Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Why they're wrong

(Crossposted to Jewschool)

Consider this the next post in the "lilmod mah shetashiv" series for supporters of independent Jewish communities. We've all gotten into this argument before.

Abstract: Some people argue that new independent Jewish communities are harmful to existing synagogues. They're wrong. Other people recognize the fallacies in this argument and advance a more nuanced version. They're also wrong.

The Basic Argument: "Look at that new minyan, Kehilah Atzma'it. They've certainly been successful -- they get n people every time, most of whom are young and energetic. It's great that so many young people want to be Jewishly involved! But meanwhile, my synagogue, Rodef Kesef, is aging and struggling to pay the bills, and we'd love to have so many new members. And if Kehilah Atzma'it didn't exist, all these young people would be going to Rodef Kesef. Therefore, Kehilah Atzma'it is harming Rodef Kesef."

The Unspoken Assumption: The Jewish population is a zero-sum game. There is a finite and static pool of involved Jews. Therefore, any new community that starts is poaching its members from an existing community.

Why They're Wrong: It's not a zero-sum game. Most of the people who go to Kehilah Atzma'it now weren't going to Rodef Kesef before KA started; they weren't going anywhere. And if KA had never been founded, then they would still not be going anywhere. Therefore, the primary effect of KA on the broader Jewish community is an increase in the total number of involved Jews, not an exodus from one community to another.

The More Nuanced Argument: "Ok, that's true about marginal Jews who wouldn't otherwise be going anywhere, and it reminds us that we should all be doing better outreach efforts to bring them in. But I went to Kehilah Atzma'it one time, and let me tell you, these were not marginal Jews! These are highly committed and knowledgeable Jews, who make Judaism a major priority in their lives. Surely the committed core of KA would be going somewhere for Shabbat if KA didn't exist. They've put a lot of energy into building KA, and we could really benefit from that energy here at Rodef Kesef."

The Unspoken Assumption: There are two types of Jews: marginal and committed. Either you're one or the other; people never switch back and forth between these two types. Marginal Jews are involved or not, depending on the circumstances, while committed Jews are always going to be involved. Therefore, while the Jewish population as a whole is not necessarily a zero-sum game, the committed Jewish population is -- both in their numbers and in their commitment.

Why They're Still Wrong: This version of the argument is taking a short-term view. In the long term, people switch back and forth all the time. People who used to be "marginal" Jews have gone to Kehilah Atzma'it and not only become involved at KA, but become "committed Jews", to the degree that a casual observer (such as our interlocutor from Rodef Kesef) might assume that these people have been "committed" all along and might not recognize KA's transformative role.

Of course, (since KA was not created on the sixth day along with the tongs [not] made from tongs) this can't be true of everyone at KA. The original founders of KA had to have been committed and knowledgeable from the start, given the commitment and knowledge required to start a minyan. But just as it is fallacious to assume that "marginal" Jews will always be "marginal", it is fallacious to assume that "committed" Jews will always be "committed". Whatever one's level of commitment in the short term, it can be context-dependent in the long term.

Hypothetical scenario 1: Ploni is a "committed Jew" who moves to a new city. Kehilah Atzma'it doesn't exist, and Ploni doesn't find any Jewish community that's right for him, but he's determined to make it work somehow, so he goes to Rodef Kesef and toughs it out for a while. However, over time, it becomes more and more difficult for Ploni to continue practicing Judaism in the absence of a Jewish community that shares his values and where he feels like part of the community. Ploni's priorities shift, so that Judaism becomes less central in his life. Ploni thus ceases to be the "committed Jew" that he used to be. Far-fetched? I could easily see this scenario happening to me in an alternate universe in which I moved to a different city after college, or graduated from college a few years earlier than I did.

Hypothetical scenario 2: Plonit has a similar story to Ploni in Scenario 1. But Plonit is even more determined than Ploni, and she decides that if Rodef Kesef isn't the place for her, then she's going to make it the place for her. So she becomes an active member of Rodef Kesef, and sets out to make incremental changes, so that RK can be the type of community that she's looking for. However, she runs into obstacles when she discovers that RK's longtime members like things the way they are and oppose each of these changes. Plonit's energy may be vast, but it is not limitless, and eventually she gets burned out and is no longer able to continue contributing.

Some people choose to become Jewish communal professionals, and are prepared to spend their careers devoted tirelessly to the Jewish community despite adverse circumstances. Ploni and Plonit chose other careers to devote their days to, and are also happy to put energy into the Jewish community, but can only sustain this in the long term if they are getting something out of this communal involvement.

Fortunately, these scenarios don't have to come to pass. In our universe, Plonit founded Kehilah Atzma'it, and Ploni is an active participant in KA.

(Disclaimer: This post has been floating around my head for a while, and is not intended as a response to Elf's DH's post on Studentville, which is a recommended read.)

21 comments:

  1. BZ,

    You hit the nail on the head here. There is definitely more than a zero sum game, and I agree that people change their level of commitment to Judaism throughout their lives.

    What I think about a lot when it comes to independent minyanim is the question of sustainability of independent Jewish communities. A more pursuasive argument might be "independent Jewish communities are run by volunteers. How can we ensure that communities exist when someone doesn't have final authority, i.e someone's butt isn't on the line." There is at least some truth to this one.

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  2. wait, why do we want communities to exist when no body in the community cares enough to make it happen? That is actually the problem of mainstream institutions/communities. Once they are established, they take on a life of their own, whether they are fulfilling a need or not.

    If no body has final responsibility than communities and institutions will exist when people care, and will disappear when they dont.

    The dinosaur institutions, particularly Federations, are facing this problem right now. They are trying to serve "the community" when only a VERY VERY VERY small part of American Jews actually participate in federation drives/programing.

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  3. From someone who experienced exactly the scenario of jumping ship from one megacommunity to a smaller minyan, (and I'm not alone in my town) another yet unidentified factor is the quality of participation in one community than the other. When I was part of the megaschul, I knew that it didn't NEED me to function on the day to day. So, I didn't put in the kind of time and effort to make it run. I knew that my minyan would be impacted whether I showed up or not, whether I set up chairs, whether ,I sponsored kiddush, whether I sang with my full koach.

    I know some people look at me as exactly that casualty of the zero sum game, but my net involvement in the larger Jewish people is actually greater than it ever would have been without the indy minyan.

    All this said, I still think there is a place for the megaschul. Not everyone wants the kind of intimacy that happens in the smaller minyan. Not everyone wants to be part of the "fringy" community.

    Besides the theological differences, there are aesthetic ones that are palpable and real.

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  4. "I still think there is a place for the megaschul. Not everyone wants the kind of intimacy that happens in the smaller minyan."

    I don't think that people necessarily become members of synagogue congregations to avoid intimacy. I think that they could be participating in a conventional institution precisely because they can pray unencumbered by the responsibilities of leadership. If you're not worrying about practicalities, you may find it easier to concentrate on becoming intimate with God.

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  5. I agree that it is not a zero sum game. More Jews doing more Jewishly is good for the Jews. However, as someone invested in a small bricks-and-mortar synagogue, I argue with the false dichotomy between the independent minyan and the megashul. (I get the joke, but still somewhat resent the synagogue being characterized as "Rodef Kesef") In small congregations, either in small towns or those that exist not far from megashuls, the contributions of individuals are crucial to the continued existence of the community. Perhaps in the rarified atmosphere of Manhattan you can assume that this dichotomy exists, and your choices are "involved indy minyan" vs. "impersonal professionally-run megashul", but the rest of the world isn't like that.
    BZ's Mom

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  6. Agreed with BZ's mom.

    The dichotomy between big, monied shul and small, independent minyan is false. Yes, there are communities where larger, established institutions provide absolutely no help to institutions run by 20/30-somethings. There are other communities where the established institutions help out the new ones (lending Torah scrolls, lending or donating old siddurim, providing space, running joint activities), even if doing so is against their own short-term interests.

    Another way to put it (in a simplified statistical mechanics type analogy) is that if you have N balls and M containers, and N>>M, then the ball reservoir is effectively infinite. Another container has little effect. If N is on the same order as M, the "sum" becomes closer to zero.

    Also, the generational dichotomy (young and energetic vs. stodgy, old guard) is sometimes false too. The problems (IMHO) come when N ~= M and the resources are being divided, say, between a uniform group and a diverse group, or something of that nature.

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  7. In lieu of an analytical comment, I will simply say, "Rodef Kesef. Bwahahahaha." :-)

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  8. So I disagree with this on at least 2 fronts, this should figure since I was on the other side of this debate and it is now blog hopping.
    While I agree it isn't a zero sum game, even in Gotham the land of infinite Jews you have a place like the Youth Hostel Experiment (YHE), which was utterly packed a few years ago but after a number of missteps seems to be slowly dying. Being supplanted by a number of even younger spaces. I'm not saying whether it should or shouldn't survive, just that the idea that it's not to some degree a zero sum is just false.
    Gotham like studentville has a perpetual influx of young people as well as a constant stream of older folks heading out. Everyone wants to be on the ground level and build things with their own hands but don't think that doesn't cut off a lot of energy that at another time would have flowed an established space.
    Wait I had a second point.. Maybe elf's dh made it I can't recall.

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  9. elfsdh said:

    There are other communities where the established institutions help out the new ones (lending Torah scrolls, lending or donating old siddurim, providing space, running joint activities), even if doing so is against their own short-term interests.

    Which is why this attitude of "anti-institutionalism on principle" seems short sighted and somewhat naive. Most newly emerging minyanim need support from the communities and institutions they are drawing from. And many fail to acknowledge that. It is possible to form your own minyan without bad-mouthing the "big institutions". However, there does seem to frequently be an unfortuntate lack of respect and support for the very institutions that are allowing new minyanim to take off. (See Studentville for example).

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  10. The YHE might technically be an independant minyan, but it has all the problems of an established dieing shul. An insider culture so stuck in its own way of doing things that it turned off everyone new. Except the insider culture in this case is created by 28-35 year olds instead of 50-80 year olds.

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  11. Kant writes:
    Which is why this attitude of "anti-institutionalism on principle" seems short sighted and somewhat naive.

    Who's against institutions on principle? The opposition to institutions is because of what they do (or don't do), not because of what they are.

    Most newly emerging minyanim need support from the communities and institutions they are drawing from.

    Most newly emerging minyanim aren't "drawing from" existing institutions; they're drawing from people who don't have a place in the existing institutions.

    However, there does seem to frequently be an unfortuntate lack of respect and support for the very institutions that are allowing new minyanim to take off.

    "allowing"? First of all, many independent minyanim operate successfully in apartments, without any institutional support. Second of all, while I can't speak for Studentville, I can say that in NY the Jewish institutions that have developed positive relationships with independent minyanim (which is some institutions, certainly not all) are respected by those minyanim. I'll give some respectful shouts-out to the SAJ, the Jewish Home & Hospital, and Beth Elohim.

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  12. In each of these cases, the relationship between the institution and the independent minyan is symbiotic, not parasitic.

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  13. An insider culture so stuck in its own way of doing things that it turned off everyone new.
    Anoymous,
    Number 1. I always thought that the YHE problem was that it straddled the line between orthodox and conservative for a long time.. Till it managed to alienate both groups. But I haven't been around for a while so I could have misread what little I saw.
    Number 2. I'm happy to put good money on the fact that in seven years someone's gonna say the exact same thing you just did about the 28-32 year olds that are now running KA.

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  14. Number 2. I'm happy to put good money on the fact that in seven years someone's gonna say the exact same thing you just did about the 28-32 year olds that are now running KA.

    But why is this a problem? The founders of KA weren't trying to create the minyan to end all minyanim. If KA evolves to continue meeting the community's needs, then great, and if not, then it can shut down (which is easier if it doesn't have a building or a payroll) and something else can start up in its place.

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  15. While I'm all for institutions disorganizing and reorganizing when necessary (or even more frequently), I'm not convinced shuls/communities can or should be that way. And while one could say that Kehillot Atzma'iyot can disorganize and reorganize constantly alongside more "mainstream"/permanent communities, I worry about the values inculcated by that model in the KA participants. I'm not sure that losing a few Scenario 1 people for the sake of a greater good would be so terrible.

    (This is not the zero-sum argument; this is a long-term sociological argument.)

    (And this is from someone stuck in Stodgydale who would love a KA but shudders at the thought of starting something in a place from which he hopes to flee at the first possible moment.)

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  16. BZ says:
    Who's against institutions on principle?

    I am!!

    Ok, not really. I am against the ever increasing rationalization of institutions. I think the anarchist model has a lot going for it, at least when it comes to Jewish community (as opposed to the state). When you want to do something, you get together with others and do it. Thats it. It could be for prayer, for learning, for educating kids, for ping-pong tournaments, whatever...

    Yes, this requires that thing be small scale. It requires that the institution actually be in close contact with its constituents. I means that nobody can take anything for granted. It also means that energy and time, rather than $$$ are the routes to decision making.

    Are there power plays and behind the scenes issues in DIY groups? 100% But its much easier to either call a meeting and get the shit out on the table, step into the backroom yourself, or start up some other crazy shit somewhere else.

    For lots of structural reasons we don't get direct democracy in government. The least we can do it run our Jewish communities that way.

    If we want to be communities of people, rather than a community of institutions, we need to create nimble almost self-destructive institutions. That is something that few megashuls will ever contemplate.

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  17. The Tongs [not] from Tongs made an appearance in the current haftarah! Isaiah 6:6 http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt1006.htm

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  18. Locke-
    On an unrelated note, I have to ask: is your blognomen named after the philosopher or after the persona from Ender's Game? It's amazing how that book predicted the blogosphere!

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  19. In these discussions, people often forget about a few other phenomena. There have been things like independent minyanim before, and I am not talking about chavurot. How many shuls had "library minyans" that separated themselves from the service / b'nai mitzvah factory in the main sanctuary to lead their own services with more Hebrew in the shul library or chapel? I can think of Beth Am in LA and Minyan Me'at in New York. In Cleveland, where I am from, there was such a minyan at both a Conservative shul and at the largest Reform shul. An interesting question might be why didn't independent minyanim seek to be housed inside large synagogues, or vice-versa? Also, it would seem that many of the "committed" who have become post-denomination indie minyan members would have either become Orthodox baalei teshuva or liberal rabbis. I think a study of Pardes alumni from non-Orthodox backgrounds would bear this out, as would a study of Ramah alumni.

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  20. Rodef Kesef;... makes me giggle. Tee-hee! Sha'arei Shel Zahav... Kehilla Kedosha Zevel Zach

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  21. Andrew Shapiro Katz writes:
    An interesting question might be why didn't independent minyanim seek to be housed inside large synagogues, or vice-versa?

    Some independent minyanim are indeed housed inside synagogue buildings (large and small), with varying types of relationships between the minyan and the synagogue. (Segulah is one example.) In some cases it works out well; in other cases, it has not worked out for various reasons. In still other cases, minyanim have approached synagogues, or vice versa, and been declined. This has also happened for multiple reasons: the synagogue didn't want competition with its own services, the synagogue didn't allow multiple services in its building for other reasons, the minyan wasn't compatible with the synagogue's religious practices in various ways, the synagogue wasn't in the right location, the synagogue wanted a relationship in which the minyan wasn't just a sovereign entity renting space, etc.

    Also, it would seem that many of the "committed" who have become post-denomination indie minyan members would have either become Orthodox baalei teshuva or liberal rabbis.

    Agreed.

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