How are communities structured in Israel?

Thu, Jun 07 2012, 5:47 pm

I have been part of Jewish communitites in the US my whole life. With the exception of campus communities and alternative havurah-type groups, they all seem to be structured the same way: paid membership in a synagogue, with additional fees and fundraising to pay for the building and rabbi.

People say that in Israel it's nothing like that - that you don't join a shul and have an employed rabbi as spiritual leader.

So how does it work?

Thanks!

shabbatiscoming

Fri, Jun 08 2012, 2:35 am

cm wrote:

it depends where. In some places there is a membership to a shul, a shul rav and fees for everything under the sun Smile

In other places, there may not be a shul rav and you only pay a shul for seats on yomim noraim.

There are many different ways to have a community and different fees or not.

Was there some place specific you were talking about?

shalhevet

Fri, Jun 08 2012, 3:13 am

It really depends. Some shuls do have membership. Some pay their expenses from selling Yamim Noraim seats and/or donations people give for aliyos etc. Many people might daven in several different shuls over the course of a week.

Some people have as their rabbi a government paid neighborhood or city rabbi - so their salary is paid by the government.

For the rav we go to, someone collects money every month specifically for that rav's salary - separate from the shul expenses.

Shiurim may be given for free, or someone sponsors one, or there is a small admission charge.

There are places with shul membership as you think of it (without the social side) but this tends to mostly be among Anglos or Israeli upper/ upper-middle class Ashkenazi DLs.

Marion

Fri, Jun 08 2012, 6:23 am

The whole country is a community. So each city has a city rav (or two...Ashkenazi and Sefardi). That's the basic level, and it's a government position, paid for by taxes.

The next level is shuls. Some have rabbis, some just have a lot of very-well-educated "lay" leadership. Some have such a collection of knowledge (every other member has smicha!) that they don't bother with a rabbi and everyone participates. Most shuls raise funds either by membership fees (x amount per year, and it includes y number of seats for the yamim noraim and an opinion on how the money is spent), or by selling seats and aliyot/kibbudim.

In our shul we pay a set amount per year; it includes a seat for me & DH (technically we have assigned seats all year, but people are pretty much only picky about it on YT). When the shul was built people had the option of purchasing additional seats so there would be reserved spots for their kids too...we didn't because he was so young at the time, and the rest didn't even exist yet, but we're going to have to figure out what to do about that soon. I believe our shul rav is paid a symbolic sum; it is not his parnassa. (I think this is likely true of many shul rabbis.)

chanchy123

Fri, Jun 08 2012, 6:47 am

amother wrote:

What communities?

Unless you're part of a small yeshivah, there really isn't much...

People I know all live in communities.
I live in a small yishuv, that's a community, it doesn't necesserily surround a shul, but it is deffinitly a community. My ILs lived in a city and for many many many years belonged to a shul that was a community, they had tiyulim, lectures, parties, traditions, etc. etc, the shul never had an official rav as far as I know, people went to the neighborhood rav and many of the lay members were very learned and gave regular shiurim. Now they have moved to a medium sized yishuv and are looking for a community there.
My paretns live in an Anglo neighborhood in a large yishuv and belong to an American-style Young Israel with a paid shul rabbi, women's league etc. However, the community does not necessarily sorround this shul and includes people who daven in other shuls as well.
Actually, come to think of it, my grandparents were also members of a Young Israel in a city, with a paid rabbi I don't think it was as "American-style" though.
A community could be the building in a large city - I think my BIL and SIL who live in a chareidi neighborhood in Yerushalayim would consider their building similarly to the way I'd consider my neigbhors in my yishuv.
Communities come in different shapes and sizes, they might surprise you.

shabbatiscoming

Fri, Jun 08 2012, 8:11 am

amother wrote:

What communities?

Unless you're part of a small yeshivah, there really isn't much...

This is just not true. I have lived in one big city, one small city and a yishuv.
The only place that I did not feel a community was in the small city, otherwise, in the big city there was a community we belonged to, it was the shul that made the community. Here in the yishuv, there are many different communities.

So, not only a yeshiva makes a community. There are many different ways to make up a community here in israel.