How are communities structured in Israel?

Diamond Member Joined: Aug 07 2006 Posts: 2556

I have been part of Jewish communitites in the US my whole life. With the exception of campus communities and alternative havurah-type groups, they all seem to be structured the same way: paid membership in a synagogue, with additional fees and fundraising to pay for the building and rabbi.

People say that in Israel it's nothing like that - that you don't join a shul and have an employed rabbi as spiritual leader.

So how does it work?

Thanks!

It really depends. Some shuls do have membership. Some pay their expenses from selling Yamim Noraim seats and/or donations people give for aliyos etc. Many people might daven in several different shuls over the course of a week.

Some people have as their rabbi a government paid neighborhood or city rabbi - so their salary is paid by the government.

For the rav we go to, someone collects money every month specifically for that rav's salary - separate from the shul expenses.

Shiurim may be given for free, or someone sponsors one, or there is a small admission charge.

There are places with shul membership as you think of it (without the social side) but this tends to mostly be among Anglos or Israeli upper/ upper-middle class Ashkenazi DLs.
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I don't know where you heard that. Of course there are shuls, memberships, and paid kehillot rabbonim. But you don't have to become a member of every shul you daven at.

The whole country is a community. So each city has a city rav (or two...Ashkenazi and Sefardi). That's the basic level, and it's a government position, paid for by taxes.

The next level is shuls. Some have rabbis, some just have a lot of very-well-educated "lay" leadership. Some have such a collection of knowledge (every other member has smicha!) that they don't bother with a rabbi and everyone participates. Most shuls raise funds either by membership fees (x amount per year, and it includes y number of seats for the yamim noraim and an opinion on how the money is spent), or by selling seats and aliyot/kibbudim.

In our shul we pay a set amount per year; it includes a seat for me & DH (technically we have assigned seats all year, but people are pretty much only picky about it on YT). When the shul was built people had the option of purchasing additional seats so there would be reserved spots for their kids too...we didn't because he was so young at the time, and the rest didn't even exist yet, but we're going to have to figure out what to do about that soon. I believe our shul rav is paid a symbolic sum; it is not his parnassa. (I think this is likely true of many shul rabbis.)
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What communities?

Unless you're part of a small yeshivah, there really isn't much...

Diamond Member Joined: Aug 07 2006 Posts: 2556

Thanks for the insights. It sounds like government support makes the big difference.