I would like to join a synagogue. If you've been following my blog, you probably think I already belong to one. The JCC of the beach cities. And I suppose, in a way, you'd be right. While I love the JCC and the daily support it gives to my daughter, I don't always believe the same things that they do.
We have differences of opinions about a large number of things. Such as women reading from the torah. Covering my hair and wearing skirts/dresses all the time. Do these things drastically impact my everyday right now? Not so much, but they will when EG gets a bit older.
So, why haven't we joined another synagogue. We've been to Temple Menorah. With the renovation Congregation Beth Jacob is looking stunning.
I can tell you. Dues. So much money put out in dues/membership fees. We are a growing family, one with lots of expenses. When we can barely seem to make services one day a week (and only when EG gets to run around like a crazy girl), why would I want to spend over $2000 a year for access to something I won't take advantage of.
It's a rock and a hard place. I want a Jewish community. I want to be committed to a temple where EG will eventually go to Hebrew School and get Bat Mitzvahed. Can she do that at the JCC- maybe. They have Hebrew School, but their Bat Mitzvah is not what I imagined for our daughter. But, they don't charge me a thing to attend their services. Some things cost extra (like some classes, and the preschool program), but on any given Friday we are welcomed.
What can we do to change it? I'm not sure. It seems a bit presumptious for me to think that I can go to the Temple and say that I just don't want to pay. Surely they will look at our finances and say, you have the extra money- you just don't want to spend it.
And in some way's that's true. In others, it's an awful lot of money for a possible connection...
Do you belong to a temple or congregation?
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