I applaud the RCBC’s enhanced efforts to mobilize our local community to respond to the unprecedented challenges it faces, and believe the RCBC’s leadership can be critical to supporting our community’s efforts on several fronts. I have the following specific recommendations:

Council Meetings: Under the RCBC’s auspices, every synagogue should adopt a rotation system whereby at least five community members from each synagogue physically attend each town council meeting (others should be encouraged to join via Zoom). Strong attendance by our community — even if attendees say nothing — is noticed by council members (and appreciated by our supporters) and typically keeps meetings positive and respectful. RCBC rabbis should themselves consider attending at least two meetings a year to stay abreast of local matters, model civic engagement for community members, and reinforce to elected officials that our community is watching.

Voting: The RCBC should actively support our community’s significant and already ongoing election efforts. Specifically, under the RCBC’s auspices: (1) every synagogue should mandate — and confirm by checking membership lists against publicly available voter rolls — that every synagogue member eligible to vote registers to vote; (2) every synagogue should designate “captains” to ensure that all members actually vote in each election, including primaries. Synagogues should consider, for example, a public check-in system such as Google form or WhatsApp poll for congregants to confirm they have voted; and (3) every synagogue should ensure that its out-of-town members (e.g., students in college or Israel) vote by mail.

Community Relations: The RCBC should leverage the excellent relationships that its members have developed with local non-Jewish leaders and organizations to help our community build much needed bridges with its neighbors and support community members doing this important work. Bad actors are exploiting significant existing intercommunal tensions, particularly between Teaneck’s Jewish and Black subcommunities, to isolate our community. Those tensions could be mitigated through greater engagement and mutual understanding.

Yigal Gross
Teaneck