To celebrate Jewish new year 5768 in many big-city synagogues, you’ll need to buy a ticket and reserve a seat weeks — or months — in advance.
One synagogue in Manhattan is charging nonmembers $ 150 to attend Rosh Hashana services on Wednesday night and Thursday. The synagogue’s tickets to attend the new year services and Yom Kippur on Sept. 22 cost $ 250.
But tickets and reservations aren’t required for High Holy Day observances in Arkansas.
“You don’t need to pay to pray,” said Rabbi Pinchus Ciment of Lubavitch of Arkansas, an Orthodox Jewish community in Little Rock. “But I will not discount the importance of the leadership asking membership to help defer the expenses involved.”
Raising the funds necessary to maintain a house of worship can be a challenge for Jewish religious communities. Rabbis traditionally have interpreted the Bible’s ban of work on the Sabbath to extend to handling money.
“It presents a dilemma,” said Rabbi Jacob Adler of Temple Shalom of Northwest Arkansas, a Reform synagogue in Fayetteville. “Synagogues can’t have collection plates.”
Instead of taking offerings during weekly services, Jewish congregations often rely in large part on ticket sales for holiday events to raise their budgets.
Still, Jeremy Hess, who helped establish Temple Shalom in 1981, said his congregation decided to try another approach.
“One of the common complaints seemed to be that synagogues had gotten too commercial,” he said.
“It’s not unnatural that around the High Holy Days you would request additional funds or pledges because that’s typically when you have the most people attending, and that includes selling tickets. I grew up with that practice, but I didn’t like it. We just decided from the outset that we wouldn’t charge. We wouldn’t put emphasis on fundraising in this arena.”
Instead the congregation like many others depends mainly on dues from members. Temple Shalom requests people give 1. 5 percent of their income, or a minimum of $ 450 annually for an individual and $ 600 for a family. That’s less than the 10 percent tithe urged by most churches.
One of the state’s synagogues — Congregation Etz Chaim in Bentonville — requests that just its members attend High Holy Day services. But even with that policy, Rabbi Jack Zanerhaft said no one who comes will be turned away.
“There is no one at the door that says, ‘ Let me see your membership card, or you have to leave, ’” Zanerhaft said. “I think the policy is there to encourage belonging, being part of something bigger than yourself.”
Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are not only the beginning of the Jewish religious year, they are also a time to focus on God’s role as the master of creation and to acknowledge human failings. The 10-day period from Rosh Hashana through Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, have come to be called the Days of Awe.
“It’s a time to begin the year and look back and see where you have fallen short,” said Rabbi Eugene Levy of Temple B’nai Israel, a Reform congregation in Little Rock. “It’s a time to forgive yourself and forgive others, and ask others for forgiveness. It’s a time to begin anew.”
The Arkansas Jewish community is small — roughly 1, 600 — according to the 2000 Religious Congregations and Membership Study.
In states with large Jewish populations, synagogues often face the problem of finding enough space to accommodate crowds during Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services.
Adler said the synagogue he attended growing up in Rhode Island would open a secondary room for those that didn’t pay. Such practices ensured those who did could get a good seat.
In Dallas, services are so full that some people watch them on closed-circuit television.
Many synagogue members have jokes about “twice-a-year Jews” just as regular churchgoers will joke about Christmas and Easter Christians.
Levy said in many large cities, often less than 50 percent of the Jewish population is actually affiliated with a synagogue.
“People will think, ‘ Why should I join ? Why should I pay dues ? The only time I ever go anyway is for the holidays, ’” Levy said. “Those congregations take advantage of that. They say, ‘ Well, you don’t support us during the year. You don’t pay dues. We don’t want you to freeload now, so it’s going to cost you. ’”
In Little Rock, he said between 70 percent and 80 percent of the local Jewish population has joined one of the city’s three synagogues.
“We think we can afford to just allow people to come,” he said. “We get a lot of new members doing it that way. People think we’re nice, friendly and open. We’ll usually get five to 10 more families to join.”
High Holy Day services A list of High Holy Day services around Northwest Arkansas and Fort Smith provided by the Jewish Federation of Arkansas.
Temple Shalom of Fayetteville Rabbi Jacob Adler Rosh Hashana 7: 30 p. m. Wednesday and 10 a. m. Thursday, meeting at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 901 W. Cleveland St., Fayetteville. 8: 30 a. m. Friday at Hillel House, 608 Storer Ave., Fayetteville. Yom Kippur services at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship 7: 30 p. m. Sept. 21 and 10 a. m. Sept. 22
United Hebrew Congregation of Fort Smith, 126 N. 47 th St. Student Rabbi Heather Borshof Rosh Hashana 7: 30 p. m. Wednesday and 10 a. m. Thursday Yom Kippur 7: 30 p. m. Sept. 21 and 10 a. m. Sept. 22
Congregation Etz Chaim of Bentonville Rabbi Jack Zanerhaft If interested in attending High Holy Day services, call the synagogue at (479 ) 464-8001.
Chabad of Northwest Arkansas, 5402 W. Redbud St., Rogers Rabbi Mendel Greisman Rosh Hashana 7: 45 p. m. Wednesday 10 a. m. Thursday and Friday Yom Kippur 7 p. m. Sept. 21 10 a. m., noon, 5: 30 and 6: 30 p. m. Sept. 22