen carefully to
these concerns, for we must build those coalitions and partnerships -
individually and throughout the organizations that make up our movement - to
propel us toward a new generation of knowledgeable, more engaged and more
committed Jews. Once the relationships are secure, United Synagogue and our
partners will work together to build stronger synagogues and so strengthen
Conservative Judaism
I am thankful for this opportunity to serve the Jewish people through the
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. There is much to be done and I am
eager to begin, partnering with the staff of United Synagogue and with you.
B'shalom,
Rabbi Steven Wernick
15 Sivan 5769 - 7 June 2009
L'haverai hanikhbadim:
I am humbled by my selection as the next executive vice president and CEO of
the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. I am looking forward to
beginning my responsibilities in earnest on July 1. As I do so, I invite you
to get in touch with me to share your thoughts and concerns, your hopes and
your dreams on how we can work together to revitalize and grow our movement.
As we all know, this is a time of great complexity for United Synagogue and
Conservative Judaism today. We know the challenges that face us: shifting
demographics and post-denominationalism; intermarriage, assimilation, and
apathy; a competitive marketplace of ideas and allegiances; an increasing
polarization of the right and the left; limited resources exacerbated by an
economy in peril; and varying perspectives on how to address these
challenges both within each organization and at the movement level. Even
though I acknowledge these problems, I remain optimistic. And I am extremely
excited to have this chance to address these challenges because Conservative
Judaism is critically important to the North American and world Jewish
communities, and because great challenges present great opportunities. Our
collective task is to inspire the movement we all love to greater heights
and effectiveness.
Since the synagogue remains the primary locus of Jewish life in North
America, United Synagogue will be a catalyst for the creation, nurturing,
and growth of Conservative synagogues. It also will incubate and nourish
other dynamic Conservative communities, including Koach for college students
and the independent minyanim that the 20- and 30-year-olds who grew up in
our congregations are building. Our role will be to produce, locate, and
deliver the types of services that will enable local leaders, both lay and
professional, to affect North American Jews through Conservative Judaism. We
will pave a path of Jewish growth for people who are looking for spiritually
uplifting experiences and emotional connections to community through our
unique approach to Jewish living and text study, which brings together
tradition and modern scholarship as no other movement does. We will partner
with these local leaders so that our congregations will feel we are serving
them well.
We have heard the criticism that has swelled so pointedly in the last few
months. At its core is many local leaders' profound disappointment because
they feel that we are not serving them well enough. We know that to meet
these challenges we must become a leaner, tighter, more effective, more
responsive, and more transparent organization. We will listen carefully to
these concerns, for we must build those coalitions and partnerships -
individually and throughout the organizations that make up our movement - to
propel us toward a new generation of knowledgeable, more engaged and more
committed Jews. Once the relationships are secure, United Synagogue and our
partners will work together to build stronger synagogues and so strengthen
Conservative Judaism
I am thankful for this opportunity to serve the Jewish people through the
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. There is much to be done and I am
eager to begin, partnering with the staff of United Synagogue and with you.
B'shalom,
Rabbi Steven Wernick
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Look in the mirror
Share Email Print Op-Ed: Conservatives must look in the mirror
By Richard S. Moline · May 21, 2009
NORTHBROOK, Ill. (JTA) – I can confidently say that I am one of the first Jewish professionals to have used e-mail.
At one of the first college student conferences I ever ran, a student approached me on the last day to suggest that on the following year’s application, we also ask for e-mail addresses.
“Sure,” I replied. “What’s e-mail?”
That was the start of my encounter with the joys, frustrations and dangers of this medium. And since the day I first started by dialing a number, hearing a long tone, waiting several minutes to connect and waiting even longer to have e-mail pop up on the monitor, I have been receiving e-mails predicting the imminent demise of the Conservative movement.
That was about 18 years ago, and the e-mails keep coming.
Now, of course, the predictions also appear in listservs, on Web sites, in podcasts and blogs, in news releases and notably in the Jewish press. They come from sociologists, demographers, professors, clergy, synagogue presidents and people at the Kiddush table and in the parking lot. It is not unusual for many Jewish reporters to “objectively” refer to the movement as “beleaguered” or “under siege.”
So first, here’s the bad news. Our numbers are shrinking. Our members are getting older. We’re being battered in the press. Our institutions are faltering under the weight of old governance systems and the global economic crisis. We’re fighting among ourselves. [Add your own critique here.]
Now for some good news. More people are learning and studying Jewish texts, Jewish history and Jewish culture. Kids are still going to Israel with USY and Ramah. Our day schools and camps are experiencing what we hope is a temporary decline, but it is clear that they are no longer just for the rabbi’s children. Women are not only in leadership positions, they’re also on the bimah. Laypeople – not just the younger ones (and yes, there are younger ones) – are reading Torah. Conservative Jews are involved not only in their congregations, they comprise much of the leadership of federations and other Jewish organizations. A large number of student Hillel leaders come from Conservative backgrounds. And no matter what they call themselves, many of the independent minyanim are Conservative – they use Conservative siddurim and chumashim and approach text using methods championed by the Conservative movement. [Add your own good news here – I know you have some.]
So if things are good, why are they bad?
Our problems are real, for sure, and we must approach them seriously. The Conservative movement has contributed much to American Jewish life. I do not consider it a failure if one of our own becomes involved in another denomination or organization. It means we’re doing our job – it’s the natural outgrowth of Schechter’s klal Yisrael.
But it does trouble me that we have not successfully created Shabbat communities in most of our congregations. It troubles me that most students do not find the level of commitment in their home communities that they do in USY or Ramah or Koach. It does trouble me that if they do find it, it’s likely not in the Conservative movement, so they may become involved in other communities not by design but by default. And it does trouble me that our clergy and laity become more concerned about institutional viability than about motivating themselves and others to live fully Jewish lives.
What can we do about it? It’s easy to assign responsibility, but it’s courageous to shoulder it. If I were speaking to the key leaders of the movement, professional and lay, I would start by handing each of them a mirror and asking them to take a long, hard look.
It’s easy to blame the institutions – and there is plenty of blame to be assigned to them all. But how many rabbis tell their president that in order to be a more effective leader, the two must study together for an hour every other week? How many presidents tell their rabbi the same thing? How much time do we spend teaching and encouraging people to observe Shabbat or to keep kosher, compared to the amount of time we spend making the bar or bat mitzvah schedule or collecting membership dues?
The business side is important, to be sure, but your shul should be more than a business. Yes, I know your congregation is different. But really it’s not.
If our institutions are out of touch with our members, know that this didn’t happen yesterday. And if you’ve only complained about it, then stop complaining because complaining alone won’t help.
I know people might suggest that because I am employed by one of these institutions, perhaps I am naive, perhaps apologetic, perhaps defensive. Certainly our life experiences color everything, including our opinions. I accept and understand that. I also have to look in that mirror because there are times when I, too, get lost in the politics. So let this serve not only as an admonishment to others but as self-indictment as well.
We all have a lot of work to do. United Synagogue, Women’s League, Men’s Club, Ziegler, JTS, the RA, CA, JEA, JYDA, NAASE, Masorti, Mercaz, Schechter – all of us. We can form coalitions, make demands, threaten, cajole and continue to fight it out in the press. It’s all a smokescreen and doesn’t confront the real issues.
Those e-mails have been coming for 18 years. I predict they will come for another 18 years and beyond – until the technology becomes ancient and something takes its place.
The bottom line is, we can all get along. I’m looking in the mirror and I invite you to join me. We have a lot of work to do.
(Richard S. Moline is the director of Koach, United Synagogue’s program for college students.)
By Richard S. Moline · May 21, 2009
NORTHBROOK, Ill. (JTA) – I can confidently say that I am one of the first Jewish professionals to have used e-mail.
At one of the first college student conferences I ever ran, a student approached me on the last day to suggest that on the following year’s application, we also ask for e-mail addresses.
“Sure,” I replied. “What’s e-mail?”
That was the start of my encounter with the joys, frustrations and dangers of this medium. And since the day I first started by dialing a number, hearing a long tone, waiting several minutes to connect and waiting even longer to have e-mail pop up on the monitor, I have been receiving e-mails predicting the imminent demise of the Conservative movement.
That was about 18 years ago, and the e-mails keep coming.
Now, of course, the predictions also appear in listservs, on Web sites, in podcasts and blogs, in news releases and notably in the Jewish press. They come from sociologists, demographers, professors, clergy, synagogue presidents and people at the Kiddush table and in the parking lot. It is not unusual for many Jewish reporters to “objectively” refer to the movement as “beleaguered” or “under siege.”
So first, here’s the bad news. Our numbers are shrinking. Our members are getting older. We’re being battered in the press. Our institutions are faltering under the weight of old governance systems and the global economic crisis. We’re fighting among ourselves. [Add your own critique here.]
Now for some good news. More people are learning and studying Jewish texts, Jewish history and Jewish culture. Kids are still going to Israel with USY and Ramah. Our day schools and camps are experiencing what we hope is a temporary decline, but it is clear that they are no longer just for the rabbi’s children. Women are not only in leadership positions, they’re also on the bimah. Laypeople – not just the younger ones (and yes, there are younger ones) – are reading Torah. Conservative Jews are involved not only in their congregations, they comprise much of the leadership of federations and other Jewish organizations. A large number of student Hillel leaders come from Conservative backgrounds. And no matter what they call themselves, many of the independent minyanim are Conservative – they use Conservative siddurim and chumashim and approach text using methods championed by the Conservative movement. [Add your own good news here – I know you have some.]
So if things are good, why are they bad?
Our problems are real, for sure, and we must approach them seriously. The Conservative movement has contributed much to American Jewish life. I do not consider it a failure if one of our own becomes involved in another denomination or organization. It means we’re doing our job – it’s the natural outgrowth of Schechter’s klal Yisrael.
But it does trouble me that we have not successfully created Shabbat communities in most of our congregations. It troubles me that most students do not find the level of commitment in their home communities that they do in USY or Ramah or Koach. It does trouble me that if they do find it, it’s likely not in the Conservative movement, so they may become involved in other communities not by design but by default. And it does trouble me that our clergy and laity become more concerned about institutional viability than about motivating themselves and others to live fully Jewish lives.
What can we do about it? It’s easy to assign responsibility, but it’s courageous to shoulder it. If I were speaking to the key leaders of the movement, professional and lay, I would start by handing each of them a mirror and asking them to take a long, hard look.
It’s easy to blame the institutions – and there is plenty of blame to be assigned to them all. But how many rabbis tell their president that in order to be a more effective leader, the two must study together for an hour every other week? How many presidents tell their rabbi the same thing? How much time do we spend teaching and encouraging people to observe Shabbat or to keep kosher, compared to the amount of time we spend making the bar or bat mitzvah schedule or collecting membership dues?
The business side is important, to be sure, but your shul should be more than a business. Yes, I know your congregation is different. But really it’s not.
If our institutions are out of touch with our members, know that this didn’t happen yesterday. And if you’ve only complained about it, then stop complaining because complaining alone won’t help.
I know people might suggest that because I am employed by one of these institutions, perhaps I am naive, perhaps apologetic, perhaps defensive. Certainly our life experiences color everything, including our opinions. I accept and understand that. I also have to look in that mirror because there are times when I, too, get lost in the politics. So let this serve not only as an admonishment to others but as self-indictment as well.
We all have a lot of work to do. United Synagogue, Women’s League, Men’s Club, Ziegler, JTS, the RA, CA, JEA, JYDA, NAASE, Masorti, Mercaz, Schechter – all of us. We can form coalitions, make demands, threaten, cajole and continue to fight it out in the press. It’s all a smokescreen and doesn’t confront the real issues.
Those e-mails have been coming for 18 years. I predict they will come for another 18 years and beyond – until the technology becomes ancient and something takes its place.
The bottom line is, we can all get along. I’m looking in the mirror and I invite you to join me. We have a lot of work to do.
(Richard S. Moline is the director of Koach, United Synagogue’s program for college students.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
