Here’s a thought to take to High Holiday services next month: Collaboration between congregations can be a good thing.
Here’s a thought to take to High Holiday services next month: Collaboration between congregations can be a good thing.
In an article in eJewish Philanthropy, Larry Glickman, the director of network engagement and collaboration for the Union for Reform Judaism, questioned the spirit of competition in the synagogue world. People go “shul shopping” and ultimately support just one synagogue above others, he observed.
“To what extent do we want all Jewish families in our area to join our congregation, even at the expense of neighboring congregations?” Glickman asked. “Do we want other congregations to close?”
A Reform movement survey found that congregations were happy to use others’ ideas and materials, “but they’re hesitant to share their own valuable intellectual property with neighboring congregations,” he wrote. “They fear their ideas may be copied, that people may decide to join neighboring congregations instead and that their congregational membership (and ultimately income) will decrease.”
If there is a twinge of recognition in any of this, the holidays may be a good time to consider whether this is the proper mindset. Although Glickman’s article is titled “Why Congregational Competition is a Good Thing,” he actually argues that synagogues should be “competitive and cooperative while still maintaining a strong sense of community and individuality.” Organizations that reach out and work with each other “stay sharp and focused, always moving forward.”
Glickman, a former synagogue executive director, offered three ways that synagogues can reach out to their Jewish neighbors: Collaboratively advertise the benefits of affiliating to whatever synagogue serves the needs of a person’s family; send members with children to another synagogue’s early childhood program if your synagogue doesn’t have one; and “create curriculum and programming” together and “then share it.”
Do any of these ideas have a chance? Maybe. They’re certainly worth considering, especially since congregations nationwide, including here in this community, are feeling the pinch. Every year comes the news of local synagogues merging or cutting back on staff and services, even as a handful of more successful ones report growing membership.
There will always be failed and failing congregations, but the competition between those that make it and those that don’t does not have to be a zero-sum game. Everyone can work together to ensure a community with more affiliated Jews tomorrow than exist today.
Glickman explains the possible consequences of every congregation only looking out for itself, with a variation on the old Jewish joke about synagogues. He tells the story of the last two Jews in Afghanistan. Each belonged to his own synagogue and refused to step inside the other. We cannot let that happen here.
