Re: costs of Jewish responsibility

[Marvin Margoshes <physchem...>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alex Jacobowitz" <alexbjacobowitz (at) yahoo(dot)com>
To: "World music from a Jewish slant" <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2003 1:35 AM
Subject: costs of Jewish responsibility


> B"H Munich
>
> For your collective information, other countries
> deal with the financing of Jewish communities in
> different ways.
>
> As usual, the Germans have a system for the whole
> thing - each citizen is taxed one per cent of their
> income, which goes to the upkeep of their
> synagogue/religious organization. This may
> sound like an horrendous mixture of "church" and
> state, but that also means that
> there are never tickets, though seats are "reserved".
> If the shul, etc., still has problems making ends
> meet, they will campaign for extra funds for specific
> purposes. However, I can´t imagine anyone, for any
> reason, being turned away from prayer in the German
> republic for not having paid.
>
> In Israel, many Jewish commununal costs are taken over
> by the government, particularly rabbi´s income,
> which is meagre when compared to many other lands.
> The synagogue costs are administered by the
> municipality - again, quite a problem in America
> because of the doctrine of separation - but the
> costs are also much lower than in America.

And the system favors the orthodox.  Other Jewish institutions get little or
none.

>
> For instance, a shul in Israel is much more likely
> to have ventilation from fans than air-conditioning -
> even a chasidic stronghold like Mea Shearim - to
> keep costs down. Fluorescent lights instead of
> incandescent. One cloth towel for all instead of
> paper towels. Seldom a cantor, or choir, (I
> know of no Israeli organs) or all the "goodies" that
> keep the costs high and the "doormen" active.
>
> And yes, the cost of raising a child with a Jewish
> education in America or Europe is exceedingly high.
> In my relatively small-town day school, $9000 per
> child per year was demanded. If you multiply
> that times my seven (ken yirbu!) children, you´ll
> see stars, as I did. So moving to Israel
> allowed me to raise my children more Jewishly at
> a fraction of the cost.
>
> And as I prepare to lead the Rosh Hashana services
> in Augsburg, Germany for the sake of the 2000-strong
> newly-immigrated Russian Jewish community, who
> can´t afford anything at all, I wish to remind
> some of you that it´s not about the beauty of the
> shul, which is after all only a reminder of the Holy
> Temple (10% of yearly income demanded as donation)
> nor the quality of the carpeting. It´s about prayer.
> And the Bibical Yitchak would pray in an open field.
> So if you want to save money, find a forest, or a
> field where you can pray with absolute intensity,
> as did some Chassidic masters. Or you can proudly
> pay a lot - even $300 per person - to pray
> AND to play some role in the Jewish community.
>
> Jews, please remember that in prayer, like everything
> else in life, you get what you pay for.
>
> Shana tova u´metuka!
>
> Alex Jacobowitz
>
>
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