I was recently very frightened to learn of a trend taking over our smaller Jewish communities. Many towns are disposing of their long-standing rabbanim in order to shake things up. After some investigation, I was horrified to learn that our rabbis are now seen as short term clergy; once they are not new and exciting anymore, they are cast away.

Our rabbanim are not disposable! I cannot emphasize that enough. Communities are centered around the values of their rabbis, fellow members of Am Yisrael who devote their lives to spreading Torah to others. Exchanging them for new faces at the pulpit will not make matters any more entertaining. I would go as far as to say that disrespecting the rabbi, who is the backbone of Torah for the community, is a complete disgrace to the Torah itself.

We are in the month of Elul, a time of reflection before we gear up for the advent of the new year. I implore you to reflect on this year and years past. Did you give the proper level of kavod to your rabbi? Would you treat the Torah with that level of kavod? Did you treat your rabbi with at least the same middos that you would treat any other member of Klal Yisrael? If your answer is not a yes, there is no better time than now to ask for forgiveness, and if your answer is yes, I suggest you go and thank your rav for helping your community thrive with Torah.

Name Withheld Upon Request

New Jersey