Now that Modiin has no Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi, we have an
opportunity. Instead of searching for a new Ashkenazic rabbi (in addition to
the two Sephardic rabbis we still have, and because such searches are always
political in nature and do not always take into consideration the needs of the
city’s residents), I propose that the money for the Ashkenazic rabbi’s salary
(c. 40,000 NIS per month!) be used to subsidize and encourage the hiring of
community rabbis in Modiin.
It would work like this:
synagogue communities that have rabbis under employ will be eligible for
a subsidy under the following conditions:
a. These rabbis
will be accessible to members of the broader community, particularly in their
neighborhoods;
b. No subsidy will
exceed half of the salary that the rabbi already gets from his community;
c.
No community will be subsidized for more than 5,000 NIS
per month.
d. The rabbis of
all synagogue communities – Chabad, Conservative, Masorti, Orthodox, Reform –
will be eligible to apply for the subsidy.
As Anglos, we appreciate the value of cohesive
communities with strong religious leadership. We know that the best way to
build a rabbinate is not through political appointments from the top down, but
by building supportive communities from the grassroots up. We know that
eliminating the positions at the top and promoting communities as the basic
building blocks of our civic society is the way to build a strong city, and
ultimately a strong nation.
Municipal elections are coming up. Let’s put this issue
on the agenda. Let’s make Modiin the site of a pilot program that every city in
the country will want to emulate.
