Louisville Jewish Community Center fails its mission

I submitted the following editorial to the editor of the Community newspaper in plenty of time for publication prior to being mailed out to Jewish families within the Louisville community.  Unfortunately, they chose against publishing it.  What a shame, though.

As a religious member of the Jewish community, I was very sad to read that the JCC would allow their pool to be open on Yom Tov. Even if it is Memorial Day, the fact of the matter is that it is also the second day of Shavuot. To allow the JCC to open during Yom Tov is saddening.

When I consider financial contributions in the future, I know which organizations do not represent my interests at heart. The JCC has shown that by closing the indoor café, previously open year round, they could care less about those of us who eat kosher food. I would love to eat out at a kosher restaurant but Louisville just does not provide that ability. It’s a shame.

 Despite Memorial Day coinciding with the second day of Yom Tov for Shavuot, the Louisville Jewish Community Center decided that it was better to fulfill the needs of their non-Jewish membership that wanted to go swimming than it was to fulfill the Jewish values that they were founded on. As such, Rabbi Litvin had a nice (sarcasm intended) thing to say about the neighbors across the way during the sermon this morning.

This was something that was talked about not just at Kiddush yesterday but then again today! There was some talk that the JCC would do away with the kosher cafe and allow trayf food to be served. That battle has been won, for now, by the Orthodox community for the time being.  Since the Jewish Federation of Louisville has merged with the Jewish Community Center to become the Jewish Community of Louisville, you can understand how the Orthodox community feels when it comes to trayf food being allowed on the JCC premises.

In allowing the building and pool to be open on Shavuot no less, the JCL has failed it's mission statement.

Jewish Community of Louisville (JCL) serves as the collective body to preserve and enrich Jewish life and values in Louisville, Kentucky, and to identify a connection to the State of Israel, by providing the services and resources that meet the educational, recreational, social and cultural needs of the individual and affected organizations.

Can you imagine that?  An organization that wants to preserve and enrich Jewish life and values would be open on Yom Tov.  Shame on you, JCC.  Shame on you.