A computer based management system, described as the first developed for an American synagogue, is now in operation at Temple Emanu-El, a Conservative synagogue in Providence, R.I.
The computer system, popularly dubbed “Temple Tracker,” was designed by Ellen Franklin, a computer systems analyst and wife of the congregation’s rabbi, Wayne Franklin; and Steve Levitt, executive director of the 1,150-family congregation.
Levitt told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, in a telephone interview, that the system is based on an IBM personal computer with terminals in his office, in the office of the rabbi’s secretary and in the synagogue’s bookkeeping office.
The system was put in operation in mid-January. It has been loaded with general ledger information, which includes the synagogue’s balance sheet, income statement and ledger, along with information on each congregant.
Levitt said the synagogue had been interested in using a computer system for some time but an investigation of the hundreds of systems currently on the market indicated that none met the synagogue’s needs.
SYSTEM HAS BUILT-IN SECURITY LEVELS
Rebbetzin Franklin said that there was agreement on the need for “a complete synagogue management computer system that would take care of the general ledger and budget, membership management, provide us with control of pertinent Yahrzeit dates in Hebrew and English and also be of use as a word processor.” She added that because congregants did not want their financial status made public, “we wanted a system that would have built-in security levels.”
The rebbetzin and Levitt, after extensive research, found a church computer package adaptable to Emanu-El’s needs.
Levitt said that a questionnaire was being circulated to determine the interests of congregants in volunteering specific services to the synagogue. He said this information would be made part of each member’s computer record for use as needed.
The system is so new that many members do not know about it yet. Rabbi Franklin uses one of the three terminals to prepare his sermons, eulogies and correspondence.
BROUGHT INTO THE 20TH CENTURY
Levitt said the computer system had brought the synagogue administration into the twentieth century. He added that the aid of a computer is essential in dealing with a large budget, in coordinating the activities of the synagogue’s social clubs and in preparing cost projections for the upcoming fiscal year for a meeting of the Board of Directors.
The cornerstone of the synagogue is inscribed with the date of its completion, the month of Elul 4794 according to the Hebrew calendar. The inscription, in German, states that the construction costs were donated by Jacob and Rahel Ben David.
The synagogue opened its doors in September, 1034. The Jews of Worms are widely believed to have been the first Jews to settle in Germany. A letter to the German Emperor in 1636 stated that Jewish families had lived in what became Worms for 1,700 years, which would put them there before the birth of Jesus, when the site was a Roman encampment. Legend has it that the first Jewish settlers were descendants of the Tribe of Benjamin.
EARLY ACCOUNTS OF JEWISH LIFE IN WORMS
But the first accounts of Jewish life in Worms date from the 11th century. In 1074, 40 years after the synagogue opened, Emperor Heinrich IV granted customs exemption to Jews and other citizens of Worms as a reward for their loyalty to the Crown. The oldest headstone in the Jewish cemetery dates from 1076.
The first major persecution of Jews in Worms occurred in 1096 when the Crusaders’ armies passed through the town leaving most of its Jews dead and inflicted heavy damage to Jewish property, including the nearly total destruction of the synagogue.
Historians report that a new Jewish community emerged in Worms in 1112 and the synagogue was rebuilt in 1174. It was destroyed several times since but essentially retains its 1174 form.
The Nazis were the last to destroy the building, during the Kristallnacht in November, 1938. It was not restored until 1961 when it reopened with an adjoining “mikva” (ritual bath) and the Rashi House, named for Rabbi Solomon Ben Issak who studied in Worms and later became a major researcher of Bible and Talmud.
Many of these events have been presented over the past few days in documentaries broadcast on national television.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
