Rubashkin Rabbi's Organization Tries To Seize Shul, Refuses To Answer Questions From Member Congregations

During the conference call meant to take the place of a national convention, Young Israel's national leaders repeatedly refused to discuss plans to expel a member congregation and seize its assets. In response, a delegate made a motion of no-confidence in the National Council’s leadership. With that, the national leaders hung up, leaving delegates from across the country puzzled and upset.

One of Agriprocessors and Sholom Rubashkin's biggest backers during the past four years has been Rabbi Pesach Lerner, the executive vice president of the National Council of Young Israel.

Now Lerner's own questionable actions are coming into the spotlight:

Young Israel Movement In Turmoil Over Upstate Shul

No-confidence vote in leadership sought after threat to expel Syracuse synagogue.

Stewart Ain • The Jewish Week

In the wake of an unprecedented move by the National Council of Young Israel to expel a member congregation in upstate Syracuse, a rebellion is brewing among some of the Orthodox congregations affiliated with the movement.

The challenge to the National Council surfaced during a conference call last Thursday with representatives of the organization’s nearly 150 member congregations.

At the end of what was described as a contentious call — during which National Council leaders repeatedly refused to discuss plans to expel a member congregation in Syracuse — one synagogue representative made a motion of no-confidence in the National Council’s leadership. With that, the national leaders hung up, leaving synagogue representatives puzzled and upset, according to those on the call.

One of those on the call, Hillel Levine, a board member of the Young Israel of Toco Hills in Atlanta, said he was “disappointed by the National Council’s handling of the Syracuse matter and its handling of the meeting of the delegates. Of the delegates who spoke at the meeting, I can think of only one who spoke vaguely in favor of National Council’s handling of the whole thing.”

Levine said that everyone else on the call was upset, ranging from “clearly disturbed to outraged.”

The planned vote on the expulsion of Shaarei Torah Orthodox Congregation of Syracuse — and possible legal action to seize the synagogue’s assets — was said by the National Council to be over the synagogue’s failure to pay $20,000 in back dues. The National Council withdrew the matter at the last minute to permit time for a negotiated settlement, and cited those talks as the reason for its refusal to discuss the matter with The Jewish Week.

It did issue a statement late Tuesday, however, in which it said it does not “debate our internal issues publicly,” that it has “no intention of closing a synagogue” and is “guided by the constitution of our organization with the direction of our board of directors and Young Israel Council of Rabbis Halacha committee.”

The Syracuse congregation, however, contends that the real reason for the planned expulsion was its election of a woman president several years ago. Its president, Dr. Beverly Marmor, the second consecutive female lay leader of the congregation, said that although there were rabbis who had wanted to work out a financial settlement in recent days, that ended “because of the chaos of the moment.”

The proposed settlement was said to have had the Syracuse congregation pay at least part of its back dues to the national body, which in turn would drop its alleged complaint about having a woman at the helm.

At least two other Young Israel congregations have had women presidents, but this is believed to be the first time the National Council has sought membership approval to take legal action to stop it.

The action comes at a time when the National Council appears to be moving more and more to the right religiously, a move some of its member congregations are apparently not prepared to make.

Founded in 1912 and considered a modern-to-centrist “Torah-true” movement within American Orthodoxy for most of its history, the National Council in recent years is viewed as increasingly in the haredi camp, having moved to the right both politically and religiously.

Rabbi Pesach Lerner, the group’s chief executive, has made the campaign to free Jonathan Pollard, who spied for Israel and is serving a life sentence, a major cause for the National Council. And rules put into effect three years ago by the organization’s Council of Rabbis Vaad Halacha [committee on Jewish law], have upset the leaders of a number of Young Israel congregations who say they did not sign on for the restrictions when they joined the national group.

Several of those leaders interviewed cited in particular an August 2007 letter that included the following in which the organization said there were a series of new regulations:

*  Synagogue presidents must be male and Jewish from birth; 

*  Family memberships may not be granted if a spouse is not Jewish;

*  Women’s prayer services are prohibited;

*  Women may no longer read the Megillah during a prayer service;

*  The Young Israel Council of Rabbis must approve anyone employed by a Young Israel congregation as a rabbi.

The last one was widely believed to be a mechanism to prevent a graduate of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah yeshiva, founded by Rabbi Avi Weiss, from gaining a pulpit at a Young Israel synagogue, though Rabbi Lerner has denied that.

“Nobody knows who is making these decisions and who are the halachic authorities,” said one Young Israel synagogue president. “If you are in Syracuse, maybe a woman president is your only option. Maybe a different standard should apply in New York City; you cannot make uniform standards. We have common values, but you can’t impose arcane values.”

The ban on women synagogue presidents, he continued, “is just wrong and offensive and not politically correct or acceptable.”

The synagogue president pointed out that the National Council has not held a membership convention for at least 10 years, preferring instead to convene meetings of member synagogues through telephone conference calls.

“This issue has now exposed the underbelly of the way” the National Council is run, he added. “We’re a civilized, knowledgeable group of people who have finally said enough is enough. We can’t exist under duress and fear of retribution” if we go off the reservation.

“We must live under an organization that follows rules, is transparent and meets the needs of its constituents,” the synagogue president continued. “We’re here to stand up for one of our own, a poor shul in Syracuse — the only bastion of Orthodox Judaism in upstate New York — that is trying its hardest to preserve itself. And here is a national organization trying to tell them how to operate. Where were [the national leaders] when [the synagogue members] needed them?”

This appears to be the first open rift in the nearly 100-year-old organization.

There is no known precedent of an extant Jewish congregation in this country becoming the object of, in effect, a hostile takeover by a national group like the National Council, Marc Stern, counsel and acting executive director of the American Jewish Congress told The Jewish Week. “Because most shuls are freestanding bodies and their membership in national bodies is loose, it doesn’t happen often.”

“We’re in the process of putting together a formal response to the National Council,” said the president of a member congregation who asked for anonymity because the response had not been finalized.

“We believe in the right of a synagogue to self-determination and to promote its values as opposed to trying to defend ourselves against a national organization that is imposing standards on local branches,” he said. “If a synagogue doesn’t want to be a member, it should have the right to resign without retribution.”

Marmor said her members voted to resign from the National Council two years ago during an emergency meeting called by the then-synagogue president, Joan Poltenson, after a July 2, 2008, threat from the National Council.

“We were told that if our [woman president] did not resign immediately, they would sue us for having used their name for years and would also claim our assets,” Marmor said, noting that the synagogue owns its building, a parsonage and at least three Torah scrolls.

Although Marmor said her synagogue sent a letter to the National Council informing it of the resignation and a name change from Young Israel-Shaarei Torah of Syracuse, the National Council hired an attorney who wrote back to say that the organization’s constitution bars a member congregation from resigning its membership and affiliation.

The letter also instructed the congregation to confirm its continued membership and “cease and desist from any further effort to operate as an independent Orthodox synagogue...”

Marmor said her synagogue has ignored the letter.

“This is the United States of America,” she said. “Whoever heard that you can’t resign from a voluntary organization?”

But the National Council does have the authority to expel a member and seize its assets, according to the organization’s constitution. Marcia Eisenberg, general counsel of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, said that synagogues that join the organization agree to abide by it.

“When you are part of the movement, there are certain obligations on both sides,” she said. “If they have signed a contract [to join], they have to be bound to it.”

Eisenberg noted that the other national congregational movements — including the Orthodox Union, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and the Union of Reform Judaism — are “much looser” with respect to their synagogue affiliations. 

Related Post.

Rabbi Pesach Lerner Index.

Comments

[Izzy]

"Rubashkin Rabbi?" Come one. Important article, bad headline.

[Eliezer]

I agree with Izzy.

[who knows]

NCYI was always considered to be just a distant and benign organization with little benefit other then name to provide to the member synagogues. Now some band at the helm begins lording congregation over and imposing themselves on everyone.

This is a hostile takeover of the movement and, I hope, YI crowd would not stand for it.

[Yochanan Lavie]

The National Council of Old Israel.

[Neo-Conservaguy]

Agreed with the suggestion to change the title - should have "Young Israel" prominently featured.

[nachos]

"The proposed settlement was said to have had the Syracuse congregation pay at least part of its back dues to the national body, which in turn would drop its alleged complaint about having a woman at the helm."

I see they are taking a stand for halacha!! Why has Judiasm become all about money?

Cheskel, does Rabbi Lerner have a Jewish heart or a prostitue's heart? You never answered my question about Aaron!!!

[Adam Neira]

Who “owns” these various shuls ? Who owns the Temple Mount ? Who does G-d want to oversee the site ? How much is the small trapezoid piece of land worth ? How much is trust worth on the world stage ? How much is the prophesied righteous redeemer’s presence, counsel and oversight worth ? What would all the Jews who have lived and died in the past who have donated money to various Jewish sects think of the current machinations of various leaders ?

Right before the ultimate arrival the audience is arguing vociferously about the seating arrangements. Everyone should trust in the benevolence, expansiveness, stability and order of the universe. Seek the heavens and start to enjoy the show.
Looks like everyone is scrambling over funding issues...As the flag of peace is unfurled from the Holy City, prosperity will unfold. When there is no violence in an area, the manic concerns of pure survivalism lose their appeal. FACT - The focus/attention dynamic of a group of people changes when a peaceful situation presents itself.

[Abracadabra]

Yochanan -

Very clever! AND very true!!! These power struggle are as old as the universe (no matter what age you think it is....

[Abracadabra]

I think the National Council of Young Israel has, in the past 10-15 years maneuvered itself to become a politically powerful organization. It is trying to weigh in on a political level - similar to the way that the Agudah and the OU does. It HAS the numbers to show for itself - just by virtue of the fact that every Young Israel shul in the country is a member which includes every individual and their family which is member of a Young Israel shul. That is a LOT of people. So, they are playing politics.

On top of that, they have an executive director who davens exclusively in a Chassidish shul in his neighborhood (not a Young Israel, even though there is a Young Israel down the block from the Chassidish shul). I'm not quite sure I understand the thinking behind that appointment. Whatever the case, it is coming back to bite them.

Anyway, the black hats are taking over. I suggest an investment in felt, or whatever those hats are made out of. I'm afraid that Modern Orthodoxy will not survive this wave of extremism.

[anon query]

"Synagogue presidents must be male and Jewish from birth" - Why would they do this?

In there something in the chumash about welcoming a ger into your midsts.

[Office of the Chief Rabbi]

"Synagogue presidents must be male and Jewish from birth"

I guess because women don't have the Sign of the Covenant, and that the only kosher mikveh is Hakadoshboruchhu's natural waters inside a woman...who doesn't have the Sign of the Covenant.

[Zalman Alpert]

Yes the NCYI has moved to the right ,but at the same time has also adopted the Charedi atttude towards ethics and transparency. Item: The NCYI decided to esll its own building in W. 16th St , which was opposed by the its own synagogue housd in the building as well as the shuls rabbi. Essentially the move would give the NCYI lots of money and finish off the shul one of only several Orthodox syns serving the area. the chief goal was the sale of real estate.Eventually this sale was resolved in secualr courts.
One can google and come across several articles in teh FORWARD detailing the financial activities of R. Lerner and his ex boss JK in their roles on the NCYI it involves personal loans and owning nursing homes. the only reaso there was no prosecution is the clout of orthodox Jews in NY state politics.These transactions have never been expalined in a public forum.
Yet after this R. Lerner is till the CEO of NCYI.
In another scandal where a local YI was sold in Ct with almost no transparency and detail concernng the funds realized the NCYI refused to get involved.
Where is NCYI located now, in fact I suspect their offices in NYC are just a mail drop.
I call on all the local branches of NCYI who are devoted to the principles of YI which include honesty, ethical behavior and an openess to American standards to take action against a leadership that is on the road to turn the group into nother shtibel in Monsey.
But my hunch is that its much too late to save the NCYI, we should concentrate our efforts from preventing the OU from going the same way , which 1 of its major divions is well on the road to...

[itchiemayer]

As I stated on another thread on FM, I did ask Rabbi Lerner why he didn't go to a YI Shul. His response was something to the affect of it would be too disruptive as people would be bothering him all the time, so it would not be good for the Shul or for him. That was the gist of it, I can't remember it verbatim.

[Yerachmiel Lopin]

Itchiemayer,

Thanks for asking. The answer sounds dubious. PL seems to have the same attitude towards democracy: too disruptive of his total control.