In college, we would occasionally pull an all-nighter. We’d study all night long with ample caffeine, and go right into the test without sleeping. I’m not sure whether there was any real science behind the practice, but I think it sometimes resulted in a decent grade.

The Shul equivalent is the first night of Shavuos. We follow the custom of staying up and learning all night, with the hope that our Shacharis and Musaf the next morning are acceptable and pass the test before Hashem. In fact many of my friends over the years have stopped the practice because the benefit of the learning did not outweigh the wiped-out davening and day long feeling that comes in its wake. If you are running a Shavuos program here are some thoughts based on my experience over the years.

The center piece of the program of course is the learning, so make sure there’s space with tables set up for chavrusas and for people learning alone. Make sure the Shul is opened to accommodate the earliest arrivals, which in Queens is around 11:30 PM.

Some Shuls have shiurim throughout the night. Even if you don’t have continuous shiurim, a lead off shuir at the start of the night (11:30 or so) might make sense, because there are a number of people who will stay up a little later and the lead off shiur is a good accommodation for them. With the growing popularity of Daf Yomi, we’ve added a Daf shiur to the program. On most years there is also a program for women and girls learning in a private home during the night.

A more active program with which we’ve found success, is a Shiur preceded by preparation. The teacher gives a brief introduction before the learning begins and hands out relevant source sheets for the chavrusas to learn. After the learning the teacher gives a shiur reviewing the important points. A good ratio is at least twice as much chavrusa learning as shiur time, for example, 1 hour of learning and 30 minutes of shiur time.

For early teen and pre-teen boys, one of our members gives a shiur throughout the night. He happens to be a master teacher, so he keeps the boys involved, entertained and under control. It’s too much for most younger boys to be involved in learning all night, which is fine as long as they don’t run around or disturb others.

The food break is a key component of the program. Make sure you have a water urn, plenty of coffee, sugar and non-dairy creamer for those who will be fleishig for most of the evening. Although I’ve heard some shuls go high end with Sushi and beyond, we normally put out fruit, cake, candy, salty snacks and beverages. The food area needs to be cleaned up periodically and replenished with snacks. Make sure there is a final cleanup before davening so a mess is not left for those who come to Shul at the regular time.

The evening ends, when the day begins with a sunrise (vasiykin) minyan. It makes sense to give a little time for people to freshen up before Shacharis and to be ready in Shul to hear and be yotzei the morning berachos from someone who slept during the night. The big stay awake test for many comes when Akadamus and the haftorah are recited.

Although we call Pesach a night of contrasts, Shavuos also follows that pattern. There’s a tremendous energy with all the learning, while at the same time, there’s a tremendous amount of effort made just trying to remain awake.

A Policy Enforced By Thermometer
In a previous post about The Politics of the Open Shul Window, I recommended setting a policy based on using thermometers and creating a committee or a person to enforce a temperature based policy. A recent incident caused me to re-evaluate that suggestion.

A New Clock Arrives
My weekday Shul is in a small room that fits about 35 people and it can get quite warm when the window is closed, which it often is. It’s basically a grin and bear it situation. Recently, one of the Mispallim donated a big new atomic clock (it’s a Neitz (sunrise) minyan), with a digital thermometer visible to all. After davening, I looked at the thermometer and it was 78 degrees. I went to the Gabbai and mentioned that 78 degrees is warm by objective standards, and I asked if perhaps it can be remedied.

Returning to the Scene
I was away for a few days, and when I came back it was cooler in the room, because the window had been open, but the thermometer was changed to Celsius. When I noted the Celsius change to the Gabbai, he just smiled. He also mentioned that a local Rav had a thermometer to monitor the temperature, but subsequently removed it.

The Problem of Objective Standards
On the surface objective standards seem fine, because they’re measurable and fair. The problem comes because the objective standard makes everybody a potential enforcer of the policy and that’s usually unworkable. With an objective standard, any person can insist that one degree above the agreed upon temperature requires the window to be open. There usually needs to be some discretion in policy enforcement and the objective standard eliminates that.

What’s the solution? Assign someone to be responsible for the temperature and opening of the windows, but don’t state an objective standard that can be called to enforcement by any member.

No, we’re not taking about Willy Wonka, where the song originated, or Sammy Davis Jr., who made it popular (don’t you just love the power of wikipedia), we’re taking about the man in Shul who makes the kids smile with a piece of candy or three on Shabbos.

Could there be possibly be politics with the candy man? Of course! Now remember our definition of politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. And in the case of distributing candy to children there are actually some real issues.

A story will illustrate. When our Shul moved into a new building the members were putting in their requests for seats. The candy man wanted to sit near the Aron, but the Baalei Tefillah felt that having the kids come up front during davening was disturbing. The candy man agree to change his policy and only distribute candy after davening. Soon thereafter somebody further back in the Shul distributed small portions during davening. The candy man did not mind and was happy with his after davening slot.

Besides the distribution issue, some parents are not crazy about their kids eating too much candy on Shabbos because it makes some kids wired. However it’s hard to put controls on the candy man if the Shul is ok with the distribution.

All in all the candy man is a good thing. It sweetens the Shul going process for the younger kids who remember the experience for a lifetime.

Although the president is the “buck stops here” officer, with all the responsibility that entails, the Shul Treasurer probably puts in the most total hours. In fact in our Shul, we have three, going on four, Treasurers – one for Tzedakah, one for our Gan, one for expenses and one for member’s receivables. In bigger Shuls, some of those functions would be handled by a Shul employee, but in smaller Shuls (~less than 250 member), the budget, or a sense of idealism keeps the bookkeeping in the hands of volunteers.

Of all the functions, member’s receivables, with it’s entry of charges, payment processing and billing of members is most tricky. It’s impossible to get it 100% correct and when mistakes get made members get upset.

For the entry of charges, the Treasurer must coordinate with the membership committee for any special membership fee deals, with the dinner committee for the dinner pledges, with the seating committee for the Yomim Noraim obligations, with the Gabbaim for any misheberachs made, with the building committee for building pledges. In fact for any charge entered, there is a person with whom to contact. A good Shul Membership System makes this easier, but much coordination and care must be taken to minimize mistakes.

Applying the payments is also a challenge because it’s often not clear to which charges the payment is to be applied. The Treasurer sometimes has to make a best guess, and if the payment is misapplied it will inevitably create confusion when the bill is received.

The final challenge is billing. Gehinnom hath no fury like a member with an incorrect bill. Maybe it’s not that bad, but the negativity directed towards the Treasurer when then the bill is wrong inhibits many treasurers from billing regularly. And no bill means no payment, which hurts cash flow and is more likely to lead to uncollected debt if the member moves on. Ideally monthly billing is appropriate, but a Treasurer who gets out four bills a year is usually considered doing a good job.

For the Treasurer the consolation of this difficulty is that there are many Kaporah moments and the mesiras nefesh builds a better Jew. For the membership, perhaps it would be healthy to cut the Treasurer some slack. He’s doing a tough job to help your Shul pay the bills.

The Agudah of Bayswater was devastated by Hurricane Sandy.

As the Voz Iz Neiaz news site reports:

Bayswater, a tranquil community located on a peninsula northwest of Far Rockaway, was devastated by Monday night’s storm, with parts of the area completely submerged at the height of the hurricane.

“The bay and the ocean met up on most parts of the peninsula,” Elkana Edelman, vice president of the Rockaway Citizens Safety Patrol told VIN News. “Many people, especially those who live on the bay have had major flooding and mold is going to be a huge problem.”
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The Agudah of Bayswater, located approximately one third of a mile from the bay, has been totally destroyed by the storm. The shul, which is located lower than street level had recently undergone renovations.

“They were under eight feet of water at one point in time,” said Edelman. “Now that the water has receded they are only under about four to six feet of water. Thankfully all the Sifrei Torah were removed before the storm, but while the shell of the building is still intact, the building will need to be gutted completely.”

According to Edelman all the Sifrei Torah in Bayswater had been evacuated except one that was located in a small basement shul and was later pulled from its Aron Kodesh as it floated down the street during the storm.

The Yeshiva World news site reports:

The situation is very dire, and as of now, the shul reaching out to anyone who can assist them in rebuilding. The shul is an enormous part of the Bayswater community. There are hundreds who use it on a daily basis and rely on it for their Torah and tefilla needs. (Yeshivas Zichron Aryeh is also housed in the shul). The Shul is reaching out to the broader community to help them rebuild this vital source of Torah and Tefilla and need as much financial assistance that they can get. Checks can be made out to Agudath Israel of Bayswater c/o 1360 Norton Drive Far Rockaway NY 11691

A few weeks ago, I posted about my weekday Shacharis minyan mechila experience and the difference between a minyan and a Tzibbur. After giving it some thought, I think a typical weekday Shacharis minyan can not become a Tzibbur.

The main reason is that there is not enough commitment from the members. Most don’t spend enough time there and it’s difficult to developer deeper relationships give the daven and out nature of the minyan. In addition the financial commitment is minimal, which also diminishes the emotional commitment.

Given that the minyan is not a Tzibbur in the fuller sense of the word, it makes sense that those most involved, the Gabbaim, should make the rules. They’re the ones who are most committed to the success of the minyan and they should have the say in what rules to follow. That’s not to say the Gabbaim shouldn’t be open to suggestions, but unlike the Shabbos Shul, the process is less democratic in such an instance.

I mentioned these thoughts to the Gabbai from the Shacharis minyan and he asked what were the added capacities of a Tzibbur. I mentioned the Chesed aspect to him , but based on the posts of the past year, I think there’s more to it. I’ll try to codify it in the coming weeks.

It sometimes happens that people have valid complaints against “The Shul”. “The Shul” didn’t appropriately announce a Mazal Tov. Or “The Shul” made another mistake with your bill. Or “The Shul” isn’t as friendly a place as it could be. Obviously their not complaining against the building, their complaining against the people running the Shul.

I think people should inform the appropriate parties when things aren’t right, but it might be worth keeping in mind that the people administering the operations of the Shul are volunteers, who collectively provide you services for no pay. In most Shuls only about 20% about the membership is involved to any significant degree, which makes the volunteers jobs even more commendable.

It’s probably too much to ask that people should think long and hard about the right way to phrase their complaints. Many reasons come to mind, “People pay dues for these services”, “The Shul made the mistake”, “People should take responsibility for the positions they take”, and the list goes on. Thank G-d there are exceptions. Many people show appreciation and are very hesitant to complain. But those who have spent significant time volunteering for “The Shul” will be well advised to expect to take heat for the mistakes they will make.

It’s Yom Kippur time and although some Shul administrations ask for a public forgiveness, others don’t. However there is a paragraph inserted in the Tefillah Zakkah, recited before Kol Nidrei at the request of the Chofetz Chaim in which we forgive everybody who has wronged us (without waving any financial damage we have incurred). This might be a good time to privately forgive “The Shul” for their sins of commission and omission. It will take a second and if you do it sincerely perhaps you’ll even reach the next level and come to appreciate all “The Shul” does for you.

We’ve pointed out in a previous post, that the essential goal of encouraging people to learn in the Shul could have the unintended side effect of downsizing the functionality of our Shuls to drive-thru davening and chavrusa centers. The problem is that the resulting structure is often missing services and does not always accommodate a Rav, who’s role is indispensable for the community.

Our Shul’s solution evolved over time. By sharing it, perhaps it will provide a foundation for others to build a lasting and effective Shul structure. When we were planning our new Shul building 14 years ago, the issue of what type of seating was intensively discussed. We were moving from a High School basement with tables to a beautiful new building. The membership was split between tables and the pew style seating, commonly found in larger Shuls. At the same time a large Shul in Jackson Heights, Queens was moving to a smaller location and they offered us all their pews in exchange for a small donation and coverage of the moving expenses.

We went with the pews as an interim solution because of cost and capacity considerations. This decision was made over the protestations of an active board member, who warned it would be like “Aunt Sadie’s hand me down couch” and we’ll never get rid of them. Over the years the pro-tables contingent tried a few plans to replace the pews with tables. None were successful, largely because some very involved members wanted to keep a Shul feeling in our new building.

Fast forward a few years and we implemented a weekday Community Beis Medrash in the Shul. We wanted to provide a place for people to feel comfortable learning either before or after our weekday 9:30pm Maariv. We also created a number of chaburas, where members would give interactive shiurim to small groups. To accommodate the Beis Medrash, every Motza’ei Shabbos we would flip over some pews to make room for folding tables for learning – certainly not an optimal solution.

This went on for a few years and we would on occasion raise the table issue with our architect-by-profession member who was instrumental in the initial beautiful design of our Shul. One day he came up with a great solution, we would have Lavi type pews in the front of the Shul and tables in the back. The tables are 15 inches wide, forward facing on Shabbos and we double them together to create a Beis Medrash environment during the week.

The solution worked out well because we have the full feel of a Makom Tefillah on Shabbos and a Beis Medrash during the week. People were able to choose whether they preferred to sit at tables or at the extremely comfortable and functional pews. Although I’m minimizing the implementation process, at the end of the day it was a great solution.

I was reading a post by Harry Maryles protesting shuls that go against Jewish halachic norms. I join Harry in that protest, but I would like to look at one of his points.

Harry wrote:

Perhaps this is where the problem really lies. As important as a Shul is – it is not the central focus of Judaism. But in Heterodox (Conservative and Reform) movements this has certainly been the case. …

The truth is that Orthodox Judaism is a full time religion. Halacha mandates that we pay attention to God throughout our day and provides many rituals for both men and women to do so. The Shul is a place where one of those rituals take place. It is our house of prayer. But it does not define us in our totality.

Although Shuls may not be the central focus of Judaism, they are a big part of it. When the Mishna says the world stands on Torah, Avodah and Acts of Kindness, I haven’t seen any major commentators that make distinctions of what’s most central, they’re all important. But just because we can’t assert that it’s the central focus, does not diminish it’s importance.

Prayer is a key component of Judaism and prayer takes place primarily in Shuls. And we’ve pointed out before, in many places, the Shul is often the organizing structure for learning Torah and Acts of Kindness. So minimizing the importance of Shuls by saying “it is not the central focus of Judaism” is misleading.

Perhaps the confusion comes from Harry’s second point quoted above, that “Orthodox Judaism is a full time religion. Halacha mandates that we pay attention to God throughout our day”. I agree wholeheartedly with that statement, but it is most true for a spiritually experienced person who knows about Jewish law and pays attention to the spiritual opportunities available throughout the day. Even many Torah observant people get distracted often and neglect those spiritual opportunities. And certainly those uneducated in Torah observance can not avail themselves of those spiritual opportunities.

This is why the Shabbos Minyan is so central. It is a time and a place where everybody can focus on connecting to G-d. Unfortunately even among the Torah observant, we don’t always take advantage of that obvious spiritual opportunity.

For some spiritual beginners, learning Torah is a better place to start, but for many, the Shul experience is the portal to an increasing spiritual life. I will end with a caveat that perhaps moves me closer to Harry’s position. The Shul experience is just one part. A lasting and growing spiritual life necessitates that the person work on their everyday acts of kindness, learning Torah and the spiritual experiences as expressed in the halacha that are available throughout the day.

In summary, Shul’s are central to spiritual growth but a spiritually mature person observes the halacha throughout the day. For many people the Shul is a logical entry point for spiritual awareness, but it’s important to stress that it can’t stop there.

My friend, Neil Harris, a resident of Chicago, emailed me an article on Mishkan Chicago, a new organization that “aims to bring dynamic spirituality to the Windy City”. The organization is run by Lizzi Heydemann.

In describing what she is trying to create, one particular sentence stood out:
“What she doesn’t want to do is turn Mishkan into a synagogue, with its inevitable rules and decorum.”

To create a vibrant growing organization, you need to go beyond an inspiring leader and create a governing structure. Governing structures need rules to insure fair governance.

A successful organization needs their finances to be “squeaky clean”. Squeaky clean finances need rules. Rules on how to raise money and rules on how to spend money.

When an organization is spiritual focused, then rules can actually promote growth. The Mishkan itself had more rules on how it operated then any institution in history of mankind, yet it was the greatest center of spiritual connection ever witnessed.

Spiritual growth can occur beyond the confines of the prayer service. The Torah gives us the opportunity to grow in a board meeting, in a membership meeting, when making a budget. Rules express a concern for fairness and a caring for the collective membership. By shunning them instead of embracing them, an organization is leaving a lot of spiritual growth on the table.

I hope the citizens of Chicago continue their quest for authentic spiritual growth and look for those opportunities wherever they turn.