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I’m in the newspaper

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Apparently blogging is not a waste of time. This blog caught the attention of Peter Smith, Courier-Journal reporter, and one of my quotes made it into his page 1 Metro section article today, “Louisville Jewish Community Faces Change.” I’m about 2/3 of the way in, in the section on Synagogues Ponder Consolidation. Here’s the link. Enjoy. Comments? Leave ‘em.

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Synagogue Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

As the presidential election campaign heats up in my home country, the United States, here in my medium-sized Midwestern city with big ambitions, the Conservative Judaism consolidation campaign is boiling over. And since our little election campaign represents a model-in-miniature for the huge changes rippling throughout Conservative Judaism, it is not to be overlooked by the world’s eyes. Focus on us–because here’s where it’s happening.

Yes, in Louisville, KY, the Adath Jeshurun and Keneseth Israel factions are at it again. (Continued)

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A Synagogue Sonnet

Sunday, May 18, 2008

My synagogue decides to renovate,
until some wealthy donors want to move.
Then the board decides to relocate,
though this decision’s very hard to prove.

The membership is split on what to do:
they went through all this five short years ago.
“Some mess,” they say, “they turned our shul into!”
The board says, “just shut up and give us dough.”

At last the board decides to renovate–
they swear that they’re committed to this plan,
but now some folks want to consolidate
two shuls so we are back where we began.

I think our board pretends to be gung-ho
as a foolproof plan to keep the status quo.

(Michael Jackman - revised 8-12-08)

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Four reasons I’m against AJKI, AKJI, IKJA, AIKJ etc.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Over here in Louisville, folks at Keneseth Israel (KI) and Adath Jeshurun (AJ) keep wondering why I’m so against merger, or the new watch-word: “consolidation.” So, here are my reasons:

  1. Diversity is better - mono-theism means “one G-d” not “one synagogue.” Two Conservative synagogues with two different cultures and approaches to Conservative Judaism are better than one monocultural Judaism. We have enough lack of diversity in the Jewish community already. Let’s maintain what cultural diversity we have and resist the urge to find safety in numbers.
  2. Smaller is better -In a shrinking Jewish community I welcome two smaller synagogues, with smaller buildings, rather than one combined membership. Big building Judaism tends to get institutionalized, lose momentum, identity and spirituality. Let’s have two eco-friendly, reduced footprint buildings with smaller, more intimate, spiritual settings. With today’s energy-saving measures, economics of scale is no longer an effective argument.
  3. Keneseth Israel isn’t broke. If the congregation that everyone claims is struggling has enough money to meet its obligations, then it should continue on the course its members charted for itself, increase its endowment, invest wisely, and remain a distinct, vital voice in the Louisville Jewish community.
  4. City vs. Suburbs. A good number of the members of both congregations want to move further into the suburbs, away from the city. Those folks who want to move should band together to create a far-suburban synagogue, where they can create the kind of suburban Jewish experience they want. It’s probably time for them to make the move. This split between urbanites and suburbanites has been ripping the cultural fabric of Adath Jeshurun for more than a decade and probably has been causing concern at Keneseth Israel as well. My advice? So move, already! Just do it before consolidation: leave the urbanites a congregation to worship at.

(Grandpa Dave Kahn, Patriarch of Keneseth Israel, I wish you used the Internet! Your hearing isn’t too good anymore at 99, and if you used the Internet, you could read what I say and not argue with what I didn’t say.)

But as Grandpa Dave always says, everyone is entitled to their opinion. So do you agree with me? Disagree? Your comments are welcome. Just click the comments link below. And if you’re Jewish, leave two opinions!

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