IN PRAISE OF SECONDARY JEWISH ACTS

In 1988, Rabbi Lawrence Kushner wrote a now famous essay entitled "The tent-peg business: Some truths about congregations". It is a highly opinionated set of 28 short paragraphs on how congregations should organize themselves. You can read the whole thing (it's short) at http://urj.org/worship/letuslearn/s17tentpeg/ .

The first part of Kushner's essay has to do with the importance of "primary Jewish acts": "Jews need one another, and therefore congregations, to do primary religious acts which they should not, and probably cannot, do alone. Doing primary religious acts is the only way we have of growing as Jews. Consequently, it is also the only justification for the existence of a congregation. Everything else congregations do, Jews can always do cheaper, easier, and better somewhere else. There are three ancient kinds of primary Jewish acts: communal prayer, holy study, and good goods (good deeds), or in the classical language of Pirke Avot: Avodah, Torah, and G'milut Hasadim."

He goes on to say: "In order to maintain their congregations, Jews must do many other things which are not inherently Jewish. These secondary acts include a building, raising money, and perhaps forming a board of directors….  Congregations, unfortunately, often get so caught up in doing secondary acts that they actually begin to think that the building, raising money, or the board of directors is the reason for the existence of the congregation. Their members are busy at work, but because they have forgotten why they are at work, their efforts are hollow and come to naught."

Rabbi Kushner is right to see those primary Jewish acts as central to our work. However, I want to take issue with the derogatory tone that seems to seep into his account of the secondary Jewish acts. Like a biological system, the primary and secondary acts form a whole. Without both, you don't have a synagogue. The secondary acts enable the primary acts. The primary acts ennoble the secondary. Or, perhaps, it would be better to say that the primary acts make the secondary acts Jewish.

There are many people in this congregation who should be honored for doing Kushner's secondary acts. Done in the context of prayer, study, and good deeds, those acts become Jewish acts. I want to highlight a few of these for you this month. Please know that I could have picked many others (and will hope to get to those in due time).

The primary Jewish acts, especially those of prayer and study, cost money. Kushner points out that this is not necessary but, for better or worse, in our slice of space and time, they cost money. It will cost about $660,000 to run the Temple next year. Salaries represent the biggest cost. The building absorbs most of the rest of the budget. The full budget actually has a couple of hundred line items and the budget committee worries about every line. They worry because, if it is going to cost $660K to run the Temple, the committee is going to need to find $660K in income. Most of that will come from you. Half of the total, in round numbers, comes from dues. The other large sources of income are school tuitions, rentals, and, critically, the $100K or so that we raise in Free Will donations. Under the chairmanship of Abbe Cohen, the Budget Committee has kept our fiscal house in order. Abbe deserves our enduring thanks for years of work as he passes the chairmanship on to Don Solomon.

This year's budgeting was made easier by a substantial increase in our membership. We are no longer a "small" congregation by the URJ's reckoning, having passed the magic 250 mark. Thanks are due to the Membership Committee and its Chair, Ted Folkman. Ted will be turning that chairmanship over to Jen Katz next year. Ted's job was made easier by the advent of a Publicity committee that has spread our name all over town. Sondra Katz and Randi Hopkins have made that happen in collaboration with our tireless administrator, Linda Katz.

As you know, we are on the verge of hiring a new part-time cantor. Indeed, Rosalie Toubes may have been approved by the Board by the time you read this column. Most of us will encounter her as we engage in the primary Jewish act of prayer. The cantor search committee --- a real cross-section of our community --- encountered her in the decidedly secondary acts of sorting through resumes and discussing contracts. Cathy Cotton did great work leading this diverse group to unanimous and enthusiastic consensus.

If you come to the Annual Meeting in June, you can admire, and I hope ratify the work of the Nominating Committee, ably chaired by Judy Fabricant. The committee worked hard to produce a slate of officers and board members that combined experience with new blood to continue the work of the congregation.

From budget to membership to publicity, from hiring a cantor to picking a slate; each of these sets of volunteers was doing a Jewish act. Elsewhere, each might have been just another committee. Here they join with prayer, study, and good deeds in the work of holiness. One last example: with Rabbi Waldorf’s help, Marc Cooper found and fixed a forgotten light switch at temple. That's pretty mundane stuff, but that switch lights a light that illuminates three Stars of David in the highest window in the cupola. Look for it next Friday night, illuminating the connection between the mundane and the sacred.