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"The Yeshiva is
a complicated
business
organization.
This yeshiva is
facing new
problems we
haven't faced in
the past:'

Rabbi E.B. Bunny
Freedman

The Yeshiva's Sally Allan Alexander Beth Jacob School in Oak Park.

Rabbi E.B. Bunny Freedman: Almost resigned from the Yeshiva.

30 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1991

rangements and an advance
of $50,000 in Federation
allocations for the fiscal year
1991-92. The Federation
grant to the Yeshiva this
fiscal year will total
$257,000. The rabbinic
committee, however, wants
to make sure the school is
able to follow a plan toward
a goal of financial stability
in the months to come. The
school also is without any fi-
nancial reserve.
A large and difficult part
of the school's problem was
its two chief fund raisers,
Rabbi Freedman and Rabbi
Nachman Kahn, who were
split by personal and profes-
sional dissension. The two
rabbis have settled their dif-
ferences and are now working
together.
He added that the com-
mittee wants to emphasize
the need for the school not to
rely just on its two fund
raisers. He added that the
school has no plan for fund
raising other than what the
two rabbis bring in, and that
accounts for better than half
of the school's $3 million
budget. Less than $800,000
of the budget comes from
tuition. Rabbi Goldberg said
more money needs to come
from the community in the
form of parlor meetings, in-

formal get-togethers, alumni
solicitations and other vol-
unteer efforts. He said the
pressure on Rabbis Kahn
and Freedman wasn't
healthy for them nor for the
school.
Rabbi Goldberg said the
school's first step is to finish
forming its new nine-
member board consisting, he
said, of people who will be
compatible to both the rab-
binic committee and the
school's business staff. The
new board members will
serve for a one-year term
with a mandate of helping
the school "heal" financially
and politically. Equally im-
portant, the board will
create and ratify a school
constitution. The school, ac-
cording to Rabbi Goldberg,
currently operates without
one.
"This is all important,"
said Rabbi Goldberg,
"because the crisis was ex-
acerbated by a lack of in-
stitutional structure. There
is no ratified constitution
with this school, and because
of that issues can become a
nightmare. They can become
murky.
"When you mix a financial
crisis with an enhanced lack
of clarity of leadership, you
have the makings of some-

thing that could have closed
Yeshiva Beth Yehudah."
Rabbi Goldberg said the
mood of the partnership
between Rabbis Kahn and
Freedman has worked itself
out. He said these were
"well-meaning people who
were looking to improve the
situation at the school."
Both fund raisers are on
the job. Perhaps the biggest
symbol of the school's trou-
ble was the postponment of
its annual banquet. Yeshiva
Beth Yehudah's banquet,
besides being a cornerstone
of its fund-raising effort, is
arguably the largest one in
the country for a yeshiva.
Originally scheduled for this
month, the banquet has been
rescheduled for March 29.
"The Yeshiva is a com-
plicated business organiza-
tion," said Rabbi Freedman.
"It serves over 650 kids and
has 140 full- and part-time
employees. It's an aging in-
stitution and has some aging
personnel. We're facing a
severe recession, but so are
school systems, city and
state governments all over
the country. Because of the
recession, we're facing new
problems that we haven't
faced in the past. This
yeshiva is necessary to this
community, but this yeshiva