Before making communal decisions that affect Jewish life or practice, Reconstructionist synagogues engage in values-based decision-making (VBDM). Used both for large, community-wide decisions and for decisions made in small groups or committees, this process involves looking carefully at the issue at hand, including exploring Jewish tradition and history, our own preconceptions, Jewish values, and scientific data. Values-based decision making reflects a desire to develop an orderly and valid process for individuals and groups to decide their policies, procedures, and behavior. This process is used to help us make decisions that ultimately best serve our community.

 

Click below for Kehillah policies that included a community-wide process:

        Kashrut Policy (Keeping Kosher)

        Shabbat Services Policy

 

Drafting Proposals

Values-Based Decision-Making provides a way of thinking through and expressing our commitments, allowing us to create ground between halakha (Jewish law) and modern society. Below are the steps taken as we use VBDM to draft proposals.

1. Determine the issue.
2. Examine our intellectual, emotional, and moral preconceptions to understand how our experiences would impact this decision that we are making in community.
3. Examine our communal and Jewish values in relation to the issue, including community norms.
4. Examine Jewish law and teachings about the issue, including how the teachings/laws were derived and upon what values they were based. Consider the historical and contemporary context, including the history and rationales of Jewish practice.
5. Examine relevant scientific and social scientific data pertaining the issue.
6. Assemble, compare, and weigh the conclusions from the examination of self (attitudes and beliefs), context (communal norms and values), Judaism (tradition and history), and data (#2, #3, #4, and #5).
7. Consider possible decision options and their potential outcomes, excluding options that contradict essential values and/or norms.
8. Seek consensus in the group.
9. Make the decision.

 

The rabbi is an integral part of the VBDM process, as s/he plays a critical role in (1) facilitation that creates safety for open inquiry and exchanges of views; (2) teaching about Jewish sources and providing other insights; and (3) stating personal values, reasoning, and conclusions.

 

Adapted from Exploring Judaism and “Values-Based Decision Making,” by David Teutsch in The Reconstructionist, Spring, 2001.

 

Presenting Proposals

In decisions that affect the Kehillah as a whole, after a committee gains consensus and makes a decision, the committee presents the proposal to the Board. Proposals to the Board contain the following information:

1. Action item: the proposal to be voted upon
2. Background: the history of the issue or proposal, including past policies (voted upon or de-facto) and current practices
3. Values: Jewish values, including but not limited to the values documented in the by-laws, which should be the basis for the proposal and should support the proposal.
4. Staff commitment required: how much the proposal will affect staff, and the time commitment needed to carry out the proposal
5. Immediate and long-term costs: any costs to the Kehillah both in the current and future fiscal years. If there is a cost, the proposal may include ways to pay for itself.