CREATE A TOOL TO ENHANCE
YOUR CONGREGATIONAL
COMMUNITY
START AN E-MAIL DISTRIBUTION LIST
Using an e-mail list is an easy, inexpensive, and efficient way to
communicate with your members. But it can also become a medium for inappropriate
and unpleasant postings. Consider the following information presented in this
issue of Inside Leadership and the next one so that your congregation can
avoid the pitfalls while reaping the benefits.
Determine a purpose for your list, state it at the outset, and adhere to
it. Think about what you want to accomplish and what information you want to
convey to your congregants. Consider these possibilities:
- Congregational news: Announcements of upcoming events and programs
- Administrative news: Postings and changes concerning event and meeting
dates, times, and places
- Family news: Births, milestone birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, and
deaths
- Community news: Information about programs and other items of local interest
- Reform Movement news: Updates on national, Israeli, and world events that
may be of particular interest to your congregants
- Links to Jewish educational Web sites such as Torat Hayim and Shabbat
Table Talk
- Timely holiday tips: Helpful suggestions for families
- Torah study: Weekly parashah wisdom
- A forum for discussions of issues specific to the temple and/or concerning
Judaism in general
Remember that after a period of time and as experience teaches, you can
modify the stated purpose of your list.
Distribution or discussion? A key question
- If the list is for distribution only, you should work with the clergy and
senior staff to decide which temple leaders and staff will be designated to post
messages.
- If the list is designed to evoke discussion, all subscribed congregants will
be able to respond to any posting and broadcast their own messages. Think
carefully if you decide to create this type of list: Complaints or negative
comments that should be directed to the president or rabbi might be posted to
everyone on the list. Of course, if your temple leadership believes that there
is a need for an open forum to discuss temple or other issues, such a list could
be created, but consider assigning someone to monitor it and limit the subject
matter.
- Be cautious about posting information that may be of interest to only a
small group. A better approach would be to distribute commentaries on the weekly
portion to a list composed only of members of your Torah study group or create a
discussion group for your school board members so that they can review issues
between meetings.
How often to post. People do not want their computers inundated with
temple information anymore than they want their mailboxes flooded with material
from other organizations. Consider having the designated administrator of the
list collect the information and post it all together on a regular basis. Many
congregations may find it useful to post information once a week, perhaps on
Thursday, to remind congregants of upcoming weekend events. For smaller
congregations, a monthly or semimonthly posting may be appropriate. If you state
your "publication" date at the outset, your congregants will look for the
postings at the designated time and appreciate your efficiency.
Of course, even if you ordinarily post on a regular schedule, remember that
this type of list is also ideal for emergency postings and should be the
communication of first resort for death announcements, emergency school closings
due to weather, unexpected cancellations, etc.
Next month: Who should be on your list and how to set it up.
BRAND-NEW FROM THE RAC
2000 GET OUT THE VOTE
PROGRAM PLAN AND ACTION MANUAL
As synagogue leaders, it is incumbent upon you to work with your
rabbi and urge your members to fulfill their civic responsibility to vote.
The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism has created a
straightforward, concise, and user-friendly manual that clearly explains what is
legal for synagogues to do during election campaigns and what is not. Topics
covered include Why American Jews Must Vote, Voter Registration, A Get Out the
Vote Timeline, Nonprofit Rules, as well as sample letters, flyers, sermons, and
state-by-state information. Every congregation in the country was sent the
2000 Get Out the Vote Program Plan and Action Manual.
Elections matter to your membership and the entire American Jewish
community. The next Congress and administration will make decisions on issues
that are significant to the Jewish community, including Medicare, Foreign Aid,
Social Security, Debt Relief, Gun Control, Privacy, and Support for the Middle
East Peace Process. In addition, the next president will appoint and the Senate
will confirm numerous judges, among whom are likely to be two or more Supreme
Court justices.
For further information, please contact Rabbi Marc Israel at the RAC by phone at
(202) 387-2800 or by e-mail at
misrael@rac.org.
WHY IS THIS BOARD
DIFFERENT?
PLAN YOUR OCTOBER MEETING IN THE SUKKAH
Sukkot begins at sundown on Friday, October 13, and lasts for one
week, culminating in Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah on October 20. Through
its delicate, temporary structure, the sukkah reminds us of the fragility
of life. Meeting in the sukkah, outdoors amidst the seasonal fruits,
vegetables, and stars, can help remind your board members about why synagogue
board work is different.
- Begin your meeting by encouraging all who so desire to recite the blessings
over the lulav and etrog and practice the traditional shaking or
waving of the lulav.
- Serve "fruits" of the fall harvest during your meeting to fulfill the
mitzvah of eating in the sukkah.
Use this opportunity, as you sit outdoors surrounded by the bounty and wonder
that God has created, to define and set your board priorities for the coming
year. Consider asking each member to do the following exercise: Divide the five
areas below according to the amount of time actually spent at board meetings on
these functions and compare them to the ideal. This exercise can help you reset
the priorities for your board's functions and time allocations.
- Policy Determination, whereby you define vision and purpose, set
goals and policies, and consider, debate, and decide issues important to your
congregation.
- Resource Development, whereby you raise funds, increase membership,
identify worthy candidates for new leadership positions, and collaborate in
planning significant programming.
- Service As a Jewish Leadership Model, whereby you engage in Jewish
study, attend services, participate in programs, develop an educational policy
for adults and children, and integrate the congregation into the greater Jewish
community.
- Fiscal Management, whereby you insure the financial stability of the
temple by reviewing and supervising the financial activities of the
congregation, including fund-raising.
- Personnel Management, whereby you hire or designate the functions of
hiring and set compensation for, monitor, and evaluate the performance of the
temple's staff.
START YOUR BOARD MEETINGS
WITH
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
GO AND STUDY ONE EACH MONTH
Torah study is so essential to the life of the Jewish people that including
it as a regular part of your board meetings makes good sense. For the year 5761,
the UAHC Department of Adult Jewish Growth, in cooperation with the Department
of Synagogue Management, has created a provocative, meaningful learning
opportunity for our congregations' lay leaders through its Tzei U'lemad, Go
and Study, program.
This year's theme is the Ten Commandments. Jews throughout the ages have
considered the Ten Commandments to be the core of our Jewish constitution --the
critical laws that defined ancient Jewish society and have retained their
relevance throughout the millennia for Jews as well as for people of other
faiths.
Volume 3 of Go and Study, available now, has been designed to empower
lay leaders to begin each monthly board meeting with a d'var Torah, "word
of Torah," in the form of a short text-study opportunity. The lessons feature
enticing titles like Crime and Punishment for the sixth commandment and Truth or
Consequences for the ninth.
The user-friendly material includes introductory remarks and opening
commentary, additional texts for each individual commandment, and discussion
questions to guide your board in exploring the meaning of the texts.
To obtain
Go and Study, volume 3, or for other materials that will help
your congregation prepare for Torah study, such as a facilitator's guide or a
list of resources for text study, contact the UAHC Department of Adult Jewish
Growth by phone at (212) 650-4087 or by e-mail at
ajgrowth@uahc.org. Go and Study is
also available on the Web at
http://uahc.org/goandstudy/.
Share Your Ideas and Input
Do you have
- Programs that have worked well in your congregation?
- Topics about which you would like more information?
- Suggestions for future Inside Leadership articles?
For our October-November issue: Share how your board
members are
preparing for the regional biennials.
Contact the
UAHC Ida and Howard Wilkoff
Department of Synagogue
Management
633 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Tel: (212) 650-4040
Fax: (212) 650-4239
E-mail: Synagoguemgmt@uahc.org
