Beth Israel Congregation

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This is, in general, an excellent Reform Jewish synagogue. Because it's the only synagogue in the Jackson area, it gets Jews from many different backgrounds. Some Jews who attend are actually quite religious (or aspire to be), while others are very non-religious. Rabbi Jeffrey Kurtz-Lendner teaches a wonderful Torah class on Saturday mornings, from a perspective that is very different from what you'll encounter in an Orthodox synagogue. I've attended this class over fifteen times. Kurtz-Lendner is very open-minded and welcomes Jews of all persuasions as well as goyim (non-Jews). Some Orthodox Jewish synagogues are quite different in that respect. I'm sorry we'll be losing him. As the synagogue looks for a new rabbi, I hope the committee responsible for hiring the next rabbi will draft an extremely detailed and specific contract outlining the rabbi's duties and responsibilities. For example, suppose, hypothetically, the committee wants the rabbi to teach three different classes for adults, on Saturday morning and on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. The committee should then put this in the contract so that there is no misunderstanding. The committee should not, for example, expect to hire a rabbi who will simply agree, on his own, after he is hired, to engage in that much teaching, when the contract either specified that the rabbi would be required to teach only one class, or was silent on the entire topic. Another example is counseling. If a synagogue wants its rabbi to be available for counseling for up to, say, seven hours per week, then that should be in the contract. Misunderstandings about duties are extremely common in religious institutions, and in general, the fault, in my view, lies in the failure of the hiring committees to come to a detailed written agreement (prior to hiring) with the religious leader they hire.