Chabad offers inexpensive option

Josh Kleinbaum

While most synagogues collect big bucks for tickets to Rosh Hashana

and Yom Kippur services, quietly continuing the common practice of

using the High Holiday services as a fundraiser, one small branch

within the Jewish community is bucking the trend.

Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, begins at sundown

tonight. At synagogues across the country, Jews will commemorate the

solemn holiday with fasting and prayer. At most of those synagogues,

including Glendale’s Temple Sinai, congregants must purchase tickets

that often cost more that $150 per person.

At the Glendale Hilton, Chabad of Glendale and the Foothill

Communities will offer free services tonight and Saturday. Tickets

are not required. Kol Nidre services begin at 7 tonight, and Yom

Kippur services begin at 10 a.m. Saturday.

“Religion shouldn’t be commercialized,” said Rabbi Simcha Backman

of Chabad of Glendale. “The second you commercialize religion and put

a price on prayer, people get a bad feeling. In no way are we

discouraging people from supporting religion -- that’s an absolute

must. But we don’t put a price on holiday seats because it

commercializes it and, in a certain sense, trivializes it.”

David N. Myers, a history professor at UCLA and director of the

school’s Center for Jewish Studies, says the concept of paying for

tickets for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashana emerged over the past century

and is essential for independent synagogues -- which don’t collect

donations at weekly services like many churches -- to survive.

“Unlike previous times, Jews go to synagogue on only the High

Holidays,” Myers said. “This is the sole opportunity for the

synagogue to collect the revenue that can provide for the

professional services that it offers.

“I couldn’t imagine a synagogue would turn people away, and lots

of synagogues have reduced rates for people who need it.”

Chabad chapters can afford to offer free services because, unlike

independent synagogues, they are part of a nationwide network with an

impressive fundraising mechanism, Myers said. The organization

targets wealthy donors and raises money through its annual telethon,

which draws celebrities like Adam Sandler and Michael Douglas.

“The movement can afford to set up outposts from Glendale to

Nepal,” Myers said. “There should be a place in the Jewish community

where people can go without having to have a ticket. It’s also

important that there are other synagogues that reflect different

levels of observance and prayer rituals than Chabad. We’re fortunate

to live in a city or county with a range of options, from the free

option of Chabad to the pay-to-pray options of the other

institutions.”