Vermont synagogue in crisis, yet no answers

By Ted Cohen/Patch.com

In 1885, when Ohavi Zedek Synagogue formed in Vermont's largest city, Burlington was a busy industrial hub, harvesting ice blocks at the bottom of the hill off Lake Champlain.

Once an established and respected shul, it later attracted Rabbi Max Wall, who lasted 46 years as its top cleric.

Today the synagogue is in crisis.

The complications are partly caused by a governing board, which keeps secrets, thinking the congregants aren't smart enough to handle the truth.

Trustees still refuse to discuss in detail the reasons for the forced ouster of the most-recent rabbi, who lasted less than two years.

Why did Rabbi Aaron Philmus suddenly leave? Was it his outspoken support of Israel which raised hackles with pro-Palestinian congregants?

Philmus obviously knows but isn't talking. In his letter upon leaving, all he said was "it's never just one thing."

The trustees obviously know. But they're keeping it a secret from the congregation.

They wrote a condescending, scolding, stop-your-silly-rumors letter to the congregation saying "people think that they think they know things," the "people" referring to the congregants.

Then the trustees admitted without really saying so that their dissemination of "limited information" was what really created the breech and simply triggered more uninformed speculation.

The pedantic trustees believe the shul belongs to them and that the congregants are the little people.

So, here's where Ohavi Zedek is now:

• No rabbi

• No idea if it wants a rabbi

• Cash poor, wasting money on useless lawyers

• Facing a congregation ready to mutiny over the stonewalling from the trustees

• Trustees who have no clue how to manage staff or run a business or be honest with the members - the very people who write the checks to pay the bills