urmoil

JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR STAFF WRITER

story continued from page 1

are going to hear good things
about the rabbi and bad things
about the rabbi," he said. "But all
of the anecdotes separately and
in total are not a way of assess-
ing a rabbi."
Cantor Gail Hirschenfang,
Rabbi Polish's wife, will remain
employed with the temple for the
duration of her contract, which
will expire June 30, 1996.
Rabbi Polish's supporters said
that they would consider estab-
lishing another temple. Rabbi Pol-
ish, however, said it is too early to
make decisions about the future.
"What I need to do at this point
is to let some time pass so I can see
what comes next for me," he said.
Rabbi Polish began his tenure
at Beth El in 1988 when he
signed a five-year contract to
serve as senior rabbi. He replaced
Rabbi Dannel Schwartz who also
left the temple over differences
with members of the board.
Part of the reason Rabbi Pol-
ish was brought in was to help
the congregation heal from past
rifts with former senior rabbis.
When his first contract expired
in 1993, the board of trustees of-
fered him a one-year extension.
A two-year extension followed in
1994.
During contract negotiations,
members of the board became in-
creasingly concerned that the
temple remained in a deficit.
When Rabbi Polish came, the
deficit was $292,000. During his
tenure, the number fluctuated be-
tween $296,000, in 1991, and
$13,000, in 1993.
The deficit for last year is
$110,000 and is projected to be
$125,000 in 1995.

Rabbi Daniel Polish:
Sabbatical begins June 30.

14

Rabbi Leon Fram:
Formed Temple
Israel.

Continued membership losses
raised concerns as well. Beth El
membership fell from 1,600 when
Rabbi Schwartz left in December
1987 to the current 1,245 dues-
paying members. Many left to
join Rabbi Schwartz in forming
Temple Shir Shalom, which now
has a membership of 670.
Because of the concerns, the
board and senior staff of Temple
Beth El agreed to bring in a pro-
fessional consultant on congre-
gational organization and
relationships. Consultant Speed
Leas of the Alban Institute began
working with each senior staff
member, as well as a committee
representing the congregation.
The president appointed the
committee and the rabbi ap-
proved it.
A board member said that in
the 18 months the consultation
was in process, trustees felt con-
tinued dissatisfaction with the di-
rection the temple appeared to be
headed. On Dec. 19, several
trustees sought a special vote to
take place on Jan. 8 which would
place the rabbi on sabbatical for
the last year of his contract. Con-
gregants were informed by letter.
Almost immediately after the
first letter, the Committee to
Save Temple Beth El, a group of
Rabbi Polish's supporters head-
ed by Steven Mitchell, sent a sec-
ond letter.
The unsigned letter claimed
board members circumvented the
evaluation process by scheduling
the special vote:
"When Rabbi Polish's contract
was extended for two years, a per-
formance review plan was estab-
lished so the board could
determine whether or not Rab-
bi Polish should continue in his
position after this contract ex-
pires," read the letter.
"Now, some board members
are attempting to subvert and
abort the review process that has
already started."
Mr. Kamins refuted this. The
purpose of the evaluation process
was to improve relations between
senior staff members and the con-
gregation by studying what con-
gregants' needs were and how the
staff responds, he said.
"Neither I nor the board ever
regarded (the consultation
process) as an activity to reach
a decision on the rabbi's future,"
Mr. Kamins said. "It was not in-
tended to nor was it expected to."

Steven Mitchell addresses a crowd of Rabbi Polish's supporters.

The committee's letter contin-
ued, outlining reasons that the
board wanted to replace Rabbi
Polish.
The writers blamed the loss of
membership on the growing
membership of Temple Shir
Shalom and attrition from death
and moves.
In addition the deficit was
blamed on "a huge increase in our
dues" to the Union of American
Hebrew Congregations.
"The dues went from $60,000
in '93 to $120,000 in '94, $150,000
in '95 and $200,000 in '96," the
letter read.
The committee's letter ended
by inviting congregants to an
open meeting in support of Rab-
bi Polish to take place Jan. 4 in
the temple's Handelman Hall.
On a night when the temper-
ature reached only 7 degrees out-
side, about 375 congregants
crammed into the hall and spilled
into an adjoining room. Mr.
Mitchell began the meeting by re-
iterating what was in the letter.
Rabbi Polish was brought to
the front of the room and told the
story of how he was informed of
the board's decision to hold the
special closed meeting to vote on
his sabbatical.
Mr. Mitchell urged members

of the crowd to call trustees to
voice support for the rabbi and to
sign petitions which were circu-
lating in the crowd. The petitions
were for the recall of Mr. Kamins,
board secretary Alan May and
trustee Sanford Passer as well as
to open the closed board meeting
scheduled for Jan. 8.
Only the petition for the open
meeting was turned in to temple
executive director Thomas
Jablonski. However, the petition
was not in accordance with tem-
ple bylaws, which call for per-
sonnel matters to be decided in
closed session, Mr. Kamins said.
Some board members said
they received several calls and
faxes in support of the rabbi. Oth-
ers said they received the same
if not more calls supporting the
board decision.
The board met at 2 p.m. on
Sunday. Members listened to
Rabbi Polish for 40 minutes as
a contingent of nearly 50 of his
supporters waited outside the
room. After he was excused,
trustees continued deliberations
until 9:30 p.m.
Mr. Kamins informed the rab-
bi of the result of the vote after
the meeting.

See related story on Beth El on page 25