If it ain't broke . . .

I was born in South Africa, and have been in Charleston since 1989. I am a veteran in many ways - evacuated for Hugo, had post hurricane freezer parties, evacuated for Fran, and drove overnight to Columbia, SC, as Floyd bore down on us. The fiasco of the Floyd evacuation took out Governor Hodges chances at a second term in the process, and gave us lots to complain about for quite a while.

I speak a little Southern as well, and there is this wise Southern saying we need to follow right now: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

The New WAM is not broken, at least, not yet. To the contrary, the New WAM has done so well, that people have brought to it all sorts of "gifts", and have done so joyfully.

On the flip side, BSBI is broken. That is to say, its procedures speak of a deep and ingrained state of being "broke". Members can't bring resolutions to the congregation, votes are manipulated, past presidents exercise unmitigated control, rendering the processes undemocratic. The board is the tail that wags the congregation.

By all means, if you feel so moved, work to fix it. For the other side of the saying means that that which is broken should indeed be fixed.

But there is one more piece of wisdom to be drawn from this - "Don't tie what is not broke to that which is." We can do more for ourselves and the greater Jewish community apart from BSBI than from within it. Nothing of what we have built in the last 18 months has come from BSBI. We should not give up our autonomy, our strength, our promise and our pride, for some words on some paper, and lipservice to real unity and peace.