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| Rabbi Levi Brashevitzky kisses the Tehillat HaShem after prayer Sunday at Chabad of Tidewater, one of the few local synagogues offering free worship services for the upcoming Jewish High Holidays.
(Hyunsoo Leo Kim photos | The Virginian-Pilot) |
By Steven G. Vegh
The Virginian-Pilot
When the Jewish High Holidays begin Wednesday night with Rosh Hashana, Chabad of Tidewater will be one of the few local synagogues where worship services are free and open to anyone.
At most synagogues around the country, limiting admission to dues-paying members and congregants’ guests – who may be charged fees ranging from $50 to hundreds of dollars – is standard practice.
But Chabad is among those in the Jewish community that think restricted admission feeds a “pay-to-pray” perception. That image, some say, repels unaffiliated Jews at the one time of year when they’re most likely to seek a synagogue.
“What kind of message are you sending to somebody if they really can’t afford it?” Chabad’s Rabbi Levi Brashevitzky said. “What happens if someone isn’t sure that the money is worth it? It’s important that everyone feel welcome.”
Synagogues counter that free, open admission to the extremely popular holiday services would undermine their message that Jews should support Jewish organizations on a year-round basis.
“If you wanted to be with us on the holidays, you need to be a member of the synagogue,” said Rabbi Rosalin Mandelberg of Ohef Sholom Temple in Norfolk. “The goal isn’t to get people to pay for High Holiday tickets; the goal is to get people to make a commitment to being part of a community.”
According to the temple’s Web site, holiday admission tickets were sent only to congregants who were paid up in their member dues as of September. The temple also was charging congregants’ non affiliated, out-of-town guests $100 each for admission.
Holiday fees and tickets are a “very sensitive topic” in the Jewish community, said Rabbi Israel Zoberman of Congregation Beth Chaverim in Virginia Beach.
“On one hand, congregations want their members to be responsible members in all aspects,” he said. On the other hand, “who would want to deny a fellow Jew a place at the holiest time of the year?”
 Rabbi Levi Brashevitzky of Chabad of Tidewater says offering free worship promotes unity among Jewsduring the holidays. Yet some synagogues work with people who can’t afford cost of full membership. |
The debate over admission fees stems partly from religious law that bars Jews from handling money during the Sabbath and sacred holidays.
As a result, “we don’t pass the offering plate – that’s a big difference between the Jewish and Christian faiths,” said Joel Rubin, a former president of Temple Israel in Norfolk.
Instead, most synagogues set membership dues that can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars – the amount varies with factors such as household size. Dues pay for synagogue costs including staff and utilities crucial for weekly services and ongoing programs.
The services for Rosh Hashana, which marks the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur – also called the Day of Atonement – are among synagogues’ most elaborate. On Yom Kippur, Jews express repentance before God and seek reconciliation with the people they’ve hurt in the past year.
Tickets and guest fees are one way synagogues cope with the holiday overflow crowd. “We have to look out first for the people paying all year long to be members of the synagogue,” Rubin said. “They have first right to a seat at the High Holidays.”
But Paul Golin, assistant executive director of the Jewish Outreach Institute in New York City, thinks synagogues should see the holidays as an opportunity to reach out to non member Jews.
“You’ve got a large number of Jewish households who’ve not yet been sold on the value of attending synagogue, and now is the time of year when they’re most thinking about it,” he said. “But high cost could act as a barrier right when they might be willing to engage.”
In Manhattan, Rabbi Judith Hauptman has offered free High Holiday services for four years, targeting unaffiliated Jews in their 20s and 30s.
“If the organized Jewish community doesn’t do something to go out and keep these people connected to us, they’re going to drift off” and ignore or leave Judaism, said Hauptman, who teaches Talmud at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.
At Chabad of Tidewater, Brashevitzky said free admission allows Jews to come before God as a unified people for the holidays. Chabad is a national movement that encourages Jews to become more religiously observant. Brashevitzky said his synagogue relies on donations and patrons, not membership dues.
Several other local synagogues generally guarantee free admission only to members. But exceptions can be made.
At Congregation Beth El in Norfolk, complimentary tickets are available to Jews who are new to Hampton Roads or to Judaism, Rabbi Arthur Ruberg said.
At Beth Chaverim, Zoberman said Jewish military personnel temporarily assigned to Hampton Roads get free admission. He said the synagogue also waives the guest fee for some congregants who can’t afford it.
Ohef Sholom gives tickets to military families and full-time students at local colleges.
Like several local synagogues, Mandelberg said, Ohef Sholom works with people who can’t afford the full cost of membership.
Ohef Sholom gives subsidized, reduced memberships – or “dues relief” – to about 35 percent of its 700-household congregation.
“We do not deny membership to anyone with financial hardship, ever,” Mandelberg said.
At B’nai Israel Congregation in Norfolk, Rabbi Chaim Silver said there is no charge for holiday services.
“Prayers should not cost money,” he said. “At the same time, people should realize the only reason they can come to this place is because there are others who make generous contributions to keep the facility and community alive.”
Steven G. Vegh, (757) 446-2417,
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Not at our synagogue
We have never made membership a requirement for attending High Holiday services nor have we even sold tickets in the history of Congregation Or Ami in Richmond. We have no endowment, but believe that people will be committed enough to pay what they can to cover the expenses which we keep low by doing things ourselves. It will be the past presidents setting up chairs and members planting flowers and weeding the beds. You don't have to pay anything to come, but you will find a home here if you do come.
Taxes!!!
for businesses that hide behind religion. this is not clever.
The cost of doing
As a 60 yr. old former Catholic raised in NY with many Jewish friends,I have know of the practice of Jews paying a "fee" to be a member of a Temple since childhood. Jews, Christians,etc., organized places of worship have expenses. I have attended church's that have "Sold" tickets to Christmas services. Some times thats what it took (in the old days) to get you a seat in the service. I pray for the day this country has that "Problem" once again. No one of faith really can believe that it is a "Pay to Pray" charge. It's mostly you people that haven't a clue about religion or beliefs that do most of the gripping about Religion and Money spoken in the same sentence.
Business is business
If someone is offended by the fact they want to charge a membership fee, or whatever they want to call it, simply don't go. Don't get upset about it. Just don't go. Religion is business. Someone has to pay the bills, and the city doesn't give the church a free ride because they "just don't have the money this week". Let them collect however they want to collect. Don't like it? Go somewhere else.
This is not paying for praying
Anyone can pray at any given moment in their lives (for free).If this is customary and acceptable to only allow paying members access to their synagogues then so it shall be! After all, they need to pay their overhead for all of these members to gather. Prayer is one of the few things one can choose to still do for free!
There's no debating... never has been...
Judaism has been following this tradition ever since it was commanded in Exodus chapter 10. There's no debate; every Jew knows that their religious organizations will work to ensure that every worshipper who wants to attend can do so while also trying to ensure they remain able to pay their mortgage (because Jews are also commanded to not become a financial burden on others).
The only controversy is the perennial misunderstanding of what is merely an accounting method by people unfamiliar with Judaism and their own religious texts.
Judaism also has a prohibition against 'Leshon hara' or Talking Negatively About Others. It would be wonderful if others also shared this belief.
L'shanah tovah!
It Figures
Everyone has an opinion about money and prayer. It's funny how people from the various religions of the world look down or negatively toward each other religion. After having been involved in organized religion from childhood to early adulthood, it became clear to me that religion was business. People "created" their "god" to explain what they didn't understand. Anyway - who cares if the Jewish religion charges dues or christians pass the plate, or other religions get funds other ways. People want it and it takes cash to get it. Tax them? Maybe not. They do take care of some things we would ask the govt to do otherwise.
Easy to have an opinion....
It's easy to have an opinion on someone elses religion when you are in the majority and fairly ignorant about what the real issues are and/or politics involved. I do not have a valid opinion on the financial or spiritual issues involved in membership at a mosque or a church of any denomination. The reality is that there are very few Jews in this country and in the world, less than two percent. A Billion Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, 1.5 Billion Christians/Catholics and only 13 million Jews worldwide. With so few families, to have a place of worship Jews have to financially support the congregation, and we choose to due it through dues and occasionally tickets for high holy days. It is NOT pay for prayer it is about supporting the Temple
Tax them
Religious institutions are increasingly running themselves as businesses, and are intertwined in the branches of government. It is time they paid their fair share in taxes.
Appalling!
I had no idea this was going on in this religion. Although on the other hand, at least they're up front about it. Many Christian denominations choose to give you repeated high-pressure hard sells that are worthy of any used car lot.
Should be reworded
It isn't so much paying to pray as you can do that with God for free and there isn't any way anyone can collect or tax that but paying to assemble in a building a congregation is using because they do not have the means by which to pay for the expenses. As far as religious beliefs, I can't speak for the synagogues, but if that were a Christian church taking that approach I wouldn't question greed so much as the fact of God was even present there, because if it were ordained by God the church would have the funds to operate in the first place. Whether it be through tithes and offerings, selling tapes and books, or fund raisers, God will provide a means for that church to operate, if you push people away because of that you are doubting God
Privilege and Responsibility
Thank you, Brooke. Thank you for speaking Sanity when the ignorant speak too quickly and without full understanding. Whether it be a Synogogue or a Church or a Mosque, all these facilities cost money to maintain, and someone pays the bills. Whether it is with an offering plate being passed around or with donations or fees, the money to keep these places of worship open to worshipers has to come from somewhere. Whichever form it takes, the Privilege and responsibility is ours to support our places of worship. God bless the people able and willing to support them.
It just doesn't seem right to make it a mandatory
thing to pay to attend a place of worship, regardless of the affiliation, be it Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian etc. I could understand requesting donations to help with building maintenance and improvements, that seems fairly typical, or for volunteers to help with that work. But the concept of paying a membership due in order to attend just seems wrong in my mind. The mosque I began attending recently does not require any specific fees or dues to be paid, but they do request that folks help out with the general upkeep if they are able. The few churches I attended many years ago also had the same general attitude. I'm not sure if this is a new sign of the times, but I disagree with the overall concept of a pay-per-pray facility.
Temple dues
A reminder to everyone dropping scripture and expressing shock -- shock! -- that there's money involved at a house of worship: There is no tithing at synagogues, no passing of the plate every week. A single annual membership payment includes high holidays tickets. I'm a confirmed Catholic (and Catholic school product) who is married to a Jew and who is a paying member of a Norfolk temple, so I have a foot in both worlds. It's really no different than members of a parish being expected to tithe to the best of their ability. Also: temples get no financial suport from a diocese or other central body, so each congregation has to pay its own bills. Christians and Jews alike have to pay the bills. They just collect the money in different ways.
A little education
I'm not a fan of paying membership fees for worship services myself, however, people commenting here could show a little religious tolerance and class by not quoting their Christian beliefs in relation to Jewish customs and places of worship. Pilotonline is not the place to put someone down based on your religious beliefs and it's certainly not a place to attempt to convert anyone either.
Really Lousy Story
Nice way to stoke the divisivness and misperceptions and prejudices VA Pilot! There's not enough anti-semitism in Hampton Roads for you????? Really...was this necessary? And was the poor writing necessary?
it's not paying to pray
Every one of us has the right in this country to pray to the deity of his/her choosing, at any time, in any place. Nobody is forcing these people to "pay to pray;" if they want to pray, all they need do is bow their heads and speak to their chosen Deity.
However, if they want all the pomp and circumstance, all the regalia, and all the tradition that congregations have built up, then I see no problem with asking for a monetary donation, especially from people who aren't members. If the Jewish Holy Laws dictate they are not supposed to handle money during this time period, who are any of the rest of us to tell them they should break away from that and pass a plate? Asking for payment in advance seems to be smart and reasonable.
Creating an issue where none exists
Let's not create an issue where none exists, and let's not single out synagogues. Any member of a congregation of any denomination knows that membership fees are not based on the concept of unity or "paying to pray" - that is nonsense. As a former member of a synagogue board, I can say first hand that they are based on the simple fact that it costs money to build and maintain a building, as well as teachers for Sunday school and the costs of other activities. There is not a congregation in this world that would not offer free services if it did not have expenses to cover. God bless those who do offer free services, but it should be noted that the Chabad of Tidewater does not have the expenses that many larger congregations do.
The cost of prayer
As usual, it all comes down to money, even when praying should be a free mutual event for any and all to participate..The Lord did not say you cannot pray to me unless you pay me...how greedy can this world get??..has it come down to this, money even when one needs to feel closer to the Lord? When one dies..one has no need for any thing in this world..all the money in the world will not save you the day the Lord decides to take you..and when he does, the dues will be owed then..and when he asks, how many have you spoken the word to in my name..I guess the answer now will be, very few, since no one wanted to pay to listen to me....and when he says, there is no charge for being a faithful servant of mine..what are YOU going to say then?
Should people pay to pray?
I'm appalled by the practice of dues and membership fees in a house of worship! I would like to know the Bible verse in which God tells the Jewish people that they must pay before they can worship Him.