Reading about Jewish communal politics is a favorite past time for British Jews and the UK’s Jewish Chronicle usually does a wonderful job of reporting the community’s foibles. But the most recent UK Synagogue fight beats all of the rest. Except this time the childishness is trounced by the heartless and callous treatment of the rabbi involved.
Here is the story thus far as was explained to me by someone familiar with the situation. About a year and a half ago Bevis Marks Synagogue, the oldest in the UK, hired a young new rabbi who they hoped would breathe life into their failing synagogue. Rabbi Natan Asmoucha was hired and he moved from Zimbabwe to take the position.
Rabbi Asmoucha brought new vibrancy and was successful at increasing synagogue attendance. However, as the recession deepened members of the synagogue’s mahamad (governing body) decided to try and eliminate Rabbi Asmoucha’s position to save money. According to the tradition of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews’ Congregation of which Bevis Marks is a member, the synagogue also has a Board of Elders which opposed the removal of the rabbi.
According to longtime Spanish and Portuguese Jews’ Congregation member, Robert Garson, his community is one of the wealthiest in Britain. ‘They control the massive Moses Montefiore Endowment and Bevis Marks was the synagogue Moses Montefiore himself attended for many years ‘ Garson told me.
According to Garson if the money Montefiore left should be used for anything it certainly should go towards the payment of the salary of a rabbi that has shown an ability to revitalize the synagogue Montefiore himself attended. Eventually the Board of Elders used their influence to ensure that the rabbi’s position was retained.
About three weeks ago, however, Rabbi Asmoucha took part in an interfaith effort to lobby the Royal Bank of Scotland to reduce their interest rates on credit cards to a minimum of ten percent. As part of this effort he invited a Muslim Imam and his supporters into the synagogue without first getting permission from the synagogue’s board of directors. As a result the board of directors called him to a disciplinary meeting and used that event as a pretense to temporarily suspend him from his duties.
In the meantime additional accusations have been made against Rabbi Asmoucha by the community’s five member board of directors. According to London’s Jewish Chronicle in a letter circulated this week to the members of the Board of Elders, the governing body of the Spanish and Portuguese, their president Alfred Magnus explained the disciplinary action.
‘He gave all the demonstrators access to the inside of the synagogue, in order to be addressed by him, as well as its hall and courtyard, without any security checks first taking place.
‘He then accompanied and assisted the demonstrators with their goal of delivering a political message to the chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland, that had not been authorized by his employer. ‘
According to the letter, ‘the mahamad are summoning Rabbi Asmoucha to a second disciplinary hearing on Monday August 17 for gross misconduct, because of his alleged serious breaches of confidentiality and for making seriously derogatory public statements about the mahamad and Rabbi Levy, the outcome of which could lead to termination of the rabbi’s employment, either summarily or otherwise. ‘
So there we have it. If a Rabbi dares to invite an Imam into his synagogue without prier permission from his employer he is guilty of ‘gross misconduct. ‘ And then if he has the audacity to complain about being treated unfairly he is guilty of ‘breaches of confidentiality ‘ and ‘derogatory public statements. ‘ It would be funny if it weren’t so cruel and idiotic. This mahamad and the people running it are guilty of serious idiocy and tragic myopia not to mention their immense lack of respect for a fellow human. The fact that the person involved is their spiritual leader and a Torah scholar who to an outside observer clearly did nothing seriously wrong makes this situation even the more absurd.
How can other rabbis and community leaders in the UK stand back and remain silent when such a travesty is going on. Where is the voice of the newly minted Lord Jonathan Sacks the UK’s Chief Rabbi in all of this? Why is Rabbi Dr. Abraham Levy the spiritual leader of the UK’s Spanish and Portuguese Jews’ Congregation unable to speak out about this?
The answer is simple. Rabbi Asmoucha made a mistake that more seasoned congregational rabbis learn to avoid. He thought that he was a communal leader when in fact he is seen by the synagogues management as little more than an employee that must follow their dictates.
By inviting the Imam to the synagogue and taking part in the effort to lobby the Royal Bank of Scotland he was acting like a leader. Unfortunately congregations, especially in the UK, don’t want their rabbis to be leaders; they want them to follow orders given to them by management. This may just explain why Anglo Jewry can’t seem to revive their stagnating and dwindling synagogue memberships. Simply put: without real leaders there won’t be any followers.