Why synagogues run a deficit

The other day, someone asked me regarding a large local synagogue, "They must never have money problems, right?" He pointed to their busy catering operation, and their long membership list, as the basis for this assumption.

Without discussing any particular shul, though, I can say with some confidence that every shul which attempts to serve its members with more than a simple space for davening runs a deficit, whether small or great. I have three reasons for this statement:

1: The staff's goal is to provide services

As with any non-profit, the goal is not profit, but rather services. Any money which comes in, whether budgeted revenue or surprise contribution, is plowed back into the operation in order to provide more services - which cost money.

[As I noted above, the exception is the synagogue that is just a room in which to daven.]

2: The budget-setters harbour religious optimism

Many shuls function with the belief, spoken or unspoken, that "things will work out", and they will survive, regardless of any immediate crisis. We have a hard time imagining that the shul could collapse. This leads to a degree of fiscal laxity.

3: The customers set the price

Manufacturers determine their prices based upon their own costs, and what they believe the market will bear. The same is true for service providers. In synagogues, though, the paying customers – members of the board – are the ones who decide how much they need to pay in dues. [The same is true for schools with parent-based finance committees.] The result is that dues are calculated based on a negotiation between the customers' needs and those of the institution, and the synagogue will not be able to rely on dues to fund their budgets.

My point is that a synagogue's financial stability is not dependent on the salaries of the staff, or the size of the building, or income from a catering operation. Rather, it depends on the attitude of the people who decide what services to provide, the people who set the budget, and the people who set the price.

Shiur Theatre: The Day After Liberation, Part 3

[This is the concluding part of a Shiur Theatre presentation from Parshat Ki Tisa. The first part, with an introduction, is here. The second part is here.]

ACT IV: SHIMSHON, MOSHE AND ADDAYA

SHIMSHON: Wow, that was an interesting witness. (pause, wipes forehead) So far, we have Aharon who wasn't authorized to truly lead. We have the historian who says the Jews were not educated, were not empowered, and had too much gold. And we have a Levite soldier who says the people were looking for authority figures rather than taking responsibility for their lives. (pause) That leaves one last witness: Addaya son of Thutmose, an Egyptian who joined us as part of the erev rav when we left Egypt.

Moshe steps in behind Shimshon, taps him on the shoulder. Shimshon looks up, sees its Moshe, and is startled. Stands back in respect.

SHIMSHON: Moshe, sir!

MOSHE: I would like to interview this witness, if you don't mind.

SHIMSHON: Certainly – but why? Have I not done a good job?

MOSHE: You've done a fine job, but I take responsibility for the erev rav, the group of Egyptians I personally brought out of Egypt when they wished to join us. So I'd like to speak with this Addaya.

Shimshon steps away; Moshe takes the lectern. Addaya steps to the other lectern.

MOSHE: Are you Addaya son of Thutmose?

ADDAYA: Yes, I am.

MOSHE: Addaya, son of Thutmose, what possessed you to lure my nation into idolatry?

ADDAYA: (laughing) Moses, Moses, Moses. (pause) Lure them? I hardly needed to do any such thing. Why, they came running to me!

MOSHE: What do you mean?

ADDAYA: Moses, you ought to comprehend, from your own experience when you fled to Midian. You went from life in the royal palace of Ramses to herding sheep in the wilderness, from a world of being waited on hand and foot to fighting off those who would abuse you, your wife, her sisters. Did you not feel the trauma of dislocation? Now imagine the lives of the millions of people you led into the wilderness, whose world has been turned upside down in every way imaginable.

MOSHE: I see.

ADDAYA: But see further, for there were three revolutions at work in the lives of this nation. One, when they ceased to be slaves and became free. Two, when they left the Egypt they knew and entered a frightening wilderness. And yet a third revolution, in the very rules of life. Food no longer came from the ground, but from the sky. Clothing did not wear out. Shelter came from the very vapour in the air.

MOSHE (protests): But these are wondrous changes, amazing gifts!

ADDAYA: True enough – but also scary. Look, Moses, ahead in the future, to the 58^th century, to Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, the Soviet satellites of Eastern Europe, the mixed bag that was their liberation. Have you read the work of Anna Porter?

MOSHE: The Canadian woman who will write "The Ghosts of Europe"?

ADDAYA: Indeed. She will point out that the populations of Eastern Europe suffered during their transition to democracy from the lack of an intermediate system, a bridge.[1] Surely the same could be said for these Jews you led into the wilderness. A brand new way of living, a brand new religious system, and no follow-up after that great Hollywood scene at the mountain for the next six weeks… Yes, Moses, they came running to me.

MOSHE: And what of your own identity – Ten times you have seen the miracles of the Lord, and still you have no faith! You came out to the wilderness with us, pledging loyalty!

ADDAYA: Yes, but I was not ready for a new national identity, especially as I quite enjoyed my previous identity until you shredded everything about it. Again, it's the same as the transformation of that Eastern bloc; you cannot expect a culture to adopt a new identity, when they felt much more security in the old one, and no bridge is offered.[2]

MOSHE: Then the blame lies with me? Or with the Almighty?

ADDAYA: This is hardly for me to say – I am but a newcomer, and member of a rejected nation. But heed the words of your brother Aharon. Heed the words of the historian. Heed the words, even, of that Levite colonel. Freedom is not a gift, unless accompanied by the proper tools.

MOSHE: Many centuries from now, an Egyptian Jew, also named Moshe, will declare, "Accept truth from whoever offers it.[3]" I suppose he is correct.

EXIT STAGE LEFT

EPILOGUE

NARRATOR:

And so Moshe Rabbeinu approached G-d to plead on behalf of the Jewish nation. As we read in this morning's parshah, the Torah's text describes several claims he made upon Divine mercy:

• He pointed to the covenant G-d had made with our ancestors, the founders of our nation.
• He pointed to neighbouring countries, and what they would say.
• He put his own life on the line, declaring, "Wipe me out of Your book" if You will not have mercy upon the Jews.

The Talmud, though, describes another claim from Moshe, far harsher than those that appear in the pesukim. As the Talmud[4] tells it, based on a pasuk in Sefer Devarim, Moshe said to G-d, "This situation may be compared to a man who had a son. He bathed the son, anointed him with oil, fed him well, gave him fine drink, hung a wallet around his neck – and placed him at the entrance of a brothel. How, then, could this son not sin?"

Moshe claimed that the Jews were innocent, like a child who had been set up for failure. The naïve child in his allegory was given every opportunity to sin, and he was left in a situation of great temptation, without any protection. So, too, the Jews were put in a position of great temptation, without protection.

Many have struggled to explain Moshe's point. How could Moshe compare the Jews to the child in this story, didn't the Jews have leaders in Aharon and Chur and the elders? Didn't they have the miracles in Egypt and the spiritual experience at Sinai? Were they not rescued from Egyptian slavery, and granted ultimate freedom?

But seen through the lens of our interviews, Moshe's insight is powerful and on the mark.

• As the Colonel said, citing George Washington and Jack Nicholson, these former slaves were like young children, they had not been given the chance to understand freedom;
• As the Egyptian Addaya explained, quoting Anna Porter on the Eastern bloc countries, the Jews were a fish entirely out of water, entering a brand new existence which, for all of its positives and freedoms, still required significant adjustment;
• As the Professor explained, citing the problems of the American South after slavery, the Jews were not well-educated in their new monotheism, lacked the empowerment to take charge of their religious lives, and had plenty of gold without a sense of how to use it – quite like the boy in Moshe's parable;
• And as Aharon pointed out, the leaders were not licensed to be proactive at the time of the Golden Calf, just as the world's moderate leadership has watched the Arab Spring largely from the sidelines. The Jews of that time were truly abandoned.

Liberty must be more than a state of freedom. To be able to take advantage of liberty, one must be:

• guided gently into this new existence,
• offered a framework and education for using it,
• empowered to act as an owner, and
• given leaders who will proactively help him along the way.

So it is that Moshe approached G-d with a remarkable claim. As the Talmud says, הטיח דברים כלפי מעלה, he impudently blamed G-d for the events of the Golden Calf.

Moshe's claim is not only upon G-d, though; it is upon us as well. We are blessed with extreme liberty – we can say what we want, live where we want, eat what we want, marry whomever we want, and so on. The same is true for our children. And so Moshe's claim - Aharon's claim, the Professor's claim, the Colonel's claim, the Egyptian's claim - is upon us: How do we approach our liberty, and that of our children? Are we educated? Do we take charge of our Judaism and our lives as owners? Do we empower leaders to help us along the way? The story of the Golden Calf is not history; it has important messages for us, more than 3,000 years later, as well.

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[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQv8Fgy9Ypk

[2] ibid

[3] Introduction to Shemonah Perakim

[4] Berachos 32a

Shiur Theatre: The Day After Liberation, Part 2

 [This is the second part of a Shiur Theatre presentation from Parshat Ki Tisa. The first part, with an introduction, is here.] Part Three comes next!

ACT II: SHIMSHON AND YITZCHAK

SHIMSHON: I would like to call the second witness: A prisoner, charged and sentenced for his role in the celebration of the Golden Calf, Professor Yitzchak, son of Asher.

YITZCHAK steps to the second lectern.

SHIMSHON: Do you affirm as the previous witness did?

YITZCHAK: I do, your honour.

SHIMSHON: And would you recount for the assembly your role in the Golden Calf?

YITZCHAK: My role was not great, your honour, which is why I escaped death at the hands of the brutal Levites. My guilt was in dancing on the fringes of the celebration. (pause) I wasn't really dancing, actually. Sort of clapping and shuffling. Like someone dancing around the bimah at Lecha Dodi of a Carlebach minyan.

SHIMSHON: Do you agree with the previous witness that this grievous sin could have been averted with the presence of a proper leader during the forty days our master Moshe spent atop Mount Sinai?

YITZCHAK: I am just a simple man, I cannot say.

SHIMSHON: A simple man? Your papers indicate that you are a professor, a historian of 57^th century North American culture; has that era something to teach us, something that might be of use in defending our nation before the Almighty?

YITZCHAK: I suppose it might. I specialize in the era of Reconstruction in the American South. Have you seen the film, Lincoln?

SHIMSHON: With Daniel Day Lewis? He is rumoured to play our master Moshe in an upcoming Spielberg film. But enough of him; what is your point?

YITZCHAK: Your honour, in America of that day, former slaves were liberated, but the system of schools lacked the funding, infrastructure and political will required to absorb the tens of thousands who needed to develop literacy. To take the state of Georgia as an example: The state developed public schools in 1870, five years after the slaves were emancipated, and for decades afterward white Georgians tried to limit public funding for black education. Teachers in black schools received lower salaries than those in white schools, regardless of the teachers' race, and construction and maintenance of black schools were neglected.[1]

SHIMSHON: So, Professor, you assert that with greater education, the Golden Calf could have been averted?

YITZCHAK: Well, something beyond the 49 day Aish haTorah crash course in Judaism, yes. Monotheism isn't simple, you know. To take a nation reared in Egypt's pantheistic society and convert them to the idea of one G-d, invisible and indivisible, and to do it that fast? Impossible.

SHIMSHON: So you would not have done your little hora on the outskirts of the celebration, with but a little spiritual education?

YITZCHAK: This, and some empowerment of the population.

SHIMSHON: Is empowerment also a lesson of the former American slaves?

YITZCHAK: Yes – there were hundreds of African Americans who held communal office during Reconstruction,[2] but few of note and not many per capita. Within our nation, our master Moshe appointed judges, but not legislators, people who would actually create structure for our society.

SHIMSHON: Structure? The Torah provided structure with its laws, did it not?

YITZCHAK: Those are laws, I am talking about leaders. A society benefits when its citizens are not limited to a rulebook but are empowered to lead, themselves. Then they do not come looking for statues of calves; instead, they fill the vacuum themselves, and positively. Moshe knows it – months from now, two men, Eldad and Meidad, will defy Moshe and become public prophets, and none will be happier than Moshe himself.[3]

SHIMSHON: You and Aharon seem to be branches of the same shoot; you would defend our nation before the Almighty by sacrificing our leaders, claiming those leaders abandoned the nation to ignorance, without the power to plan for themselves.

YITZCHAK: Well, yes. But another element was a circumstance determined by the Almighty rather than human hands. Leaving us with all of that Egyptian gold at Sinai was really an invitation to disaster. With such wealth, with the influence of generations of slavery as part of Egyptian culture, with the presence of Egyptians in our very midst, with the absence of the leader who mediated our covenant with the Almighty… well, it was only a question of when this would happen.

SHIMSHON: Then you blame… the Almighty?

YITZCHAK: I don't know that 'blame' is quite the word. I sometimes wonder…(hesitates) but I do not wish to be presumptuous, my guilt is already known.

SHIMSHON: Please, speak.

YITZCHAK: Well, what if – what if the entire incident was intended by the Almighty as a lesson of sorts? A lesson in sin, and perhaps even in repentance and mercy?[4]

SHIMSHON: You echo the previous witness, and even I begin to doubt. (pause) I am done with your testimony.

Yitzchak steps down

ACT III: SHIMSHON AND COLONEL JACK

Colonel Jack son of Nikol steps to the second lectern, wearing a military jacket decorated with medals. His chin is up, his shoulders thrown back. He glares.

SHIMSHON: Colonel Jack son of Nikol: Do you affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

COLONEL (defiant): Am I being charged with a crime? I did my job, and I'd do it again. Now let me go back to my base.

SHIMSHON: You are not being charged with a crime, this is just an investigative hearing. I simply asked: Do you affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

COLONEL (contemptuous): Of course I do.

SHIMSHON (annoyed): Thank you. Colonel, you have been called here to answer some questions about the events of the seventeenth of Tammuz, when it is alleged you executed a Code Red as part of the Levi Platoon.

COLONEL: And what questions do you have about that?

SHIMSHON: Who issued the Code Red?

COLONEL: My commander in chief, Moshe Rabbeinu. His exact words were, "Who is for G-d, come to me."[5]

SHIMSHON: And who responded?

COLONEL: You read the report. We did our job.

SHIMSHON (annoyed again): Did you carry out the Code Red?

COLONEL (strong): We saved lives.

SHIMSHON (frustrated): Did you carry out the Code Red?

COLONEL: I told you, we saved lives.

SHIMSHON (explodes): You don't even know what lives of Jews are like, you Levites weren't even slaves in Egypt. I was a leader of suffering slaves, I took responsibility while you sat and studied and meditated. That's how I came to hold this position as judge.

COLONEL: Ooh, a judge. Your honour, let me tell you something. I eat breakfast eighty yards away from 4000 Amalekites who are trained to kill me. So don't think for one second you can come around here, flash a badge, and make me nervous.

SHIMSHON: You ought to be nervous; I can put you in prison, or worse, if you won't give me answers.

COLONEL: You want answers?

SHIMSHON: I think I'm entitled to them.

COLONEL: You want answers!?

SHIMSHON: I want the truth!

COLONEL: You can't handle the truth! (pause) We live in a world that has walls. And those walls have to be guarded. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Judge? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for those three thousand men and you curse Levi Platoon. But deep down, in places you don't talk about in beit din, you want me on that wall. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the clouds my merit provides, then questions the manner in which my merit provides it. I'd prefer you just said Thank You and went on your way.

SHIMSHON: Did you carry out the code red?

COLONEL: You're gosh darn right I did.

SHIMSHON: And now three thousand lives are ended. Why did you do it?

COLONEL: Because Freedom isn't for everyone. Those idolaters you feel bad about, those Jews who made a Golden Calf, they weren't ready for freedom. You think to defend these people before the Almighty, but they don't deserve it. As George Washington will say, "Until the mind of the slave has been educated to understand freedom, the gift of freedom would only assure its abuse.[6]" (pause)

COLONEL: They wanted to have a Calf to worship because they remembered what it was like to have a master, to abdicate responsibility for their existence and rely on an authority to care for them, and they liked it. They were still Egyptian, unable to adjust to the Almighty's religion in which you take personal responsibility. In this they weakened the nation, and made us vulnerable to attack. Don't you tell me about ending lives, I saved them, and I would do it again.

SHIMSHON: I have no further questions.

COLONEL (muttering, as he steps down): Punk.

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[1] http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-634

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_African-American_officeholders_during_the_Reconstruction

[3] Bamidbar 11

[4] Avodah Zarah 4b-5a

[5] Shemot 32:26

[6] http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/articles/hurrelbrinck.html