Your RCA membership demonstrates accreditation by your peer professional group, similar to a lawyer’s membership in the American Bar Association or a physician’s membership in the American Medical Association. Further, it tells employers, colleagues, and lay people that you are not a solo practitioner but rather a professional, who is recognized and respected by his peers; who follows the accepted and customary practices, expectations, and standards of his peers; and, whom his peers hold accountable for serious infractions, God forbid, of the standards they jointly uphold as RCA members. Hence, RCA membership is subject to ongoing adherence to the RCA’s Constitution and Code of Conduct which allows for termination of membership under extreme circumstances and after due process.
In light of the above, it is clear why communities expect or require their rabbis to have the professional credential of RCA membership, and why so many yeshivot prize having RCA recognition of their semicha. Your ability to secure a rabbinic position as an RCA member stems not merely from your access to a listing of available positions, but primarily from the very fact of your RCA membership and your allegiance to the RCA’s principles.
RCA membership also conveys a variety of professional, financial, and personal benefits:
RCA Placement Services brings together Orthodox synagogues, institutions, and rabbis in North America and beyond. RCA chaverim are eligible to apply for wide variety of available rabbinic positions, at all career levels.
More broadly, RCA’s rabbinic staff and its Placement Director provide support, guidance, and, where requested, suitable intervention as a member engages in new, renewal, or retirement contract negotiations, lay-rabbinic relationships, or situational challenges. They also assist in reviewing a member’s overall career and professional development.
Through its activity on the JWB Jewish Chaplains Council, the RCA’s military chaplaincy endorsements are recognized by the United States Armed Forces. The RCA supports military and health care chaplains through dedicated conferences, email discussion forums, awards, and other services.
Members may enroll in the RCA’s full service, professionally run Retirement Plan, which has more than $100,000,000 currently under professional management. Unlike conventional pension plans, your retirement withdrawals from this plan are eligible for exclusion under parsonage provisions of United States tax law. This feature can dramatically reduce your retirement tax bill. The Plan also includes guidance in arranging congregational participation, plan portability, high quality investment advice and options, and online reporting and investment management.
Contact Steven Greenbaum our pension professional at 973-439-0200 or by email: .
The RCA’s many committees take advantage of the leadership talents, experience, and knowledge of its members. They function primarily by conference call, email, and other electronic media. By participating in a committee, RCA members have the opportunity to take on regional and national leadership roles in a variety of areas.
As a recognized national leadership policy-making body, the RCA’s past and future public policy announcements and resolutions add weight and informed opinion to a member’s announcements and public positions.
Given the often lonely nature of rabbinic life, being part of a fellowship with colleagues is of significant professional and personal value. The RCA facilitates chevrashaft in many ways.
This extensively planned, subsidized, and catered event brings together a full spectrum of RCA members to form, renew, and deepen personal relationships with one another. Shiurim, presentations, and workshops are led by outstanding poskim, community rabbis, and lay professionals. Conferences are held from time to time in Israel and throughout North America.
Beyond the annual convention, RCA fosters ongoing Torah learning and professional growth which are essential to every rabbi’s personal and professional success.