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Guest Column
Editorial
Rate The Rabbi
Jewish Communal Security:
A Communitywide Concern
F
or a rabbi who is on vacation, in
retirement, in semi-retirement, on
sabbatical or merely on a busman's
holiday, there is a certain amount of glee
when one strolls unrecognized into syna-
gogue sanctuaries of another city and can
play "size up the synagogue."
It is the rabbinical equivalent of spy-
craft ("Call me Bond. Yechezkil Bond.").
Over the years, I have reviewed rabbis of all
sizes, shapes and sexes who abound in all
sorts of synagogues and I have developed a
complex rating system on everything and
anything from the sermon, liturgy, archi-
tecture, program, cantor or kichel.
The results of the exercise range from
schadenfreude to green with envy. In the
past, I have been an equal opportunity
critic of Reform, Conservative, Orthodox,
Humanist and Reconstructionist congre-
gations, and even once stumbled into a
Messianic one by mistake (After
all, when it looks like a shul,
sounds like a shul, is named like
a shul, but is, well, not a shul ...
What can you do?).
I have always thought it would
be a great idea for newspapers to
send anonymous critics (such as
moi) out to the various churches
and synagogues to write reviews
just like they do with restaurants,
movies or shows. I wonder ... if
clergy thought that a review of
their performance might appear
in tomorrow's paper, would the quality of
sermons and services suddenly improve?
These days, it has become far more dif-
ficult to play the "Rate the Rabbi" part of
the process simply because so few give
sermons or even drashes (a religious
essay) anymore. Instead, they are tending
to impart three-minute quiches to bar
and bat mitzvahs. I have begun to believe
that the three-minute drill plus priestly
benediction might just be some kind of
Divine joke on those of my generation who
were so contemptuous of our predecessors
who gave 45-minute professorial lectures
(I think that my exact words then were:
"If you can't strike oil in 15 minutes, stop
boring!").
Perhaps it is the tendency in today's day
and age to downsize or maybe keep all dis-
course within "tweet" territory. Or it could
be that we may lack the moral certainty
that we once had. Years ago, it seemed so
easy when we demanded to know where
the world was when Jews were being
murdered during the Holocaust and that
we would never forget. One of the favorite
quotes came from Hillel: "In a place where
there are no mentshes try to be a mentsh"
... and never let that kind of thing hap-
40
March 15 2012
T
pen
again. And yet it did happen again in
Bosnia and again in Rwanda and, though
some of us went to marches to make
someone do something and might have
mentioned them for a brief moment from
a pulpit (15 minutes or three), the sug-
gestions for action — any action — were
vague at best.
I distinctly remember recommend-
ing boycotting grapes from
California to help migrant
workers fight for better pay
and working conditions. It was
a facile solution to a human
problem. It came so easily off
of my tongue. I have to admit
I felt righteous when I said
it and felt even better when I
didn't put grapes or wine in
my own market basket.
Today, the equivalent issue
is Foxconn assembly plants in
China with overcrowding and
harsh working conditions that make the
Triangle Shirtwaist fire tragedy look like
child's play. I marveled at the verbal dex-
terity of the Florida rabbi who managed to
give a summary of the parshah, while dis-
tilling the Apple/Foxconn/China megillah
in the three-minute allotment. As he began,
I wondered how could anybody possibly
recommend to bar or bat mitzvahs that
they exist without cell phones or laptops
like we lived without grapes?
But the rabbi surprised me with sum-
ming it all up by suggesting an email chain
letter complete with condemnation to
Apple. In other words, the rabbi was tell-
ing a 13-year-old to write an email on her
computer or start a cascade of tweets on
her iPhone that was probably produced in
the very same factory that she'd be protest-
ing about. And when you think about it,
utilizing computers to change the moral
culture of how computers are manufac-
tured ... social networking, social action,
Torah and irony all in three minutes —
priceless. Anybody want to try Iran-Israel
and nuclear threats in two minutes? ❑
Dannel Schwartz is the founding rabbi of
Temple Shir Shalom in West Bloomfield.
he safety and security of
the American Jewish com-
munity hinges on height-
ened awareness of our collective
surroundings.
We rely on our top leaders to
keep watch on the Jewish com-
munal world – whether synagogue
administrators, religious school
principals, camp directors or
group executives. But all staff and
leadership should have regular
training on institutional security.
And everyone who uses a Jewish
facility should ask questions
about security, know what to do
in an emergency, and trust their
instincts about suspicious behav-
ior or if something is out of place.
Individual Jewish communities
owe it to their constituents to
have a practical, comprehensive
security plan. That plan should
stress reporting circumstances
that seem odd, including, where
appropriate, a physical descrip-
tion or a vehicle's make, color and
license number.
So says the Anti-Defamation
League (ADL), which urges a
holistic approach to security
alertness.
And that makes absolute sense.
In the wake of stepped-up
attacks on Israeli diplomats
abroad and anti-Semitic incidents
on U.S. soil, we as Jewish America
can't depend on others to protect
us if we don't lend a big collective
hand ourselves.
"The sad reality is that we are a
potential target of terrorists and
haters," says Elise Jarvis, ADL
national communal security coor-
dinator. "But this does not mean
that we need to change our level
of religious involvement or activi-
ties. It is possible to make our
institutions safer and more secure
while still maintaining a welcom-
ing approach for our community,
friends and neighbors."
The ADL advice comes amid
Jewish groups praising the Obama
administration and Congress for
$10 million in new homeland secu-
rity grants – a welcome allocation
to nonprofits despite being almost
half of last year's amount. Most
of the grants in recent years have
gone to Jewish institutions for
security upgrades against a back-
drop of increased threats, plots
and attacks on more-vulnerable
Jewish communal targets world-
wide.
Driving the fan belt of vul-
nerability is Iran's race toward
nuclear arms, its wild-card proxy
Hezbollah and U.S.-led sanctions
to contain these terror-mongers.
The ADL tips seem simple,
but they provide rock-solid sup-
port. They underscore the warn-
ing against trying to rationalize
unusual activity. It's law enforce-
ment's job to filter information
and assess danger.
Still, Jewish institutions are
always better off when they have
a rapport with local police and
fire departments. That's where
relationship building comes into
play. Invite police officers and
fire fighters to visit your build-
ings. And make sure they know
the dates of Jewish holidays and
other occasions that may draw a
large number of congregants.
High-tech security is important,
but it doesn't take the place of
human curiosity. It also can't over-
come a seemingly innocuous but
potentially dangerous act such
as propping open a back door to
improve airflow.
In the prevention spirit, the
ADL and other local watchdog
groups will team with the nation-
wide Jewish Secure Community
Network to host a security forum
on April 24 for all local Jewish
agencies and institutions.
The ADL is right: We can all
be vigilant about security and
still experience everything our
synagogues, federations, JCCs,
Holocaust centers, eldercare facil-
ities and other communal build-
ings have to offer.
❑