I am sure Rabbi Elazar Muskin at YICC and Rabbi Kalman Topp at Beth Jacob earn (or could earn) over $500,000 a year (counting all benefits and tax advantages and paid tuition for their children, unless the rabbis decline this amount of compensation). I suspect Rabbi David Wolpe at Sinai Temple earns close to a million dollars a year (unless he seeks a pay cut). <\/p>\n
Modern Orthodox Judaism is for the rich. I’ve read that Modern Orthodox Jews average $110,000 annual income per family, the most of any Jewish denomination. <\/p>\n
I’m told that the big benefit that clergy of all faiths receive is parsonage–basically everything they receive towards their housing is tax-free. <\/p>\n
So let’s say a rabbi makes: <\/p>\n
200,00 salary
\n150,000 educational benefits (with 5 kids)
\n100,000 parsonage (valued as $150,000 because it is pretax)<\/p>\n
That’s $500,000. <\/p>\n
From what I see, pulpit rabbis, including Orthodox ones, live better than 80% of their congregants (but they also have skills, IQs and contributions superior to 80% of their congregants). All the big pulpit rabbis I know own their own homes. Most Orthodox Jews in 90035 do not own their own homes. You have to earn at least $250,000 a year to own a home in 90035, belong to a shul, and send your kids to Jewish schools. <\/p>\n
Rabbis are not expected by the community to donate at the same level as their congregants. <\/p>\n
Houses of worship, such as shuls, are not required to publicly reveal the salaries they pay. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I am sure Rabbi Elazar Muskin at YICC and Rabbi Kalman Topp at Beth Jacob earn (or could earn) over $500,000 a year (counting all benefits and tax advantages and paid tuition for their children, unless the rabbis decline this … Continue reading