CCAR RESPONSA
New American Reform Responsa
39. The Governance of a Congregation
QUESTION: My congregation is in the process of revising its constitution. I have been asked what the tradition says about the officers of a congregation or the documents which describe their duties (Karl Harris, Dallas TX).ANSWER: We should begin by remembering that most Jewish communities in the past were small and so the life of the congregation and the community was one. The head of the community was also responsible for the synagogue. As we look through the long history of Jewish communal life, we see many forms of governance. In the period of the gaonim rabbinic leaders were frequently sent from the great academies to distant places in an effort to provide leadership and to retain control of the community. It seems that the Karaite movement was in part a rebellion against this centralization. The Genizah material of the tenth to the twelfth century in Fostat revealed a communal structure with an oligarchy; the communal leaders were expected to deal with both the intellectual and economic responsibilities (S. D. Gottein A Mediterranean Society Vol 2). In Western Europe at the same time, i. e. the period of the Crusades, leadership was in the hands of the rabbinate along with a communal council (M. Gudemann Geschichte der Erziehungswesen; O. Stobbe Die Juden in Deutschland wahrend des Mittelalters; I. Abrahams Jewish Life in the Middle Ages pp 49 ff; M. Bloch Das Mosaisch-Talmudische Polizeirecht; S. AsafBatei Hadinim). A little later, however, it was frequently the Court Jew who was the communal leader. He possessed the connections with the rulers necessary to protect the community. In Eastern Europe of the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth century a semi-democratic series of regional bodies arose (Louis Finkelstein Jewish Self-Government in the Middle Ages). We possess a number of documents which dealt with communal governance, but mainly with the relationship to the secular government, charity within the community, sumptuary problems and synagogue ritual regulations. They were not akin to our constitutions and by-laws (Jacob R. Marcus The Jew in the Medieval World – A Source Book pp 185 ff, pp 20 ff). Constitutions of congregations rarely antedate the early nineteenth century. These modern European documents represented an effort by the secular government to control the inner life of the Jewish community, to change the relationship with the Christian community, and to secularize the community. Such documents were viewed with justified suspicion. In some European lands a chief rabbinate was instituted. However, those chief rabbis exercised their authority alongside communal leaders selected by various means. In other lands the powers of the rabbi and the board were defined by the government, often in the framework of parallel legislature affecting Catholic and Protestant bodies. This led to lengthy debates and considerable lobbying, as for example in the Rhineland in 1910 (B. Jacob Die Stellung des Rabbiners). I have said nothing about the democratic system of congregational life which has evolved in the United States and in many Western European lands recently. This reflects the organizational pattern of the surrounding society. The constitutions have become increasingly democratic in an effort to provide an opportunity for leadership to a greater number of individuals. This is especially important in the larger congregations. The ramification of each section of the constitution as well as the by-laws should be fully understood by the congregation as well as its professional leadership. Such matters as division of responsibilities, lines of authority, definition of membership are of utmost importance. The model constitutions provided by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations or other bodies may not solve local problems and will often be inappropriate. Relatively little guidance can be given from the past for our congregational governance. Our democratic system represents a specifically American Jewish contribution to Jewish life.April 1989
If needed, please consult Abbreviations used in CCAR Responsa.