This is my disclaimer: I am speaking in generalities. I am sure there are a lot of people who work in the Jewish community, whose desire was to work in the Jewish community, who work very hard and are very good at what they do. However, everyone knows that working in our community is not lucrative. If you are very good in your field, you generally don't say "Well, I could be earning $X in the secular world, but I'd rather work in the Jewish community - forget the fact that I would only be paid $(3/4)X." Or, you don't think to yourself "I am going to study accounting so that one day I can work at a synagogue and help manage their finances!"
Maybe I am a little bit jaded, but my experience with many employees in the Jewish community is this: they didn't know where else to look for a job, didn't have much experience, or some other reason similar to that (under-qualified for position of similar importance in secular society). It is as if most of them go to the Jewish community because they know there are jobs available for them there with bosses who have less-discriminating tastes - not because they honestly care and want to make improvements.
Example 1: Organization A has an opening for an advisor and a Regional Director. The advisor position is in a big community and the Regional Director position is in a small community. Person A (aka Shlemiel) applies for the advisor position and is turned down due to lack of experience/education. Shlemiel then applies to the Regional Director position and is hired. I actually don't know if Shlemiel is doing a good job or not since I haven't spoken to him in a long time, so it's possible that despite his lack of education/experience he is actually good at his job. But that is besides the point.
Example 2: Organization B hires someone (aka Shmendrik) to run its programming and oversee interns. Participation in programming drops after Shmendrik is hired, but his contract is renewed year after year, as participation continues to drop. This is due in part because Shmendrik and Organization Rabbi are good friends and Rabbi doesn't want to ruin the friendship by looking for a new person - even accommodates Shmendrik's crazy schedule when he decides to go back to school part time. But also partially because Rabbi is also in a similar situation as Shlemiel (would not have been hired for the same position in a larger Jewish community and therefore has less experience/knowledge of how to run this type of program) and may not realize that the right thing to do in this situation is find someone who is better suited for this position. Shmendrik is a nice person but for some reason the programs are not succeeding and money is being used irresponsibly.
These opinions could just be the result of the fact that that I have spent a majority of my time working in education, youth and college organizations, which generally get the short end of the stick in terms of funding. It's not dishonest to say that higher salaries bring in better quality people.
I think that we can state that location is not generally an issue in terms of locating potential employees. With the invention of the internet and jewishjobs.com, you can find Jews willing to work in your Jewish community from all over the country. If the job is attractive enough, you will get quality candidates.
In many ways, I truly believe that the Jewish community of North America still acts as if it is a small shtetl in the Old Country, where parents and random community members living nearby make up the only fish swimming in the pool. Or where most people had more knowledge about Judaism and Jewish life than a majority of the population has today. And in that situation, all of their projects and goals were on such a small scale (compared to today) that they could count on the community at large to do the work together, with maybe one paid professional to keep everything organized.
Here is what I have identified as the major problems with the professional Jewish community, at least the narrow scope that I have been exposed to:
- Lack of professionalism. It is somewhat amusing that for the first problem with the professional Jewish community I list the lack of professionalism, but it is true. People who are higher up in the organizations are not all professionals who are trained for their jobs; many needed a job, decided to look in the Jewish community and found a job that they may or may not have been (minimally) qualified for. These people are unable to hire and fire employees in a professional manner. They are unable to hold efficient meetings, unable to hold an opinion in a polite but professional manner, unable to confront problems and tackle them in the correct manner and are unable to relate to people they may have a personal problem with. They may be able to run programs well, they may not; they may be able to manage the finances well, they may not. But the lack of professionalism is rampant.
Example: Jewish Professional Manager A (Rochel) knows that in a few months, Jewish Professional Employee B (Sora) will be laid off due to restructuring. Rochel begins to treat Sora in such a way: discourages her participation in meetings, discourages her initiatives and projects, etc. This continues for months until Sora is brought in for a last-minute "emergency" meeting with Rochel, where she is suddenly told she has been laid off. Good-bye!
Perhaps this situation would occur in a secular environment with a "bad boss." However, in a secular environment that boss is called a "bad boss," whereas in the Jewish community one almost has to expect that kind of behavior. - Lack of adequate and properly-allocated funding. Like I have mentioned before, my experience is mainly in the Jewish community organizations that focus on people age 35 and under, so I have limited vision in this respect. However, these programs usually are underfunded and are often the victims of budget cuts when money is tight. Less money means lower salaries; lower salaries means lower quality employees and/or less motivation from employees to do their jobs.
If someone could be a full time teacher for $33k in a Jewish Day School or $42k in a public school, there are only a few reasons why someone would choose the Jewish Day School over the public school, barring situations such as: public school in very bad neighborhood, has bad reputation, or the like. One reason would be the fact that you get Jewish holidays off to celebrate with your family without taking vacation days (or to use those days as vacation if you don't celebrate the holidays). Another is that you are not certified to teach in the public school system and private schools can have whatever criteria they desire (usually a bachelor's degree works in the place of a teaching certificate). The third is that your expertise is in a field that does not translate to the public school world, ie: Jewish Studies. And, finally, because you care about the education of young Jews and you would like nothing other than to ensure the continuation of our culture. I don't know how many fall into the last category - I assume there are quite a few, but there are a lot who fall into the other categories.
This is sad because, like I will mention in a future post, Religious Schools are a myth. The only real way to give your children a proper Jewish education in the Diaspora - and by that I also include New York City - is twofold: at home and in private school. But that is for another rant for another time.
Another example is that shuls, synagogues, Temples, etc, generally spend more money on programming for the people who pay dues: parents and old people. Children and single/young adults do not bring in money, especially after the Bar Mitzvah year and before their first child reaches pre-school. Therefore, when budget time comes around every year, money is re-allocated to appease the people who pay the most money. Often times youth programs are run by volunteers, simply parents of youth-group-aged children who may not have any experience in after-school or informal education. - Lack of organization. This may fall under "lack of professionalism" category, but not necessarily. Many large Jewish organizations today grew organically, and therefore had no objective planning from the beginning. People were hired "as needed," therefore job assignment is not always as efficient as it could be. Job responsibilities overlap - and where responsibilities overlap, either everything is done inefficiently or nothing is done at all ("oh, the other person will take care of it" - or "oh, it's the other person's job to do X"). Other times, job responsibilities are unclear or two jobs that could be combined as one job are done by two separate people.
Example: A shul has a weekly flyer and a monthly mailing. The person who oversees the weekly flyer is not the same person who does the monthly mailing. Therefore, all entries to both must be sent to two separate people, despite the fact that these are very similar jobs and receive the same information.
The Jewish Community of the Diaspora needs a make-over if it's going to continue to thrive and produce new Jews. Large organizations need to act like businesses*, take care of themselves like businesses, and treat their employees like employees first and friends second. Smaller organizations can afford to be more friendly to their employees, but still must work to retain more of an objective view of its spending. Simply because a program doesn't bring in money doesn't mean it is a failure.
*business: The model of "business" has to be different in the Jewish community than in the secular community. A Jewish business, such as Federation, is not for financial profit. The goals must be clearly outlined and money allocation must match these goals, regardless of the success of the specific program that is receiving the money. You can replace Israel connection programs with other Israel connection programs in order to try to reach that specific goal, but not with a "Mature Singles" group, for example. Surveys and studies are done to monitor the success of the programs, not simply base results on the amount of money brought in or the average number of people in attendance at programs.
Where does this money to fund our community come from? There is money. It exists. If someone can afford to fund birthright, there have to be people who can help fund community organizations in order to ensure their quality. Maybe they won't step forward in this generation, but once a generation is raised in a community that cares about them every step of the way (even between Bar Mitzvah and the pre-school enrollment of their first child!), there will be people who will be willing to give their support.
How can an organically-grown organization become, well, organized? Make-over! This does not necessarily mean bringing in "The Bobs" and firing people left and right. ("I'm a people person, damn it!") It means making sure that each person is doing the correct amount of work to their position and salary. It means making sure that everyone is clear as to what their responsibilities are, who they report to, and whose job relates to theirs in what ways. It means using everyone efficiently. And it means firing people who are not doing their jobs well.
Sometimes I think that I would like to get a degree in Jewish communal business management so that I could help these poor, floundering messes. There is a new(ish) program at Brandeis that offers this. But then, maybe I need to take a break from the community for a while.
