An Open Letter to the Board of TBZ (Temple Beth Zion)

To The Board,

I am struggling right now, and I feel that I must share that struggle with the Board, and I ask that the Board respectfully share in that struggle with me by not skimming this email but finding the time to read it in its entirety. Please know this is written M’kol Ha’lev (from my whole heart). That said, right now I am struggling. Right now, I am questioning my faith. Right now, I am hurting.

The last many months have been hard, to be sure. I am sure they have been hard for the Board as well.

Two months ago, at our congregational meeting, I spoke up. And I am ashamed of my behavior. In New York I worked in Business, in Buffalo I work in Social Work. I am familiar with how boards and organizations work. During our congregational meeting I called for a middle of the road approach when I spoke up. I asked fellow congregants to trust the Board, and to trust the Rabbi that the separation was the best option during our congregational meeting. I shared that we don’t always need to know everything that occurs at the board level. I was wrong. I will have to do T’shuva for that mistake, now and on this coming Yom Kippur which feels like an eternity from now.

I am even more saddened, because while I am obviously embarrassed at my own misplaced trust and my faith in our leadership (and perhaps feelings of my own naivety), my feelings and hurt pale in comparison to the havoc this תוֹקפָּן (aggressor) was able to wreak on our congregation: turning us against one another, leading to the use of misogynistic language (by himself, and the Board) to describe our Cantor, who is a victim of his manipulation, lies, and malfeasance. The loss of Rabbi Scheldt (and with him the Jewish Spirituality Center of Western New York) due to the same. The loss of Tina, a ray of sunshine and a hard worker. The loss of good will on our financial statements. The loss of moral standing in our community. The level of toxic culture that has been created where there is now a feeling that we must keep things בפנים הקהילה (within the community) as a form of ‘damage control’ instead of talking about them openly and in the light where they belong. How much time was spent protecting an aggressor instead of consoling and working to heal and make right a victim? What happened to “Tzedek Tzedek Tirdof!”? (“justice, justice you shall pursue!”)?

Speaking of keeping things “in the community,” I am also dismayed that in our closed Temple Beth Zion Facebook Group discussion on this matter seems to be regularly shutdown or stifled. A transparent public forum is precisely the place where this conversation needs to happen. The Board has been allowed to operate in secret with our trust. That did not work. Now we have to move this discussion to the open until a just resolution is found beyond seeing the back of Rabbi Freirich when he leaves in December (when, honestly, it should have been the moment his behavior was brought to light, and the allegations confirmed, which they have been by the CCAR).

If Cantor Meyers were to sue the synagogue, as both a (former) human resource professional and as a current social worker, I would support her in that action. As a congregant, doubly so. The Board was derelict in its duty to protect its most valuable resource: its staff.

After reading the report from the CCAR, I am horrified that the CCAR considers this egregious behavior by Rabbi Freirich to merit only an “unpublished” censure, rather than expulsion from the rabbinate. It has me physically ill when I think about it because I can only begin to imagine what it would take for a full expulsion if this isn’t it. What more would one have to do to demonstrate that they aren’t fit to be a member of the cloth?

I am having a crisis of faith – this is not something that should have ever happened, ever been allowed to continue happening, and is not something that should have ever been allowed to be kept from the congregation. The recent letter sent to congregants was also woefully lacking in introspection, responsibility, or insight. That there has been no further communication, no congregational meeting, and generally radio silence is even more disheartening.

I am calling on the Board to either a) publicly commit to a period of meaningful T’shuva, as determined by an outside facilitator, who will evaluate both length and type of T’shuva appropriate to each board member’s action or lack therefore, to earn back the trust of the congregation, or b) if the Board is unwilling to do so, to resign forthwith so we can hold elections and begin to make changes, and move on in the light of transparency (a motion of which I will be putting forward in the coming days, to be included in our bylaws).

I also take this time to remind the Board that I am one of this congregations’ youngest members, if not the youngest member (and that’s at 36, closer to my 40s than my 30s). If this congregation is going to survive, it is going to have to do some serious soul searching and move away from its current culture that puts on pedestals family legacies of connection to this synagogue, donor culture, and protectionism, and recognize actions not words.

Given that conversation on this is being stifled online (multiple posts have now been deleted in our closed group) I am sharing this letter on my blog, with comments open for discussion, as well as my Facebook. This is 2020, organizations no longer get to “control” the message, especially if it is one rightfully critical of them. While these are my perceptions, you are welcome to share your own…just not under the cover of privacy. That was a privilege which we, as congregants, afforded you, and one that will have to be earned back.

B’Tikvah,

Matthew L. Schwartz (a/k/a/ Matan Ar’ye Schwartz)