Losing The Shul

I've been attending my shul for about 13 years. I served as president for six of those years and as chairman of the board for about the last five. When I started there were about 70 member families of which about 40 were core. Today there are something like 250 member families (and tons of freeloaders).

When I started, there were a handful of baalieh tefilah. They ranged from very good to good to acceptable, with a couple of kalyikles who were painful to listen to.

(A friend from high school once remarked that in most places money talks; in Orthodox shuls, money sings).

But one thing virtually all of them (with one exception) understood, is that davening for the amud at my shul meant a lot of communal singing. Consequently, it also meant choosing niggunim that everyone knew. While there was a natural tendency to use Carlebach niggunim, the shul was by no means a "Carlebach Minyan" and any niggun was ok so long as the kehilah knew it, it was simple and everyone could sing along.

As the shul has grown, some excellent baalei tefilah have joined. Some not-so-excellent baalei tefilah have also joined and some truly dreadful ones have joined. The gabbaim have done a very good job of weeding out the brutal ones.

What they haven't done (and what is very hard to do) is reinforce the principal that davening for the amud is about engaging the kehilah. For example, for the past few months we have had many baalei tefilah get up on Friday evening (when the shul is routinely packed to the rafters) and use complex, unknown, shiny shoe niggunim for Lecha Dodi, taking the wind out of the sails of the kehilah and wasting the amazing energy of the mispalilim. There are few things (in this context) more disappointing.

The same thing has happened on Shabbosos and yom tovim.

While there are many more important issues facing Klal Yisrael, after stewing about this trend for months, I finally brought my frustration (which is shared by many) to the attention of the Rav. The good news is that he agrees with me.

The question is how to address the problem.

As the Rav said with a smile at the end of our conversation, "That's why they pay me the big bucks".

IYH, we will take back the shul.