For years, Beth Jacob of Beverly Hills had but one caterer. Then a new rabbi came in and he decided that competition would be a good thing. So now the shul has several caterers who rotate and the quality of the food and of the service (for the same price) has improved dramatically.

Competition does that every time.

Joe emails: "Your post on caterers has many mistakes. If you want to have an event at Beth Jacob, you must use on of four caterers. The regular weekly kiddush is almost always catered by Edmond of Elegant Event. When there is a simcha or a big kiddush, the baal simcha may use one of the other caterers. A fancy event will be catered by Pats. Brenda also puts on some nice events."

Here's an email from Beth Jacob to its membership:

November 15, 2011

Dear Friends,

Beth Jacob has a long tradition of wonderful chazzanim who have led the davening in the Shapell Sanctuary. We have been particularly privileged over the past 3 years to have one of the rising stars in the Jewish community, Chazzan Nati Baram. Since arriving in Los Angeles from his home in Jerusalem, he has developed a devoted following, not only at Beth Jacob, but in the larger Los Angeles Jewish community
as well. In addition to his responsibilities at Beth Jacob, he has continued to perform as a soloist at concerts in the United States, as well as in Europe and Israel.

Last year Nati informed the Executive Committee of his decision not to seek renewal of his contract at Beth Jacob. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Chazzan for his devotion to Beth Jacob Congregation, and for his many contributions to the shul. He will be missed by so many here in the community, and we wish him
hatzlacha raba in his future endeavors. We are convinced that we will be hearing more from him in the coming years.

As we reach the final months of his tenure at Beth Jacob, a Chazzan Search Committee has been formed to begin the difficult search for our next Chazzan. The committee will be co-chaired by Larry Stern and Zalman Harari, and will be comprised of members who represent a cross section of the congregation. We are committed to interviewing
the best possible candidates in the coming months. We would like to have the entire congregation involved in the search process, not only when it comes to the formal probe, but even at an earlier stage. If you have specific suggestions regarding a particular candidate, please feel free to forward them to us.

Sincerely,

Hugo Rose

President

Steven Tabak

Chairman of the Board

Joe* faxes me: This is not the first hazzan (cantor) scandal to hit this community. Ask around about what happened when Bnai David-Judea terminated chazzan Erblich.

I hear: "The rabbi's really cute, so the women's section was full."

"There was little singing during the davening. They just speed through."

"They had two types of cholent and three types of salad at the kiddush."