Synagogue Building Committees: A Polish Perspective

When I was at a now non-functional but beautifully restored yeshiva in Lublin, Poland, I was struck by this picture on the wall. As long as there have been Jews and buildings they have to build as a community, there have been building committees. Our temple is building a new structure (more precisely, we are renovating an existiing structure--it is going from a fitness center to a place of worship--from Gold's Gym to God's Gym), and the process has been time consuming and largely unrewarding. The tensions are, as you would predict, how to stay within budget and yet get the most beautiful place we can manage. The definition of what is affordable is in the eyes of the beholder, and worse yet, what is inconsequential and what is critical is also open to interpreation. My 'must have' is your 'unaffordable extra'. So when I look at this group of somber men, I imagine what they looked like before they were on the building committee--they are all in shorts and T-shirts, sporting tennis racquets, sipping iced tea and living a care free life. No more. The building committee stole all their youthful optimism and turned it into budget cuts, protracted discussions and architect fees.