{"id":14408,"date":"2013-01-30T06:00:52","date_gmt":"2013-01-30T11:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=14408"},"modified":"2013-01-29T21:55:00","modified_gmt":"2013-01-30T02:55:00","slug":"paying-dues-to-the-synagogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/01\/paying-dues-to-the-synagogue\/","title":{"rendered":"Paying dues to the synagogue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Churches rely on offerings to meet their financial needs.\u00a0 Jewish synagogues, on the other hand, charge their members dues.\u00a0 Lisa Miller tells how this works and how some synagogues are trying to change this practice to attract more members:<\/p>\n

From Young Jews rebelling against paying dues \u2013 The Washington Post<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Traditionally, when an American Jew couldn\u2019t manage to pay his annual synagogue dues, he had to apply for relief. This often meant a shameful conversation with the temple\u2019s financial secretary, a plea for mercy and sometimes even a revealing of personal financial documents. It\u2019s not surprising that many people in such circumstances would rather walk away than submit to judgment. . . .<\/p>\n

Across the country, young Jews are rebelling against the old, dues-paying model of synagogue membership. Their parents might have written the membership check without a second thought, but these folks don\u2019t part with their money so easily. Not when there are so many other bills to pay. Not when Jewish identity has become as much about what you eat (or don\u2019t eat) and who you marry (or don\u2019t marry) as where you worship \u2013 or, in the old vernacular, \u201cbelong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

And there\u2019s a third problem. Young Jews viscerally rebel against the money culture of the American synagogue, where dunning and giving are explicit transactions. Dollars separate not just insiders from outsiders \u2014 who gets tickets to High Holy Days services and who doesn\u2019t. Cash donations also sort members into tiers on the basis of who gives the most. In Reform and Conservative Judaism, money talk has become a barrier to the kind of spiritual belonging that young people crave.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe focus is on power, money and a lot of alienating stances,\u201d says Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, in a wide-ranging conversation recently. A growing number of Americans of all faiths \u2013 20 percent \u2013 are unaffiliated with religious institutions. Only a fraction of American Jews belong to a synagogue. . . .\u201c<\/p>\n

Instead of dues, [synagogue president Matt] Shapiro says, he divides the synagogue\u2019s budget by the number of families in the congregation and presents them with a number: in this case, $2,500. He\u2019s very transparent, he says: \u201cThis is how much it costs to run the synagogue. Give what you can. And make sure you give of your time and your effort as well.\u201d Shapiro has found that annual giving is \u201cnot worse, slightly better\u201d than before the change. A handful of other Reform and Conservative synagogues are experimenting with the give-what-you-can model, but most continue to shy away. Shapiro describes his fellow presidents\u2019 reaction this way: \u201cOh boy, I\u2019m glad that works for you, but I would never try it. Too scary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even the alternative model presented here\u2013charge members a share of the budget\u2013is quite different from how Christian churches do it.\u00a0 I suppose there are different ways of funding religious organizations.\u00a0\u00a0 Churches in Europe are funded by a tax.\u00a0 Scripture, though, calls for \u201ccheerful giving\u201d (2 Corinthians 9:6-8)<\/a>.\u00a0 I guess it\u2019s rather miraculous that this works for churches!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Churches rely on offerings to meet their financial needs.\u00a0 Jewish synagogues, on the other hand, charge their members dues.\u00a0 Lisa Miller tells how this works and how some synagogues are trying to change this practice to attract more members: From Young Jews rebelling against paying dues \u2013 The Washington Post: Traditionally, when an American Jew […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,13,39],"tags":[1211,2109],"class_list":["post-14408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-economics","category-religions","tag-judaism","tag-stewardship"],"yoast_head":"\nPaying dues to the synagogue<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Churches rely on offerings to meet their financial needs.\u00a0 Jewish synagogues, on the other hand, charge their members dues.\u00a0 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