Posted April 16, 2018
After considerable study and discussion, as well as consultation with Rabbi Hammerman, your Board of Trustees is recommending changes to the By-laws of Temple Beth El.
The decision to revise our By-laws was motivated by our desire to (1) show in words and deeds the inclusiveness of our synagogue, (2) strengthen our overall governance, and (3) reflect practices and areas of operation that have changed since the last By-laws revision in May 2010.
Below are highlights and explanations for the more significant changes that the Board is recommending. In addition, we have provided two copies of the proposed By-laws for your review. One is a clean copy (the “Draft”), and the second is a marked copy showing all changes between the Draft and our current By-laws.
The adoption of these proposed changes will be brought for a vote before members of the congregation at the TBE Annual Meeting scheduled for Wednesday, May 23, 2018.
TBE By-laws Draft
TBE By-laws Redline
Affiliation (Article III)
We have deleted the statement that requires TBE to be affiliated with a “national association of Conservative synagogues.” When the By-laws were adopted in 2010, TBE was a member of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ) and no one foresaw a change. However, shortly thereafter, TBE dropped its membership due to USCJ’s high cost of dues and lack of derived value. Since that time, the Board has re-evaluated this decision on occasion and, to date, has elected not to rejoin USCJ. The Board feels it can continue to evaluate the benefits of affiliating with organizations in the future, including rejoining USCJ, without any prescribed requirement in the By-laws.
Membership (Article V)
The proposed changes to our membership provisions provide for the following:
- Recognizes the changing face of American Jewry is rapidly changing, and we need to tap into that changing demographic if we’re to grow both our membership and relevance within the Jewish community. Also last year, both the Rabbinical Assembly and the Jewish Theological Seminary endorsed a change to the Standards of Congregational Practice that supports Conservative synagogues in developing their own individual criteria for membership.
- Formalizes the role of the Board in establishing membership qualifications and conditions.
- Recognizes both parties of a marriage, partnership or civil union as members of TBE with all the privileges of membership (see Section 5.7). As such, each party will now be able to vote at all meetings of the congregation. Currently, only one vote per family can be cast even if the parties differ about a matter. This recognition, to the extent permitted by Jewish law, also extends to interfaith families, who have chosen through their TBE membership to become part of our community, join in our activities and contribute to our future.
Expulsion from Membership (Section 5.12)
Language has been added that allows for the expulsion of a member for misconduct as determined by the Board of Trustees under limited circumstances. It also outlines a process by which this may occur. The only reason currently stipulated for expulsion is for failure by a member to pay his or her indebtedness to TBE.
Eligibility to Serve on the Board of Trustees (Section 6.1)
We have deleted the condition that members of the Board of Trustees “must be of the Jewish faith.” The proposed change acknowledges and welcomes the contribution to TBE that a spouse who is not Jewish can make if he or she steps forward to do so and is selected by the Nominating Committee (see Section 8.1) and voted on by the congregation to serve.
Board of Education (Section 9.2)
The revised description summarizes the Board of Education’s role and responsibilities at the present time.
There are other changes throughout the document, but the ones described above represent the significant changes. We hope these explanations facilitate your review of the By-laws.
