A comprehensive plan to reorganize the Dutch Jewish community and Its rabbinate in order to better serve a community that has shrunken dramatically since World War II, is currently under discussion by Jewish leaders in various regions of the country. The blueprint for structural and organizational changes was drafted by a special commission established a year-and-a-half ago by The Netherlands Jewish Community (NJK).
The plan is basically for the consolidation and rationalization of a community and a religious establishment which has remained largely as it was when the Germans invaded in 1940 and has, in fact, changed little structurally for more than 150 years. But the 120 congregations that existed in Holland before World War II now number only 43 and most of them are too small to be self-sufficient with respect to synagogue services, Jewish education and other services.
The reorganization plan, titled “Prospects for the 1980s,” would reduce the 43 congregations which are presently on a local basis to 15 which would function on a regional basis. Exceptions would be the congregations in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. Each regional congregation would have a minimum of 200 members.
The plan would also redefine the tasks of rabbis. Before the war, there were II chief rabbis in Holland whose jurisdiction coincided more or less with the provinces in which they lived. Today there are only four–Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. The latter covers all of Holland outside of the three largest cities. The rabbinical posts in Rotterdam and The Hague have been vacant for some time and are not likely to be filled soon for financial reasons.
In Utrecht, the incumbent Chief Rabbi reached the official age for pension several years ago and the Chief Rabbi of Amsterdam will reach that age this year. The reorganization plan would divide the tasks of chief rabbis on a functional rather than a geographical basis.
It calls for a three-member Chief Rabbinate of which one member would have representational, coordinating and organization responsibilities, another would be a specialist in halacha and the third a specialist in education. The latter would also hold the post of principal of the Ashkenazic Rabbinical Seminary in Amsterdam.
The three rabbis would comprise the Rabbinical Council to be headed by one of them as chairman. He would be, in principle, the Chief Rabbi of The Netherlands.
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