GOD, MAMMON, AND DOLPHIN SKINS

In the last couple of weeks, you will have received the annual "Free Will letter" asking you to support the Temple with a donation above your commitment to dues. There is a power in the naming of things and I thought you might want to know how the name, "free will", came to be attached to an annual fundraising effort.

The term is derived from Exodus 35:29, where we read that "All the Israelite men and women whose hearts moved them, brought freewill offerings to Adonai for all the work that Adonai had commanded them to do through Moses". That is straight forward enough but there are some interesting subtleties to this episode. Consider its timing in the sequence of episodes in Torah. The immediately preceding chapter in the Torah begins "Adonai said to Moses: "Carve two tablets like the first and I will inscribe upon the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you shattered (Exodus 34:1). This is the renewal of the covenant at Sinai, the covenant that had been broken with the episode of the golden calf. The chapter contains a description of God's mercy, an account of God's relationship with Israel, a review of Passover and the other festivals. It can be seen as a compact description of the entire Jewish project in its earliest form. By the end of the chapter, Moses is literally glowing. (This scares the Israelites so badly that Moses wears a veil thereafter…really. Check Exodus 34:29-35.)

After this transcendent episode, what is the next thing that that happens? Well, there are three verses about remembering Shabbat but then Moses holds an extended fundraising event. On the face of it, this might seem like a Biblical proof text for the complaint that organized Judaism is all about money. We might have expected a description of how the people responded to the renewed covenant with Adonai and, instead, we get a list of stuff. Bring "gold, silver, and copper…yarns, fine linen and goat's hair, tanned ram skins, and dolphin skins" (Exodus 35:5-7) The dolphin skin bit is unclear. Every translation offers something different for "tachasheem". My favorite interpretation is that this refers to an animal that existed only to provide its skin for the tabernacle in the desert.

Be that as it may, what does it say about us, that our reaction to the renewal of our relationship with the Divine was financial? Actually, I think it speaks well of us --- our ancestors in the desert and our congregation today. Our ancestors looked around and said to themselves: "This Jewish project is going to take resources." Moreover, they looked around and said: "There are people here who can't really afford to contribute much. If I can give a bit more, they will not be shamed." The commentaries stress that when the Torah says that all "whose hearts moved them", it means everyone and that the endless list of items to donate tells us that everyone found an appropriate level at which to give. Each one contributed --- thinking that he or she was helping to make the Jewish project real for someone else.

Temple Sinai embodies this Torah in ways that amaze other congregations. If you are the president of a temple that is part of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), you get to be on the President's Conference (Presconf) email list. This is not high on the list of reasons to be president but it does give you some insight into the similarities and differences between Temple Sinai and other congregations. Presidents post questions and, if the topic is a live one, a long stream of discussion follows.

The Fundraising Question is a Presconf staple. "The budget is in deficit" says a president, "Do you have a good fundraiser?" There are lots of ideas from the dinner/dance to the auction to the corned beef sandwich delivery service. With a lot of work and dedication, these can bring in thousands of dollars. When I am asked what we do at Temple Sinai, I feel both proud and a bit abashed to say: “We ask people. We write a couple of letters and they send us money.”  “How much?” I am asked. When I reply “Oh, a hundred thousand dollars or so”, my colleagues at other temples are amazed. Amazement grows when I tell them that this is not just a few big donors covering our debts but XX% of our congregation and XX% of our Board giving at whatever level works for them.

By the way, it is not that our budget is different from other congregations. Temple budgets tend to be comparable for temples of similar size and setting. Rabbis like to be paid. The building must be heated and repaired. What is special about Sinai is the proportion of that budget that we can meet by simply asking people to give. In its collective wisdom and with its collective heart, this congregation has figured out that, if everyone gives what they can, no one will need to give what they cannot.

Rabbi Vogel is fond of distinguishing between "primary Jewish acts" and other aspects of temple life and fundraising, he tells us, is not a primary Jewish act. I wouldn't disagree with him. However, I think that in the way that the community brings freewill offerings, it has found a way to give a spiritual dimension to the mundane business of paying the bills.

I am very interested in the relationship between giving and those primary Jewish acts. In part this is because I have never been a good fundraiser. I would be delighted to pursue this conversation with others who are similarly interested. Drop me a line: (wolfe (at)search.bwh.harvard.edu).

Jeremy Wolfe

President