The United Synagogue

The Times Looks Into The Shul Business

PRESS COVERAGE

London, 29th June, 2007

THE TIMES LOOKS INTO THE SHUL BUSINESS

By Alex Brummer

In a new series, The Times is looking at religion through the prism of business. The Church of England, we learn, is a £1 billion

behemoth, with a vast £5.3bn endowment of shares and property. Yet it pays its chief executive, Dr Rowan Williams, just £67,790 a year. Most FTSE bosses wouldn’t get out of bed for that.

An article on Judaism seeks to untangle Britain’s complex web of synagogal organisations. Shuls are struggling with shrinking attendance and need to attract a new generation.

We have come to think of the United Synagogue, responsible for 65 synagogues, as battling against the forces of assimilation and challenges from the right and left of the religious spectrum. So US members might be pleasantly surprised by the Times analysis. Reporter James Rossiter — who is married to Rachel Lasserson, the new editor of The Jewish Quarterly — found that income is on the rise, up £4m to £28.6m in the latest accounts.

As well as having a strong cash flow, it is also asset-rich with properties valued at £58.6m. Surely a gross undervaluation, given what has been happening to the London property market. Like much of British business, the biggest problem facing the US is a long-running pensions crisis, with the US having to commit ever-larger sums to keep the scheme solvent.

The difficulties of the pension fund make it all the more important that younger members are attracted to reinforce contributions. That is why the success of the US’s youth scheme, Tribe, which has drawn an astonishing 10,000 new members is such a coup. Five hundred of these are over the age of 21 and qualify for discounted US membership, and the US gets to build brand loyalty with the rest. Tribe also feeds into the modern consumer society by offering young Jews discounts on a range of products.

The analysis skips over the obscure finances of the strictly Orthodox community, which may be just as well given some of the adverse publicity. It notes how well-endowed the 351-year old Spanish & Portuguese communities are with an investment fund of £6m yielding income for communal purposes.

Rossiter argues that the more autonomous structures of the Reform and Masorti communities have made them more entrepreneurial in their approach. Rabbi Mark Winer of the West London synagogue professes to have turned his premises into a 24/7 non-profit business. Under his stewardship, over the last nine-and-a-half years, the budget has soared from £1.6m to £3.3m. “A synagogue is what I call a condominium of dreams,” Winer says. “There are people who love to give away their money.”

Under chief executive Rabbi Danny Rich — note the business-like title — Liberal Judaism has raised its budget by drawing on the patronage of City bigwigs including Sir Evelyn de Rothschild (former chair of NM Rothschild) and Stanley Fink, deputy chairman of Man Group, the quoted hedge fund.

What the Times analysis omits to say is that far from being the dominant business organisations in British Jewry, the synagogue groups are only a small part of the mosaic. Jewish Care is responsible for raising and spending more cash each year than all the shul organisations put together. The fundraising activities of these Jewish causes amount to a business with a budget heading for CofE proportions.

Even the Church of Scientology, spiritual home of Tom Cruise and the next subject for Times scrutiny, couldn’t compete with that.

Alex Brummer is City Editor of The Daily Mail

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Article Credit, Jewish Chronicle, www.thejc.com

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