Jewish News

There is so much going on in the Jewish world it is hard to keep up...

The economic downturn is having a profound effect on the Jewish organizations.  The very existence of the United Jewish Communities is threatened.  The UJC was formed just 10 years ago as a combined of the Federation system, the UJA and the UIA.  It seemed like a good idea at the time:  reduced overall bureaucracy and improve efficiency by combining agencies that essentially did the same thing.  Problem:  never worked.  Everyone is so territorial that nothing actually got smaller.  As well, lots of other problems developed.  So, now, who knows?

I've already blogged about the problems in the Conservative movement and in the Reform movement.  As well, a far less publicized problem is financial trouble with individual synagogues.  Around the country.  I do not know of any congregations in the Reform movement that are facing going-out-of-business, but congregations everywhere (including THS) are feeling the pinch of tough times.

Of course, this could be an opportunity.  The Jewish world could use this moment to focus on priorities, improve efficiencies and ultimately emerge more vibrant.  Here are some very preliminary thoughts:

You won't be surprised to hear me say that synagogues are the most important part of the Jewish world.  Why?  Synagogues are the only Jewish organization that produces Jews.  Every other Jewish organization uses Jews.  If there are no synagogues, there are no Jews.  It is that simple.  Whenever and where ever Jews moved, the first organization that started was a synagogue (leaving aside cemeteries, which I'm sure we can all agree are not the future of the Jewish world).  Synagogues are synonymous with Jewish community.  The actual JCC is a relative latecomer to the Jewish world.  So, whatever it is we need to do to ensure the survival of the synagogue, we need to do it.  If it means re-envisioning the synagogue, we need to do it.  If it means a different funding model, we need to do it.  But, the synagogue is the center of the Jewish world.   

By the way, it isn't coincidental that the first organizations formed by Jews in America were synagogue organizations and rabbinical schools to train rabbis to staff synagogues.  

We need Jewish professionals.  This is another absolutely crucial part of the Jewish community.  Jewish communities with trained professionals thrive; Jewish communities without trained professionals don't.  That's the story of North America.  Even Chabad recognizes this and that's why the send out their rabbis everywhere.

We need Jews connecting with Israel--in some ways this is the easiest piece of the puzzle.  Get Jews to Israel!  It's that easy.  That's why Birthright has become such wildly successful project.

There are lots of other stuff in the Jewish community, but now is the time to ask ourselves 'how important is this?'  It is a very tough question and one we've been reluctant to ask.  When money was flowing like water, there was no problem.  Lots of good causes could get a share.  But now, the pie is smaller...should everyone get a smaller piece or should some get nothing?  

Hard, hard questions....

It's Not Only the Economy!

The institutional world of Judaism is in the midst of its own crisis, due in equal parts to the economic downturn, bloated bureaucracies and irrelevant ideologies.  Sadly, like the economic crisis, our leaders haven't gotten it for decades and now its coming back to bite them in the you know where.  Let's start with the Reform movement a/ka/The Union of Reform Judaism a/k/a the URJ.

Recently, the URJ announced a major reorganization.  If you didn't know, the movement had about 12 or so regional offices scattered around North America.  Each office was staffed by several Jewish professionals, rented office space, etc., blah blah blah.  Now:  5 offices.  That's a very positive move and a move which I've been suggesting for, oh, 20 years at least.  There will also be Jewish professionals scattered around the country working from their homes with specific skills in education, youth, programming blah, blah, blah.  The URJ will also reduce its staff by 60 FTEs, which is huge.

I know the URJ well--I grew up in the movement and made my first visit to HQ when it was at 65th and 5th Ave in NYC in 1978.  Not knowing anything, I was struck by all the people crammed into the offices.  I remember vividly thinking to myself:  "How many people can they possibly need to run this place?"  It just seemed like a lot of people.  Of course, I really didn't know anything about it.  But, in this instance it turns out I was right...it was an organization as bloated as a dead whale and about as difficult to move from one place to another.   I see the re-org as extremely positive.

The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ) makes the URJ look like Apple Computers. This is a 'dead organization walking.'  If you haven't heard it other places already you've now heard it here first:  the Conservative Movement as we have known it is finished.  It will not be around within 20 years, maybe much less.  

Setting aside their own financial problems, the USCJ is an organization in search of a religion.  There are two kinds of Conservative Jews:  Orthodox and Reform.  The movement never really was tenable--we believe in Halacha except when we don't.  The Conservative Movement has done wonders filling modern Orthodox Shuls and bringing a new vibe to Reform synagogues.

But it no longer has any raison d'etre.  

The best thing that can happen (I hate to say this again, but I've been preaching this for 20 years) is for the USCJ and the URJ to merge all operations in every part of the world.  (For all practical purposes, the Conservative movement has no equivalent to the World Union of Progressive Judaism, so it is just a matter of North America and Israel.)

On the left coast, this is a fairly easy matter:  the Hebrew Union College (HUC) and the American Jewish University (formerly known as the University of Judaism) are essentially the same: same philosophy, same everything.  HUC could sell its campus near USC and move to the lovely AJU campus on Mulholland Drive, just across the street from the Stephen S. Wise synagogue.  No muss, no fuss!  Yea, there would be some faculty duplication and whatever.  But it makes all the sense in the world!  

In New York, the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is about 100 years behind the rest of the progressive Jewish world, but there is no reason why HUC in New York and JTS couldn't share faculty.  Talmud is Talmud at JTS and at HUC.  Hebrew is Hebrew, blah, blah, blah.  Overtime, this would lead to a merger of the two institutions just like in LA. 

As for Israel, the Conservative movement has no real presence in terms of a seminary; HUC is already training their students.  In Israel, of all places, it makes NO sense to have two different movements.  Why do we?  Because the Conservative movement believes, wrongly, that if it can drawn enough separation between itself and the Reform movement, then the Orthodox authorities will recognize them. WRONG!  There's more likelihood that Golda Meir will rise from the dead and announce that she's been a man all along!

This leaves the synagogue organizations and the rabbinic organizations.  There is absolutely no point to have two separate synagogue organizations.  None.  Nada.  Zero. Zilch. Zip. Efes. There is no practical difference between the needs of a Conservative synagogue and a Reform synagogue in terms of the support it needs from a national organization.

The rabbinic organizations are the Central Conference of American Rabbis and the Rabbinical Assembly.  We already share job placement (a member of one can use the services of the other) so why pay to have two different offices for this?  Why have two different pension plans?  There are no ideological issues there.  As for the ideology, we all do whatever we want anyway, who cares?

I haven't quite covered everything:  what do you do with the Cincinnati campus of HUC?  But, in the end, it can and should be done.  I estimate that over the long term, it could save $20 million per year!  I'm not kidding and I'm not completely guessing.  The combined budgets of all the organizations I've described is somewhere between $60 and $80 million.  Think of what that kind of savings could do?  How about send every Jewish kid to Jewish camp or to Israel?