{"id":132,"date":"2006-09-12T10:07:00","date_gmt":"2006-09-12T10:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/virtualtalmud\/2006\/09\/how-many-rugelach-do-i-get-with-that.html"},"modified":"2006-09-12T10:07:00","modified_gmt":"2006-09-12T10:07:00","slug":"how-many-rugelach-do-i-get-with-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/virtualtalmud\/2006\/09\/how-many-rugelach-do-i-get-with-that.html","title":{"rendered":"How Many Rugelach Do I Get With That?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a rabbi, I find myself in a bit of a bind when it comes to the question of synagogue membership and the High Holidays. On one hand, I\u2019d never want to turn anyone away who wants to pray at the holidays\u2013who would? And we don\u2019t\u2013non-members can still purchase tickets at my synagogue,<\/a> and we always make sure that even those are discounted for anyone who can\u2019t afford them.<\/p>\n

So why charge fees at all? Well, besides the obvious point about synagogues\u2019 needing to pay the bills, which Rabbi Grossman points out<\/a>, there\u2019s the additional issue of community. In short, simply purchasing\u2013or not purchasing\u2013High Holiday tickets reinforces a consumer \u00e0 la carte mentality: Pay for what you want, leave the rest.<\/p>\n

This is great when it comes to cell phones\u2013I just signed on for a new plan, and it was great to select only the options I wanted and not to be charged for services I don\u2019t need. But unlike a cell phone plan, a relationship with a community isn\u2019t\u2013or at least shouldn\u2019t be\u2013utilitarian.<\/p>\n

Can you imagine a membership plan that included High Holiday tickets plus entrance to another holiday of the member\u2019s choice, two pastoral meetings with the rabbi, coffee at kiddush but no Danish, and no more than one life-cycle event per year? True, you might pay less, because you only purchase what you use, but you lose much more\u2013a sense of belonging, of emotional connection, of expansiveness, of knowing you have a stake in something and that it has a stake in you in return.<\/p>\n

Organizations that promote no-membership High Holidays may have found a great outreach tool and capitalize on resentment against membership dues that are justly criticized as too high. But by encouraging a consumer approach to Judaism\u2013shop for the best bargain, never make more of an emotional commitment than you have to\u2013they may be doing the Jewish community a grave disservice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a rabbi, I find myself in a bit of a bind when it comes to the question of synagogue membership and the High Holidays. On one hand, I\u2019d never want to turn anyone away who wants to pray at the holidays\u2013who would? And we don\u2019t\u2013non-members can still purchase tickets at my synagogue, and we…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Many Rugelach Do I Get With That? - Virtual Talmud<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/virtualtalmud\/2006\/09\/how-many-rugelach-do-i-get-with-that.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Many Rugelach Do I Get With That? - Virtual Talmud\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As a rabbi, I find myself in a bit of a bind when it comes to the question of synagogue membership and the High Holidays. 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