Sep 11, 2014

The shul gabbai

The shul gabbai, used to be known as the sexton or the beadle, is a position with much responsibility. The gabbai has to deal with all the shul issues vis a vis the public, and has to manage the services efficiently and carefully. He has to know who needs an aliya when, who needs to be asked to lead the services, who will be insulted by this or that, who has a yahrtzeit, juggle the needs of many congregants, etc. Some gabbaim do a fabulous job and some do not, but the job and responsibility taken on by them, even by the weaker ones, is a thankless position with a lot of work and responsibility.

Yesterday the Habayit Hayehudi political party held a vote on changing its constitution. There was very vocal opposition to the changes being proposed, and Naftali Bennet said something unusual, to categorize the opposition.

Bennet wanted to say that those opposing the changes want the party to continue to focus on affairs of religion, and not get involved in State issues, diplomacy, foreign affairs, etc., while he is leading the party towards a position of leadership in the country. What Bennet said was, "The opponents to the new constitution are interested in bringing us back to being shul gabbais".

An organization of synagogues has registered a complaint saying that Bennet's statement, intent notwithstanding, is insulting to the shul gabbai. It is demeaning, and was used in the context of saying the gabbai is the symbol of a primitive task, old fashioned, lack of broad perspective...
source: NRG

I know that is not what Bennet meant by his statement, but I did want to say that in my experience the shul gabbai is not that at all. As I said above, the gabbai has a lot of responsibility doing a mostly thankless job. He is usually the first person people complain to about anything in the shul, even if it is irrelevant to his task, and his job is to make sure the shul functions well while keeping the congregants mostly happy and involved.



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3 comments:

  1. Mordechai Y. ScherSeptember 12, 2014 3:01 AM

    In the end of the day, the gabbai has to defer to the rav and maybe even the membership. His power is limited and circumscribed (though in Israel they often accomplish much more). He is stuck in the background, as necessary as he is. Bennet's simile was appropriate from that standpoint.

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  2. JSSeptember 12, 2014 10:52 PM

    My impression is that the words beadle and sexton in shtetl flavored literature is more of a shammis (shamash to Israelis), than a gabbai.

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  3. JoshSeptember 15, 2014 11:26 AM

    Mordechai, depends on the kehila and other characters in that kehila. Some gabaim do indeed follow the community rules, while others will rule with a strong hand despite the kehila and the community.
    His simile is indeed insulting and evidently a sign that he has no clue what he is doing in politics, or rather, shows everyone what he is doing in politics. The gabbai(im) is a shaliach of the community, definitely - to manage the shul and community logistics to different extents. the Members of Knesset are supposed to fill that position of being shlichim. They are not in power to push personal agendas. Those gabbaim are the worst and everyone knows that. Unfortunately, these 'bad' gabbais are often left in power because others do not want to take the job.

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