qualities of a worship chairman
I used to be the chair of my synagogue's worship committee. The
incoming president and I were discussing candidates for the position.
I have some fairly strong opinions about the requirements of the job,
which I thought it was important to articulate. (If he disagrees,
he'll want to take that into account.)
Caveat: My only experience is with one well-functioning congregation. Your mileage may vary. (I know I have at least one reader whose mileage definitely did.)
The worship chair is a liaison between congregants (singly and sometimes collectively) and the synagogue leadership -- usually the rabbi, but sometimes the cantor or director too. This means a few things. First, you have to have reasonable diplomatic skills; you will be seen as one of the faces of the rabbi. When a congregant comes to you with a stupid suggestion or an unreasonable demand, you need to find better words than "stupid" and "unreasonable". You might be tempted to take the easy way out in those cases and say "you should ask the rabbi", but if so you are not doing your job. When, for example, someone wants to know if his non-Jewish relative can have an aliya at the upcoming bar mitzvah, you know the answer already and you owe the congregant a reasonable response. Don't foist him off on the rabbi; he's already busy, and you add a delay. If he gets upset and wants to argue, that's different -- but if you can answer the question, explain the reasoning if required, and be compassionate with a possibly-upset congregant, you must do so.
The flip side of this is that sometimes you don't know and it's a reasonable question/idea, and then you have to make sure it gets to the right people regardless of your personal feelings about the issue. If you want to present your opinion on the subject, you must be clear that you are speaking as an individual and you will still relay the matter to the rabbi (or whomever). (Don't send everyone to the rabbi; most feedback is non-urgent and you should collect it for later discussion.)
All of this implies some expectation of knowledge and exposure. You don't have to be a rabbi, of course, but you do need to know in broad strokes how things are usually done here, and it would be helpful if you knew why. Ask the rabbi or a knowledgable layperson; people will be happy to teach you. You don't have to know everything, but you should want to learn and understand. And you should actually be here for worship most of the time: for your own education, so you have context for congregants' concerns, and because it looks bad if the worship chair never shows up to worship. (Bonus points if you have or develop the skills to lead a service on your own. That could be required someday.)
Then there's the other side of being a liaison. Sometimes the rabbi will bounce ideas off of you before he tries them out. The rabbi doesn't have the "just plain folks" access to the congregation that you do; you are their representative to him. You need to understand the issues, and you also need to have some sense of the pulse of the congregation (well, the subset that shows up). You're entitled to personal opinions; as the worship chair you have better access to the rabbi than many others, so this is a great opportunity for you to discuss your thoughts. But, as with the congregant, be clear on whether you're talking personally or based on how you think the broader congregation would react. Everyone who would accept this job has at least some personal agenda; that's normal, but never misrepresent it, to the rabbi or to the congregation.
You also need the standard administrative skills that any committee chair needs -- running meetings, tracking issues, making sure notices and minutes get distributed, working with the staff on the routine stuff like yahrzeit phone calls, and so on. That's mostly not specific to this committee, though; any chair needs those kinds of qualities.
I wish somebody had clued me in to some of this before I became worship chair. The improved access to the rabbi, in particular, came as a bit of a surprise, though it shouldn't have. I think I did a decent job, but if I'd known then what I know now I would have done better.
Caveat: My only experience is with one well-functioning congregation. Your mileage may vary. (I know I have at least one reader whose mileage definitely did.)
The worship chair is a liaison between congregants (singly and sometimes collectively) and the synagogue leadership -- usually the rabbi, but sometimes the cantor or director too. This means a few things. First, you have to have reasonable diplomatic skills; you will be seen as one of the faces of the rabbi. When a congregant comes to you with a stupid suggestion or an unreasonable demand, you need to find better words than "stupid" and "unreasonable". You might be tempted to take the easy way out in those cases and say "you should ask the rabbi", but if so you are not doing your job. When, for example, someone wants to know if his non-Jewish relative can have an aliya at the upcoming bar mitzvah, you know the answer already and you owe the congregant a reasonable response. Don't foist him off on the rabbi; he's already busy, and you add a delay. If he gets upset and wants to argue, that's different -- but if you can answer the question, explain the reasoning if required, and be compassionate with a possibly-upset congregant, you must do so.
The flip side of this is that sometimes you don't know and it's a reasonable question/idea, and then you have to make sure it gets to the right people regardless of your personal feelings about the issue. If you want to present your opinion on the subject, you must be clear that you are speaking as an individual and you will still relay the matter to the rabbi (or whomever). (Don't send everyone to the rabbi; most feedback is non-urgent and you should collect it for later discussion.)
All of this implies some expectation of knowledge and exposure. You don't have to be a rabbi, of course, but you do need to know in broad strokes how things are usually done here, and it would be helpful if you knew why. Ask the rabbi or a knowledgable layperson; people will be happy to teach you. You don't have to know everything, but you should want to learn and understand. And you should actually be here for worship most of the time: for your own education, so you have context for congregants' concerns, and because it looks bad if the worship chair never shows up to worship. (Bonus points if you have or develop the skills to lead a service on your own. That could be required someday.)
Then there's the other side of being a liaison. Sometimes the rabbi will bounce ideas off of you before he tries them out. The rabbi doesn't have the "just plain folks" access to the congregation that you do; you are their representative to him. You need to understand the issues, and you also need to have some sense of the pulse of the congregation (well, the subset that shows up). You're entitled to personal opinions; as the worship chair you have better access to the rabbi than many others, so this is a great opportunity for you to discuss your thoughts. But, as with the congregant, be clear on whether you're talking personally or based on how you think the broader congregation would react. Everyone who would accept this job has at least some personal agenda; that's normal, but never misrepresent it, to the rabbi or to the congregation.
You also need the standard administrative skills that any committee chair needs -- running meetings, tracking issues, making sure notices and minutes get distributed, working with the staff on the routine stuff like yahrzeit phone calls, and so on. That's mostly not specific to this committee, though; any chair needs those kinds of qualities.
I wish somebody had clued me in to some of this before I became worship chair. The improved access to the rabbi, in particular, came as a bit of a surprise, though it shouldn't have. I think I did a decent job, but if I'd known then what I know now I would have done better.