From: ask@cbnews.cb.att.com (Arthur S. Kamlet)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Re: Synagogue Financing
Date: 14 Sep 92 19:27:52 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories,  Columbus, Ohio

>In article <4193@rebecca-lillian.bbn.com>, wwalker@bbn.com (Ward Walker) writes:
> In my immediate area, the non-orthodox synagogues' dues are about
> $1000 for a family membership.  However, I've seen ads recently in the
> local (Boston) Jewish paper for traditional shuls with dues for full
> family membership at $200 or $300 dollars.  I'm amazed, because just
> the marginal cost of a member at my synagogue is around $150 ($100
> UAHC dues + $50 postage, printing, etc.).

As has been mentioned, salaries play a large part of the difference.

Our conservative synagogue has approx 950 member families.  To serve
these families as they expect to be served, as evidenced by payments
of dues of 750-2000 or more per year for married couples over 30
(rates are less for young couples and for young singles), we have
the following full-time professional staff:

rabbi
cantor
educational director
executive director
youth & program director
part-time librarian

Also full time hourly staff:

3 secretaries
2 custodians


Also part time -- 
   some large number of teachers and several part time custodians.


Not surprisingly, salaries and salary items (payroll taxes, workers
compensation, pension funding, auto allowances, ...) make up almost
80% of our budget, with building expenses, utilities, insurance,
books, school supplies, etc making up the rest.

We think our rabbi and cantor are paid very high salaries, but
competitive with what conservative congregational rabbis of
950-member family congregations are paid.  And Columbus has a low
cost of living index.  From what I hear, the pool of orthodox rabbis
is larger than the pool of available conservative rabbis, so supply
and demand kicks in.  A slightly different statement which proves
the point as well, is that the ratio of congregational orthodox
rabbis to orthodox families is higher than the ratio of conservative
congregational rabbis to conservative families.  Same statement for
cantors.

We run a Sunday plus afternoon Hebrew school and high school and
bill parents separately for tuition.  That's in addition to dues.

However, educational expenses exceed tuition, so the congregation
does subsidize the school, as I think it should.  The congregation
also subsidizes tuition of families who need financial help to send
kids to school, and several families pay no tuition at all.

Even so, we expect an overflow crowd at Rosh Hashonah/Yom Kippur
this year, and have hired a rabbi to lead an overflow service.

(We do not charge for tickets to services--all members receive free
tickets, and college students and military stationed here are given
free tickets.  Otherwise, we ask that everyone be a member to attend
on Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur.)

We have two cemeteries for our congregation, and there are about 8
or so hospitals around Columbus, so the rabbi spends a good deal of
his time, as does the cantor,  on hospital visits, funerals, shiva
calls, and so forth.  He puts in something like a 100 hour week, and
I frankly don't know how he holds up, and feel very honored that he
stays with us.

A reform synagogue of about 900 member families found themselves in
financial difficulties, and was forced to not renew the contract of
the assistant rabbi last year.  It was more or less expected that
the assistant rabbi position was a temporary one anyway, until he
found himself a head rabbi job elsewhere, so it was no surprise that
his contract was not renewed, What was a surprise was not hiring a
replacement assistant rabbi.   As  a result, the number of hospital
visits and house calls has decreased, and members used to a higher
level of "service" are upset.  Yet their dues are higher than ours.

I have a theory that members of conservative and reform
congregations have different expectations of their rabbis than do
members of orthodox congregations.

I believe we want our rabbis to be counselors and wedding and Bar
Mitzvah advisors, we want them to visit every house of mourning to
lead services, we want them to make hospital visits, and always be
available for funerals, and we almost never ever bring to them an
important question of Halacha.   I have also joked that we also
expect them to observe the mitzvot for those of us who don't -- and
while I call that a joke, I think there is some degree of truth to
that.

I suspect orthodox members have some similar and some different
expectations of their rabbis.  If an orthodox rabbi does not do much
counseling or has a poor bedside manner, that can be shrugged off if
he is a recognized Talmudic expert, and he holds the world's record
for tekiah gadolah :^)

But if a conservative rabbi doesn't do well in these areas, it could
cost him his job.

In any case, in our synagogue salaries are by far the bulk of our
costs and our staff is very well paid, and that takes money.
-- 
Art Kamlet  a_s_kamlet@att.com  AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus