Ira,
As an individual Conservative Jew who is also very unhappy with what I've seen so far in USCJ's new plan - in short, success being judged by money and youth rather than commitment and connection to ideology - I share your dismay at this situation as well. As I read your post, it reminded me of something I'd read earlier this week in an Orthodox rabbi's blog post on the California circumcision debate:
"In short, circumcision is a marketing nightmare; outside of a deep commitment to Judaism, there's no good reason to do them. This point is significant, because the Jewish community is intoxicated with marketing. Federations commission countless surveys to find out what young Jews want. Jewish professionals search for ways to make their programs "hipper". The almighty "social media" must be deployed in the battle for the hearts of the younger members of the tribe. Grant money flows liberally to market driven, cutting edge, jargon laden programs with a social media presence.
I can't argue against good marketing; representatives of a religion that has prized ideas should be able to communicate well. But there's a thin line between marketing well and being "market driven". The market driven vision believes that the customer is always right. So if it's Yiddish or yoga or Jewish jokes that turn young Jews on, let's pour community resources into a Yiddish Yoga Yuckfest. (With bagels, lox and cream cheese, of course). Instead of challenging young Jews, a market driven vision of Judaism seeks to produce a 21st century Judaism that will make our customers happy.
But here comes the problem. Aspects of Judaism like circumcision will always be unpopular in customer surveys. If we leave the future of Judaism in the hands of marketing experts, challenging rituals like circumcision or Passover or Yom Kippur will be ignored, and we will end up with a smooth syncretistic mumbo jumbo that has no resemblance to our 3,000 year old tradition."Rabbi Chaim SteinmetzCircumcision is Incompatible with the 21st Century: An Orthodox Rabbi Agrees
If USCJ has chosen to minimize a clear message and ideology in favor of a generic noncommittal Judaism as well as minimize Jewish values and business ethics in favor of short-term PR gains, it will have little to nothing that is substantive and satisfying to offer today's Jews, let alone the generations to come.
Shabbat Shalom,
Karla Worrell
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ira Fink" <Lowkick@aol.com>
To: "Shefa" <shefa@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2011 10:11 PM
Subject: [Shefa] USCJ Is Heading In The Wrong Direction
It now appears that USCJ's restructuring will create a more centralized USY that, in their opinion, will give more service to their members. Based on the way centralization is working since they went to 6 districts instead of 15 regions, this is likely to be disasterous - especially since USY is the only reason that many member congregations have maintained membership in USCJ while struggling and going deeper into red ink to pay their dues.
Are you aware that USCJ has now hired a chief operating officer? While this fact hasn't been hidden, neither has it been loudly trumpeted as a wonderful development. I will say that hiring the right talented business person as the COO is a good move, but rather than add a salary, that person should be the CEO. I believe that hiring a COO with a strong business background is an admission by USCJ that they need to change the structure of their leadership. Adding a COO is a redundancy - an extra, unnecessary, high salary to pay when they are laying off long time, faithful and productive employees.
Calling congregations kehillot won't make any difference. Consolidating and centralizing operations *will* make a big difference, albeit a negative one. Providing free services to minyanim will just take scarce resources away from paying membership and will not influence minyanim to join USCJ, which is the embodiment of why the minyanim exist in the first place. Offering a 5% discount for dues prepayment is not going to impress anyone. Most congregations can't come up with their whole dues commitment at one time and, even if they could, paying $19,000 in stead of $20,000 (5%) isn't going to make a difference in the feelings of a cash strapped congregation that believes it isn't getting a good return on its investment. USCJ just doesn't seem to be able to see the congregations through the kehillot.
In the last few years, the CT, Western MA region has lost about 10% of their congregations, the most recent being one of the larger synagogues in the region, just a couple of months ago. You can't replace a 500 family congregation with a 50 member, non paying kehillot. It's not an even trade.
USCJ's restructing has not been a change for the better. The lack of
transparency is as bad or worse than it was before. The service to the congregations has gone downhill. Membership in USCJ has further eroded. Long-time, good employees have been laid off. They listen to Hayom, which represents large congregations, but fail to lend an ear to the many smaller congregations.
It is time for congregations to demand a change, or quit USCJ. The current path isn't working – it is a road to the destruction of the movement.
Ira Fink
IPP
Beth Sholom B'nai Israel
Manchester, CT
------------------------------------
Visit our home page at http://www.shefanetwork.org
*****************************************
"Shefa: The Conservative Movement Dreaming from Within" is a forum for
passionate Conservative Jews to reflect together as they increase creative
energy within within the culture and environment of the Conservative
Movement in an effort to bring a renewed and revitalized perspective to
Conservative Jews.
We belong to the Conservative Movement and commit ourselves to working
towards its revitalization. Be a part of this community of visionary
thinkers and builders. To join the conversation, email
shefa-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
Visit our home page at http://www.shefanetwork.org
***************************************** Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/shefa/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/shefa/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
shefa-digest@yahoogroups.com
shefa-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
shefa-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
__._,_.___
Visit our home page at http://www.shefanetwork.org
*****************************************
"Shefa: The Conservative Movement Dreaming from Within" is a forum for
passionate Conservative Jews to reflect together as they increase creative
energy within within the culture and environment of the Conservative
Movement in an effort to bring a renewed and revitalized perspective to
Conservative Jews.
We belong to the Conservative Movement and commit ourselves to working
towards its revitalization. Be a part of this community of visionary
thinkers and builders. To join the conversation, email
shefa-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
Visit our home page at http://www.shefanetwork.org
*****************************************
*****************************************
"Shefa: The Conservative Movement Dreaming from Within" is a forum for
passionate Conservative Jews to reflect together as they increase creative
energy within within the culture and environment of the Conservative
Movement in an effort to bring a renewed and revitalized perspective to
Conservative Jews.
We belong to the Conservative Movement and commit ourselves to working
towards its revitalization. Be a part of this community of visionary
thinkers and builders. To join the conversation, email
shefa-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
Visit our home page at http://www.shefanetwork.org
*****************************************
.
__,_._,___
