It's too late for this year - it never comes to mind until it IS too late - to suggest to the synagogue Board that rather than spend hours bidding on honors for Rosh HaShana, Yom Kippor, and the holidays, we could save time AND congregants' patience by implementing a silent auction.
Would that be acceptable to the Big Givers who, not only keep the synagogue in business with their pledges (hopefully fully paid in a timely manner), enjoy the admiration of their fellow congregants for their generosity?
Maybe.
What do I propose by a silent auction?
We always spend too much time getting a decent starting bid.
An honor that ends up going for $1500 starts off at $100 - even though we KNOW the final price will be substantially higher.
Getting from $100 to $1500 takes maybe 10 minutes.
Multiply that by the number of honors
- Open the ark (a/k/a 1 and 1)
- Carrying the first sefer Torah to the bema (ahmud)
- Carrying the second sefer Torah to the bema (ahmud)
- Hagbahah (a/k/a re'ah biktav)
- Cohen aliyah
- Levi aliyah
- Israel aliyah 1 (3rd aliyah)
- Israel aliyah 2 (4th aliyah)
- Israel aliyah 3 (5th aliyah) (Yom Kippor falls on Shabat this year)
- Israel aliyah 4 (6th aliyah)
- Israel aliyah 5 (7th aliyah)
- Maftir
not to mention all the extra aliyot and associated blessings.
Plus there are the standard blessings for the sick and the departed.
And the rabbi's speech.
And the 100 blasts on the shofar.
And the President's message.
Now, add the hazan's (cantor's) performance that drags out the service and congregants are lucky to sit down to lunch at 2 or 3 p.m.
If the Powers That Be, the Board and the Money (really pretty much the same folks) could agree to at least speed up the selling of honors by determining a reasonable base price BEFORE the holiday - based on pre-holiday bids, the "silent auction" - we could save lots of time.
Instead of starting off at $100, the opening bid - sent in by mail or email, phoned in, or walked into the office sometime before the holiday - the base bid might be $1000 - ten times the former base bid.
I suppose that the winning bid might be even higher than the previous year's winning bid because the base bid was so much higher. A win for the congregation's bank account and a win for the belabored, bored, and increasingly hungry congregants.
I have never thought selling honors appropriate. They should be given to the people who serve the congregation, but I realize this is Big Money season for synagogues just like Pesach is the Big Money season for grocers - when Jews who can barely spell "kosher" stock up on Bet Yosef meats and "glatt" dairy and vegetable products (yes, I know there is no such thing) to show off to the mispahah and guests.
The silent auction has to be announced well in advance of the holiday; announced and announced again so that all members and last year's Members for a Day (or 3) are aware and have a chance to bid.
Maybe next year.
If I remember.
