Competition among agencies can make the Jewish community stronger
by Rabbi Clifford M. Kulwin

While we normally associate competition with the for-profit world – Jiff vs. Skippy, Toyota vs. Honda, Steinway vs. Bosendorfer – it is just as present in the non-profit world. My son’s scout troop holds an open house each spring to encourage potential recruits to join Troop 13 as opposed to Troop 12, 8 or 7; the daily mail, both snail and electronic, contains a seemingly infinite request for funds from our lamentably finite resources; and, yes, my own synagogue does whatever it can to convince those who shul-shop that Temple B’nai Abraham is indeed the answer. (And by the way…it is!)

As every rabbi knows, competition also exists within the Jewish community. Temple B’nai Abraham has a book group; so does the JCC. Temple B’nai Abraham seeks to help its out-of-work members; so does Jewish Vocational Service (JVS). Temple B’nai Abraham has a program for its high school students; so does The Partnership. Temple B’nai Abraham is blessed with a wonderful Sisterhood; NCJW and Hadassah are admirable women’s organizations.

Overlap is a natural and unavoidable part of Jewish communal life…and its companion, competition, is not far behind.

On the whole, this is not bad. Economists teach us that competition drives innovation, efficiency, and creativity. Toyota makes better cars because of Honda. If so, then the natural competition among institutions of the Jewish community should (and I believe does) make us better. At Temple B’nai Abraham, I know that we are particularly aware of those aspects of our congregational activities for which our members have alternatives elsewhere in the community.

This is competition, but friendly competition. While Toyota would like nothing more than to put Honda out of business, we know that the Jewish community is strongest with a variety of agencies, each responding flexibly to the ongoing needs and desires of the community while focusing on its own mission and what it does best. This requires ongoing, never ending discussion, which I am happy to report takes place.

For example, our congregation works closely with JVS to help those facing employment challenges. We can utilize our congregational sense of extended family for amazing and wonderful individual support; JVS has a range of broader resources that are simply beyond us. It is a good match.

Finally, and in this sense, I especially commend Jewish Family Service (JFS), which, perhaps better than any other agency, thinks long and hard to see how it can best help the community at large, consulting with and asking questions of synagogues, schools, and other entities to determine how it can have the biggest possible impact. The congregational social worker program, of which Temple B’nai Abraham was an early and fortunate participant, is a sterling example.

Competition can be useful in Jewish communal life, but the necessary condition is that it must be accompanied by ongoing, ever present communication. Happily, if the stereotype is correct, that sort of thing comes naturally to us. Even in an age of dwindling resources, there is much we can achieve together.

Rabbi Clifford M. Kulwin is rabbi of Temple B'nai Abraham in Livingston.

JVS and JFS are beneficiary agencies of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ.

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