synagogue shopping
You know, they say that a man often chooses a wife that reminds him of his mother. Without slipping too deeply into a Freudian quagmire here, I will say that the two hardest-working people I've ever known in my life are my wife Raya and my mom.
Both of them are amazing dedicated employees. When they take a job, they take it on 100%, offering unwavering loyalty to the company/organization they serve.
Yesterday, Temple Beth-El rewarded Raya's loyalty of three years by eliminating her position. They seem to think that getting rid of her pittance of a salary is the answer (or, at least an answer) to the synagogue's financial difficulties.
They seem to think that all of her hard work as program and youth director can either be replaced or they can do without. They think that her youth director roles can be filled by unpaid or low-paid college students or other "young people."
Mm hmm. Like college students are going to be jumping at the chance to ride a bus to Orlando with a bunch of teenagers.
Like college students are going to think about Temple Beth-El, day and night, the way Raya did. Raya was amazingly dedicated to her job. People called us at home, kids called her cell phone, sent her messages on Facebook.
I'm enraged at the synagogue leadership, and don't think it can possibly be an enjoyable place for us to worship ever again. Two main reasons.
First of all, there had to be some idea weeks or months ago that eliminating this position was a possibility. The synagogue leadership could have been decent to Raya and said to her, "Look, we don't know if your position will be funded next year. You might want to update your resume." As shocking as that would have been, it would have given Raya a few months to start looking for something else. And wouldn't it have been easier on them to have Raya leave of her own accord, rather than having to let her go in a tear-filled and I'm certain amazingly awkward meeting?
The second reason is this: I know that non-profit organizations have to balance their books. And I know, in tough economic times, people cut back on their charitable donations. Temple Beth-El is in a decades-old building, the maintenance and repair costs alone are a struggle for them to keep up with.
But it's the people, the staff, that make the synagogue what it is. And the fact that TBE has decided to put such low emphasis on adult and youth programming is heart-breaking.
Especially the youth programming. Raya had a small but dedicated group of kids. We saw many of them at Camp Ramah last weekend. A lot of these kids are the children (or even grandchildren) of the current and past leaders of Temple Beth-El.
If the synagogue doesn't think these kids are important enough to need a youth director, doesn't develop an attachment to Beth-El in these young people, who is going to be running TBE 30-40 years from now???
And if the books are balanced, great. But if there's no programs happening at the synagogue, who the hell cares about the books?
Last year, Raya and I made a substantial charitable pledge to Beth-El. The largest charitable pledge we'd ever made to any organization. By far.
Scheduled to be paid over five years, we'd only paid 1/5th of it so far. I can guarantee you we're not paying the rest. I'm not interested in supporting a synagogue that treats its employees -- and its members -- like this.
And I can't possibly worship there any more, either. Because if we were to go to TBE, on a Shabbat evening or morning, or for High Holiday services, I'm going to see some of these assholes who were involved in this brainless and poorly-handled decision.
I really don't want to have to say to someone, "Fuck Off" in the middle of a synagogue.
Both of them are amazing dedicated employees. When they take a job, they take it on 100%, offering unwavering loyalty to the company/organization they serve.
Yesterday, Temple Beth-El rewarded Raya's loyalty of three years by eliminating her position. They seem to think that getting rid of her pittance of a salary is the answer (or, at least an answer) to the synagogue's financial difficulties.
They seem to think that all of her hard work as program and youth director can either be replaced or they can do without. They think that her youth director roles can be filled by unpaid or low-paid college students or other "young people."
Mm hmm. Like college students are going to be jumping at the chance to ride a bus to Orlando with a bunch of teenagers.
Like college students are going to think about Temple Beth-El, day and night, the way Raya did. Raya was amazingly dedicated to her job. People called us at home, kids called her cell phone, sent her messages on Facebook.
I'm enraged at the synagogue leadership, and don't think it can possibly be an enjoyable place for us to worship ever again. Two main reasons.
First of all, there had to be some idea weeks or months ago that eliminating this position was a possibility. The synagogue leadership could have been decent to Raya and said to her, "Look, we don't know if your position will be funded next year. You might want to update your resume." As shocking as that would have been, it would have given Raya a few months to start looking for something else. And wouldn't it have been easier on them to have Raya leave of her own accord, rather than having to let her go in a tear-filled and I'm certain amazingly awkward meeting?
The second reason is this: I know that non-profit organizations have to balance their books. And I know, in tough economic times, people cut back on their charitable donations. Temple Beth-El is in a decades-old building, the maintenance and repair costs alone are a struggle for them to keep up with.
But it's the people, the staff, that make the synagogue what it is. And the fact that TBE has decided to put such low emphasis on adult and youth programming is heart-breaking.
Especially the youth programming. Raya had a small but dedicated group of kids. We saw many of them at Camp Ramah last weekend. A lot of these kids are the children (or even grandchildren) of the current and past leaders of Temple Beth-El.
If the synagogue doesn't think these kids are important enough to need a youth director, doesn't develop an attachment to Beth-El in these young people, who is going to be running TBE 30-40 years from now???
And if the books are balanced, great. But if there's no programs happening at the synagogue, who the hell cares about the books?
Last year, Raya and I made a substantial charitable pledge to Beth-El. The largest charitable pledge we'd ever made to any organization. By far.
Scheduled to be paid over five years, we'd only paid 1/5th of it so far. I can guarantee you we're not paying the rest. I'm not interested in supporting a synagogue that treats its employees -- and its members -- like this.
And I can't possibly worship there any more, either. Because if we were to go to TBE, on a Shabbat evening or morning, or for High Holiday services, I'm going to see some of these assholes who were involved in this brainless and poorly-handled decision.
I really don't want to have to say to someone, "Fuck Off" in the middle of a synagogue.
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