Taboo: Politics and Religion

Our synagogue is having a crisis. We are relatively new members since we just moved to this area about a year ago. It is a 100 year old congregation. In the last hundred years they have had 20 Rabbi's. This is not good. Congregations like this are referred to as a "Rabbi eating congregation." We didn't know this when we joined. We might have shopped around a little more before settling here if we had known.

There is an old saying that if you have two Jews you have three opinions. This synagogue isn't any different. Discussion and debate are a common occurrence. Our Talmud commands us to question to help us learn, and it commands us to study and learn. Makes for a lot of questions.

After joining the synagogue we met the Rabbi at a function and he introduced himself but he seemed nervous. We thought it was odd because we had heard that he was quite a "people person" which would be a nice change of pace from our last Rabbi, who was a really good Rabbi but his people skills could have been better. We were a little disappointed after meeting him. But we figured we would just see if he relaxed a little after we met him again, everyone can have a bad day. Not to much longer after that he announces at a Friday night service that he will be taking a medical leave of absence. A murmur goes through the congregation after the announcement. Okay obviously something is going on that we are not aware of. At the oneg (a regular get together after the service) there is a lot of talking going on. Some of it isn't very nice.

Towards the end we get the student Rabbi and ask her what is going on. She doesn't really want to get into it but we aren't letting her get off that easy. We explain that we don't want gory details we just want to know what all the fuss is about. She tells us that the Rabbi didn't think the religious school director was doing a very good job. He decided to approach the Board of Trustees about replacing her. The board agreed and the director (who had been director for 20 years) was fired. Well, apparently the religious school director was very well connected with quite a few influential (read: lots of money) members and they did not take it well that she was let go. Of course that's easy for them to feel that way, their kids are all grown. Our kids are in the educational trenches. Personally, after hearing from others how the religious school was run I was glad she was fired. Better late than never as far as I'm concerned. But I digress....

So now the whole synagogue is in an uproar. People are openly arguing. Somebody who forgot what Judism is all about started passing around a story with some very nasty stories about him which others have claimed are not true. Half the board who supported him have now turned against him. They have hired a lawyer to see if they can get out of his contract. Pretty hard to believe what they are claiming is true since all this blew up exactly one month, yep, just one month after he and the board agreed and signed a five year contract. So you're telling me that he went to hell and you want to fire him when one month ago you were willing to sign a five year contract. Please, do I look like I fell off the turnip truck yesterday? Not that he is perfect, I'm sure, but this stinks to the high heavens of politics as usual.

The Engineer and I are really sad that this has happened. We don't live in an area with many Jews and the synagogue is our only Jewish community. We have less than two years until our daughters are B'nai Mitzvah. It can take years to find and hire a new Rabbi, especially when you have a Rabbi leave under these circumstances. Who's going to want to work here?

We'll for now we wait and see where this leads.