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WHY KIDDUSH CLUBS MUST GO
Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, Executive Vice President Emeritus,
Orthodox Union
The recent decision by the Board of Directors of the Orthodox Union, by an overwhelming majority, to issue a statement calling for the elimination of shul “Kiddush Clubs”, enabled the organization to take a giant first step to address two problematic areas of contemporary Orthodox Jewish life. The first of these areas is an oft-bemoaned dearth of shul spirituality. The second, perhaps more troublesome, area is the growth of delinquent and self-destructive behaviors, primarily with adolescents but persisting into adulthood, of substance abuse and related misbehaviors.
An especially troublesome contributor to these spiritual and communaldelinquencies are “Kiddush Clubs” in which groups of congregants, almost invariably men, leave davening at key points, typically the haftarah, and withdraw to a side room to partake of hard, expensive liquor, commonly fine single malt scotch whiskey.The sight of people leaving davening en masse dampens davening for those who choose to remain and to respectfully daven and destroys kavod ha’tefillah (the dignity of the service). It is ironic that the Kiddush Club exodus usually coincides with the haftarah, which is a unique opportunity to encounter the Prophetic message.
But the Kiddush Club stands for far more than a callous disregard of the sanctity of the davening. It serves as a setting within which adults drink immoderate amounts of alcohol and often return to synagogue more than mildly intoxicated. The rest of the congregation observes this behavior, most particularly the youth, including the very children of these participants. Some readers may recall when a Kiddush consisted of, at most, a shot cup of whiskey. In the Kiddush Clubs that I have observed, the Kiddush is sometimes recited over a full bottle of whiskey, which is then “polished off.” This practice glorifies and idealizes alcohol precisely when alcohol and other addictions are clearly on the rise in our community.
At a recent convention of the Orthodox mental health organization Nefesh International, therapist after therapist indicated that almost invariably the youngsters struggling with alcoholic tendencies trace their introduction to alcohol experiences they had in shul or at simchas such as weddings and bar mitzvahs.A recently convened group of 65 pulpit rabbis and day school educators from across the Greater New York area confirmed our diagnosis of these social ills, and welcomed the Orthodox Union’s leadership in coordinating efforts toward ameliorating these problems. Many rabbis told us of their struggles to end the disgrace of the Kiddush Clubs but felt that they alone did not command sufficient authority to eliminate it. They have welcomed the support of the Orthodox Union and its lay leadership.
One area of support for our initiative comes from an unlikely quarter. A cover story in the New York Times Magazine (January 9, 2005) noted that most college fraternities now ban alcohol. The New York Times article points out ways in which alcohol-free fraternities began to develop more wholesome alternative cultures. Drinking was once integral to the fraternity culture, and fraternities still get opposition from alumni in response to their ban. Stopping Kiddush Clubs will effect a similar culture change, in which the dignity of davening is restored, and in which alcohol isseen as the dangerous substance that it is.
A particularly vehement opponent of our attempt to stop the Kiddush Club practice was an officer in one of our regions. He was an avid Kiddush Club member until he took his sons and their friends to a professional basketball game. Some people in front of them were imbibing and were beginning to show the effects of the liquor. When the father muttered about how poorly behaved these people were, the kids spontaneously answered in unison, “But they look just like you guys when you come back to Mussaf after the Kiddush Club.” This one incident was enough to convince our friend of the wisdom of our project.