.Fgr.m1PRIMITIFF"

Rabbi Rosenzveig said that he "never
took a dime" in salary from 1963-
1982, when he was still trying to raise
money for the HMC.
"I said if I take a salary, we won't be
able to put up a building," he said.
In 1984 when the HMC opened, he
was paid about $75,000 a year with-
out a contract.
In 1992, only after he raised a $4.5
million endowment as a cushion, he
finally agreed to sign a contract with
the HMC, stipulating a salary of
$175,000 plus an annual "back pay"
deposit of $50,000.
Since, then Rabbi Rozenzveig's
annual salary has increased. His semi-
monthly paycheck stub for the last
half of December 2004 revealed a
gross amount of slightly more than
$10,000 —making his gross salary
approximately $240,000.
But he said he refused the extra
$50,000 "back pay" for the last three
years to help build the new museum
in Farmington Hills.
In defense of his salary, the rabbi
said that he does not have a pension
plan, and he holds several jobs com-
pared to heads of other Holocaust
institutions.
According to the latest tax records
available from fiscal year 2002, the U.S.
Holocaust Museum in Washington,
D.C., paid $22.9 million in salaries
from a budget of $70.4 million. Sara
Bloomfield, museum director, was paid
$262,710 in salary and benefits and
chief financial officer John Fawcett was
paid $173,316; 221 employees were
paid more than $50,000.
In 2002, the Simon Wiesenthal
Center in Los Angeles spent $7.9
million in salaries of its $32.3 million
budget. Rabbi Marvin Hier, the cen-
ter's dean, made $482,528 in salary
and benefits; treasurer Susan Burden
made $326,803; and Abraham
Cooper, associate dean, made
$397,622. Four other directors made
a total of $1,542,014; 43 other

' 1,

employees made more than $50,000,
including three of Hier's family mem-
bers who made a total of $559,991,
making the Hier family recipients of
$1,042,519 in salaries and benefits.
According to the HMC's 2002 tax
forms, only one other employee,
Selma Silverman, the controller, makes
more than $50,000. Rabbi Rosenzveig
employs his wife, Helen, as the mem-
bership coordinator; their daughter,
Judy, works part time as a librarian.
"I don't want to sound like a public
relations artist or an apologist for the
rabbi, but I think he deserves every
single penny that he gets for the work
he does," said Dr. Treblin. "I didn't fall
off the matzah ball truck yesterday,
and I would not be involved with an
organization if I thought that money
was inappropriately handled."
Alan Zekelman, immediate past
president of the HMC, said the rabbi's
multiple roles make the HMC "the
beneficiary of having a much less
expensive institution to operate than
almost any other."
Citing the national Holocaust muse-
um in Washington, Zekelman said,
"They spend millions of dollars on
mail campaigns and fund-raising, and
if you look at the size of the building
and the content, our content is world
class and best of class, in many
instances," he said. "We just don't
have that 'Gotta let the whole world
know and spend millions of dollars
doing it' approach."

Eye On The Future

Saul Waldman, treasurer of the
HMC executive committee, said con-
versations about the future have just
started.
"The rabbi's doing such a fantastic
job of running it and bringing pro-
grams in and coming up with innova-
tive ideas, there really isn't much
thought going into it right now," said
Waldman, who was involved with the
HMC and the rabbi before the origi-

191111191rIMMT11.11,7-

nal building was built.
"Eventually, I would like to see
him get an assistant, to help take
some of the day-to-day operations
off his shoulders and let him con-
centrate on major projects. It sure
will be difficult."
The rabbi said he struggles with hir-
ing professionals to help with fund-
raising.
"It is very possible that we may have
to do it, but once we do it we accept
the responsibility of a considerable
additional expense," he said. "I may
have to hire someone, it's getting too
burdensome on me, and maybe I don't
do enough justice in terms of fund-
raising and promotion."
Dr. Treblin said the door's never
closed on that idea, but the board needs
to shift its thinking to another level.
"So much energy has gone into tak-
ing the tiny Holocaust Center from
the Jewish Community Campus to
our new place, now the transformation
is going to go from taking the new
place to the future," he said.
"Concrete plans? Not right now
Things that we are considering that we
know have to be dealt with.
Absolutely."
The rabbi is beginning to think
about it, too.
"I'm not a young man, I don't know
how long I'll be around," he said.
He has worked to give his replace-
ment a cushion, enough money in
endowments so he "will not have to
worry the next year or the next
three years."
His son, Eli, a rabbi in New
Rochelle, N.Y., would be the natural
person to take the HMC to the future,
but he's not interested, said the rabbi.
"He sees what I go through, it's a
24-hour job. His family does not want
to move away from New Rochelle," he
said. "It's difficult to zero in on a per-
son who I am convinced has a total
commitment to it and has the capabil-
ity. That won't be easy to find." 0

Anion the JC,;.tures ,tnd exhibits
at the HMG are the meinorial
flame, above, and a mu;-al of
pre-Holocaust shted lift in
which a current portmit
RabI' h RosenzveigWaS

1/20
2005

19

