January 2020 - Shul Politics

The Three Aspects of Shabbos Shul Security

Our Shul has been working on improving our security for over 5 years and I wanted to share some of what we’ve learned. There are three aspects to Shabbos Shul Security: physical plant enhancement, restricting entry and active shooter response planning.

The first step is to keep intruders out of the building by strengthening your physical plant. This includes enhancing your outer doors, inner doors, locks, windows, cameras, gates and walls. There are a lot of things you can do here, but you should consider investing in better locks as your first purchase.

The second step is preventing entry to your Shul when services are in session. Keeping your shul doors locked with a push button lock is a good idea. You should also make every effory to hire an armed guard, which will cost you about $200 for 4 hours every Shabbos morning in the NY area. In addition to an armed guard, Shul members will need to assist in identifying who will be permitted to enter.

The third step is to have a plan in place if an active shooter makes his way into your building. The government recommended plan is composed of running, hiding or fighting as an absolute last resort. Each shul needs to map out a plan primarily based on your physical layout.

Funding for this endeavor will be provided by the funders of the Shul, the members or the government. Government grants are available and our Shul and others in our neighborhood have received grants of $50,000 and $100,000. The newest grants can be spent on plant improvements, armed guards and training. You will probably need to spend $1,000 to $1,500 to hire someone to help you procure the grant. You will also need to spend $1,000 to $1,500 on a Security Risk Assessment.

The three groups to help you are private security firms, the police and community advisory groups. The private security firms provide the best and most comprehensive guidance, but they cost money. The police will give you free advice, seminars, and walk throughs, but their availability is limited. The community advisory groups are most focused on active shooter planning and their availability is limited. Each group has a specific perspective from which they view security and you should keep that in mind when you listen to them.

We must do our hishtadlus, but we should not forget to pray and put our ultimate trust in Hashem.

Violating the “Aisle Rule” in the Holy Land

It was a Neitz (sunrise) minyan in the Old City. I was the second person to arrive in a Shul which had about 250 seats, for a weekday Neitz minyan of what would be 50 people. A random selection would give me about an 80% probability of not taking someone else’s regular seat. Unfortunately I made the decision to try to select a good seat and I violated one of the cardinal rules of seating in a strange place, the “Aisle Rule”.

The “Aisle Rule” says that you should not choose an aisle seat when you’re a guest in a Shul. I thought of the rule when I was a guest for Shabbos in the 5 Towns on Long Island. When walking into the Shul on Friday Night, my host said we can sit anywhere because there were no fixed seats on Friday Nights, except for the aisle seats, because the more involved members sat in the aisle seats. Having been involved in assigning seats in my Shul for many years, I could verify that people definitely preferred aisle seats and when you’re a guest, it makes sense not to take a more preferred seat.

So why did I violate the “aisle rule” on this Tuesday morning in the Old City? Because like most people who violate the rule, I wanted a more comfortable aisle seat. Right after putting on my Tallis and Tefillin a man walked in the Shul and as he got closer it became clear I was sitting in his seat. I asked “Is this your seat?”. He nodded yes. I asked “Where is an available seat?” and he pointed to the aisle seat in front of him. He was very nice about it and I was not in the least bit offended.

Then I made my second mistake and instead of taking the seat he pointed to, I moved back a few rows to a different aisle seat and sure enough, that turned out to be somebody else’s seat. So I moved again, this time to a mid-row seat and everything was fine. It wasn’t embarrassing, just a little disrupting having to move twice at an early Shacharis. I have no complaints about the Shul or it’s regular daveners, and I have only myself to blame for violating the “Aisle Rule”.

The Role of the Rabbi in Increasing Shul Membership

Is The Rabbi Responsible for Increasing Membership
We received an email, a while back, from a reader who is a member of a small orthodox shul in a competitive Orthodox neighborhood. The Rabbi is a fantastic guy and a mensch of the first order, but he is not bringing people into the shul. The writer wants to know is this the expected role of the Rabbi, or is it more the role of the Board of Management?

Roles Go Beyond Initial Understandings
I think that the primary responsibility of increasing membership lies with the Officers and the Board. When a Shul hires a Rabbi, it is helpful to be explicit about what roles are expected including increasing membership. Even if not specified, helping to increase the membership of the Shul is usually in the best interest of both the Rabbi and the members. The question then becomes in which ways can the Rabbi help increase the membership.

Why Do People Become Members
To explore the question further we need to look at some of the reasons people become members:
1) They like the members of the Shul
2) The Rabbi answers their halachic and hashkafic questions
3) They like the davening and other services the Shul provides
4) The Shul is a convenient choice

How the Rabbi Can Help
Here’s how the Rabbi can help in each of these areas numbered above.
1) He should take the time to understand and relate to the membership’s particular needs. This will encourage more members in the existing categories to join the Shul.
2) He needs to be easily accessible for questions from the members. He needs to provide halachic and hashkafic answers appropriate for each individual. He needs to know when and what leniencies are appropriate.
3) He should make sure the davening is appropriate from the members in terms of quiet, speed and speeches. He needs to provide classes and find others to provide classes that are relevant to the members. He should encourage and work with the officers and the membership to increasingly provide appropriate services for the members.
4) He usually can’t do much about the Shul location, but he can make sure the times of davening are convenient for the members.

Different Roles in Different Communities
The ideas above are general and the needs and focus of a particular Shul and Rabbi depend on its location, needs and authority and financial structure.

Originally posted in February 2012

Why Your Shul Should “Do the Daf”

Although the primary purpose of Shuls is a place of prayer, opportunities for learning and chesed should be constantly sought after. The most widely implemented program in the learning play book is Daf Yomi or “Doing the Daf” as it’s known in common parlance.

The two major benefits of Daf Yomi are:
1) It creates an obligation to learn Gemora everyday. As we all know – the Daf waits for no man.
2) It creates a chevra Shas. A group of people who are bound by their common pursuit of learning Gemora.

It’s a very good idea for your Shul to provide a Daf Yomi shiur. The common objections to this suggestion are:
a) We don’t have anybody to give it
b) People won’t come
c) Daf Yomi is too fast

With the advent of Art Scroll a person can spend about 60-90 minutes preparing a decent Daf. Certainly there are higher levels of preparation and higher level shiurim, but giving an Art Scroll based Daf will allow you to achieve the two major benefits described above. To encourage someone to undertake that task, tell them that spending the time to prepare and give the shiur will provide them with tremendous benefits. It’s common knowledge that the giver of the Daf benefits a magnitude greater than the receivers.

Beginnings are hard, and beginning a Daf Yomi is no different. The minimum about of people required is 2, one to give and one to be on the receiving end. Find those two people and in time it will grow. Even if it doesn’t, the two people learning will benefit greatly.

Many people complain about the amount of material that has to be covered in the 45-60 minutes usually allocated to the Daf. And they are right. It’s a lot of material for that amount of time. But the reality is that the Daf has reached the tipping point and it is currently the standard bearer of Gemora learning. That doesn’t mean you can’t give other types of shiurim, but the Daf should be a standard in your Shul. The 100,000 – 300,000 people who celebrated at the completion of the last cycle have spoken.

One last point is that you should make a siyum after each Masechta. It helps people recognize their accomplishment and it provides a social venue to celebrate the learning of Torah. You need a minyan to say the Kaddish, but you don’t need a minyan to make a celebrate with a siyum. We need encouragement for the good things we do and a siyum is a great opportunity.

Mazal Tov to all those who just finished the cycle. For those who are still on the sidelines, it’s not too late to join in for Berachos.