Related Blog Posts on Elul, High Holidays, and Strengthening Congregations

Two-Fold High Holiday Prep: Our Congregations and Ourselves

Rabbi Rick Jacobs

As congregational leaders, you may find that the month of Elul and the High Holidays fly by in a whirl of logistical details – arranging for tickets, ensuring enough chairs, assigning aliyot, planning the community’s break-the-fast – necessary to ensure meaningful worship for members and visitors alike. That is indeed holy work. Often, we fail to devote adequate time and attention to cheshbon ha’nefesh (accounting of the soul) – the act of taking stock of the spiritual health of both ourselves as individuals and our congregations.

Why We Closed Our Synagogue’s Preschool and Started Over from Scratch

by Rachel Stein As a former preschool teacher and director, I was enjoying my role as a parent and lay leader on the “other side” in our preschool at North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe, IL. As my two boys happily made their way through our small preschool, I chaired the parent committee and volunteered on our early childhood task force, which explored ways to expand the school and reach target families, many of whom were sending children to other area programs.

5 Great Deals and Discounts Your Congregation Can Only Get Through the URJ

Calling all congregational leaders! Are you interested in ways to enhance the day-to-day operations of your sacred institutions, improve efficiencies, and reduce expenses? Through the Union for Reform Judaism’s Congregational Benefits and Services program, URJ member congregations have access to meaningful discounts on a number of products and services at discounted prices. These deals, available only to congregations affiliated with the URJ, were arranged with our congregations’ needs in mind and are yet another wonderful benefit of membership with the URJ. Learn more about these benefits in the URJ Benefits and Services discussion group in The Tent, the URJ’s online communication and collaboration forum.

June 17: Join Us for a Live Online Q&A About High Holiday Hospitality

Early last month, the URJ hosted its very first “YamJam in The Tent,” a live, moderated Q&A session in the URJ’s online collaborative social media platform, The Tent. URJ moderators posed questions, and everyone in virtual attendance has the opportunity to respond to share information and expertise. Our first YamJam focused on the different ways congregations welcome new members, and I had the incredible honor of hosting it with friends and colleagues from Program and Engagement Professionals of Reform Judaism (PEP-RJ) and the National Association of Temple Administration (NATA). We were all a little nervous before the event began; we had never done this before, and we didn’t know if anyone would even show up! Participation in these live Q&As doesn't require a reservation, so we were just going on faith that people would show up and share their experiences. And they did!

18+ Ways to Make LGBT Members Feel Welcome in Your Congregation

June is here, and in honor of LGBT Pride Month, we're sharing suggestions for welcoming LGBTQ members into your congregation and community. Do you have ideas to add to this list? Leave them in the comments below!

  1. Celebrate Gay Pride Month (June) with a special Shabbat service. Invite LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning/Queer) members to participate and include readings that speak to the experience of being both Jewish and LGBTQ. Consider having a guest speaker deliver a sermon or have a panel of congregants at the oneg to discuss how LGBTQ issues affect their congregational and personal lives.
  1. Phrase your congregational publicity in a way that is inviting to all people. In your congregational advertising, make sure that the LGBTQ population is specifically welcomed at all congregational events.
  1. Review your temple website to make sure that it is welcoming to LGBTQ Jews. Rather than using terms such as “alternative lifestyles” or “non-traditional families,” use language such as, “We proudly welcome members of the LGBTQ community,” or “We welcome LGBTQ Jews and their families.”

Strategies for Success: Reviewing Membership Materials

by Janet Buckstein Most membership-based organizations, including congregations and temple sisterhoods, use a variety of methods to communicate with current and prospective members. These may include printed and online material, social media such as Facebook and Twitter, and even phone calls, presentations, and personal meetings. However, the standard material typically includes brochures/pamphlets, letters, membership forms and applications, fact sheets, program and event flyers, and postcards, posters, and volunteer opportunities. Even if you already have developed this material, is it as effective as it could be? Consider the following in reviewing and creating material. 

How PJ Library® Helped Our Congregation Engage Families with Young Children

Marilyn Gootman
Congregation Children of Israel is a 150-family congregation in Athens, GA. As a small congregation, we were looking for creative ways to welcome and engage families with young children, one of our target membership demographics. The answer came in the form of PJ Library®, which enables us to offer book subscriptions to local families raising Jewish children ages six months to 8 years. Our congregation joined the program in 2007, and it has been a huge success.

Twenty Becomes One: Seeing Our Congregations as Family, Especially During Hardship

In the fall of 2008, I was the executive director of a 1,000-household synagogue. We had recently finished a major sanctuary renovation, and our membership numbers were on an encouraging upward trend. Our finances were sound, and we had big plans for the year ahead. The new president of our board was writing her first Yom Kippur appeal as I was busily taking care of the last details of our High Holiday preparation. Then, two weeks before Rosh HaShanah, Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy, after which the bank loan market crashed. Banks large and small suffered huge losses, and during the first week of October, the stock market experienced a sharp downward spiral. That week was was Kol Nidre, and our president ascended the bimah (pulpit) to deliver an appeal for donations on the very day on which many in our congregation had lost a significant amount of money – money they were counting on for homes, for retirement, for food. The president delivered a masterful appeal that evening, and even on that worst of economic days, we collected Yom Kippur appeal monies in excess of what we had collected the previous year. The next day, on Yom Kippur, the stock market fell 700 points, sending the entire country into a recession that, some would argue, continues to this day.