Wishing You a Wonderful New Year

Wishing all our Christian friends a very Merry Christmas

(and don't tell anyone Santa is Jewish!)

What is Your Purpose?

By Yoram Samets, co-founder Jvillage Network

Lately I have found myself reading about and discussing -- once again -- an all too popular conversation in the Jewish community: the lack of participation and the lack of financial support. This is a topic I can recall hearing about at the dinner table when I was growing up in the 50s and 60s. It was a topic that was driving real results -- the closing of Jewish community organizations throughout the area we lived in.

This conversation has never really disappeared. And today, this issue continues to erode the foundation of Jewish organizational life. We all know the superficial reasons -- the competition from the assimilated world we now live in. Yet I believe there is a more fundamental issue that is the challenge. A challenge that we can turn into an opportunity. An opportunity that I see being realized in some national Jewish organizations and local Jewish organizations. Simply stated the challenge and the opportunity are: To provide clarity of vision and mission. But it requires great passion to deliver successfully.  

What does success look like when an organization has clarity around its vision and mission? Purpose. And Purpose drives participation, engagement, relationships, and ultimately, financial support.

Too often, organizations will spend all their time and effort on developing their vision and mission, then assign it to a banner and go on about their day-to-day lives. The intention is good, but reality requires feet on the street to take a vision and a mission to the level of organizational Purpose. And Purpose requires never ending passion to deliver on success to the organization.

None of this is easy stuff.  It requires that leadership understand that organizational success requires constant work at the strategic level, supported by very focused tactics that are in alignment with the organizational purpose. In the Jewish world, we often equate doing more with accomplishing more -- where in reality, what we need to be doing is less.  And everything we do needs to be deeper in both content and context.

It is here at this critical juncture where our Jewish organizations are failing.  It is here where too many Jewish organizations are out of alignment with their vision and mission. And once out of alignment, the Purpose is diminished.

Now is the time to gather your community’s best and brightest. Now is the time when your leadership is needed most.  As we move through this holiest time of the year, where self-assessment is central to everything we do, ask yourself what is your organization’s Purpose.  

Answer it simply. Is this the same understanding everyone who sits at the leadership table holds?  If so, you are on the right path.  If not, you know the work that needs to be done for the coming years.

The Jewish Social Network

By Mark Yaschik, president Jvillage Network

When Rabbi Avrohom Korf came to Florida in the 1960’s as the first shaliach of Chabad, his presence couldn’t have been more incongruous with the average Jew in the Sunshine State.  Yet, year after year and experience after experience, he awoke the neshamas of literally thousands of Jews by helping them perform one mitzvah at a time.

It wasn’t the mezuzah checking or tefilin pushing that made him -- and the entire Chabad movement -- a wild success. His mission was successful because he took one small step toward his fellow Jews and let G-d take over from there.

Kiruv, or Jewish outreach, isn’t my thing. I don’t ride around Atlanta looking for mezuzahs on the doorposts of the homes I pass by. However, I do see my role in the Jewish community as part of a whole and, as such, one that should be taken very seriously. As I walk through the grocery store, take my kids to soccer practice, or stop by the bank wearing a yarmulke, I am showing the world what an observant Jew does and what should be considered acceptable behavior. Even on days when nothing is going right and my patience is shot, I have to remember that the actions I take also represent our rabbis, teachers, and my fellow congregants. A single negative or deceitful experience caused by one Jew can easily open up the floodgates of preconceived notions that the community as a whole has worked so hard to reverse. In essence, at the same time that we are carefully working on our own actions and behaviors, we must also remember our fellow Jew.

In my role as president of Jvillage Network, I talk with leaders of the North American Jewish community that cater to the Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist movements. I can tell you first hand that in many ways we’re all in the same boat. Our communities share the same struggles, the same yearning to come closer to G-d, and have leaders with genuine intent who work tirelessly to enrich the lives of their members and instill within them love of G-d and the desire to perform mitzvahs.

We have a responsibility to love each and every Jew simply because we are all children of G-d, regardless of anyone’s level of observance or knowledge. We daven every Rosh Hashanah, ‘You drew us close, our King, to Your service and proclaimed Your great and Holy Name upon us.’  In other words, we should remember that a Jew is a Jew and that we’ve all been granted a unique and holy soul, or neshama. With that mantle of honor, we’re also accepting the responsibility to lead the other nations with good and honorable actions both inside and outside of our homes.

By setting a good example both within our own families, among our congregations, and with the non-Jewish world, we will be sure to strengthen and enhance our relationships with our various communities and, ultimately, with G-d.  


Happy new year and g’mar chatimah tovah!

Contact Mark to learn more about what Jvillage can do for your organization.

Cooperation, not Competition, is the Key to Survival

by Yoram Samets, co-founder Jvillage Network

Recently, The Jewish Week ran an article on the new synagogue competition sprouting up in many different communities.  This article showcased many issues that our congregations are facing today, but the primary two that I took away were:

1. A decreasing number of Jews are becoming dues paying members of synagogues, and
2. "Competition" from start-ups was causing new friction within the traditional organized Jewish world.

Both of these concerns have been gnawing my insides since I read this piece. Gnawing, because both of these concerns are the result of the "traditional" Jewish world living in a time that has long passed the definition of "traditional."  As long as Jewish organizations continue to plan for the future by looking through the rear view mirror instead of the windshield, we will continue to see these organizations become less and less relevant to the future of Jewish life.  

It is time for us to stop thinking that one Jewish organization is in "competition" with another. The world we are in today values cooperation and shared meaning between organizations. It is our particularity that breeds the notion that we have the "right" way, when in fact we should be embracing -- not competing with -- the other and together planning for the future. When one synagogue views another as a "competitor," fearing the loss of membership and money, their negative focus is missing the opportunity. This is not a values-based organization that I would want to belong to.

Today, only 30 to 35 percent of Jews are affiliated with a synagogue -- and that does not even begin to address the issue of how few actively participate in their synagogue community. With as many as 70 percent of Jews lacking synagogue affiliation, our focus should be on institutional cooperation, and increasing the value of our organizations, not challenging each other to split the small numbers we presently have. Our strength -- and our future -- is enhanced through our linking arms as we provide the services our lives are in need of today.

We live in a values-driven environment. I am attracted to do what I value, not what i should be doing. Our Jewish world needs to decrease its provincial infighting and focus on providing more shared and cooperative value. That is what we are looking for. That is how we will get more Jews involved in a Jewish life.

The Business of the High Holidays

By Yoram Samets, co-founder Jvillage Network

Everyday I wake up, I have this internal struggle between my personal Judaism and my desire to make my synagogue a successful home for our Jewish community. In some ways, this is the conflict between heart and head.  At this time of year, it is much harder to get into my head and look at the ways the High Holidays can be used to gain greater engagement, greater relationship with our community, but this is exactly the time to be thinking about engagement opportunities -- that lead to new relationships for the coming year.

For most of our synagogues, this will be the largest audience we draw for the year. What can we be doing during this time period that invites congregants to connect with us just one more time during the year?

How about:

• Posting  an oversized calendar of upcoming events for the next quarter on bulletin boards.

• Posting the schedule for year around shabbat children's services near the area where families drop off their children. Or better yet, hand a flyer to parents and guardians when they pick up their children after services.

• Asking board members to mingle and welcome everyone; they should be the synagogue's Relationship Building Ambassadors.
  
  
• Asking the president of the congregation to acknowledge key lay leadership during her/his speech.

• Asking the Rabbi to create sermons that bring people together. To move from telling to asking to relationships.

• Asking the Rabbi to use language and ideas young people can relate to.

• Sending congregants a special post-holiday email with the Rabbi's sermon. And invite them back.

• Making sure everyone knows about our website, Facebook page, etc. -- and inviting them to connect online.

Has your congregation tried other strategies that have been effective at keeping the post-High Holiday momentum going? Tell us about them.

Welcome to Our House

By Yoram Samets, Co-founder Jvillage Network

Preparations for the High Holidays are full steam ahead. This is the time when we open all the doors and welcome our largest gathering of Jews throughout the year.  

This is the time when many first impressions will be made.  Whether it is extended family that is visiting, a new congregant’s first time participating in the High Holidays, or new guests who are invited for dinner, these days will provide lasting impressions. These all-important holy days provide the foundation for the future of our synagogues. Yes, the future is tomorrow, but it is also next year and the year after that. The impressions with which your congregation leaves after services will lead to conversation. And conversation leads to the potential of further engagement. So, what can you do to ensure a good first -- and, more importantly, lasting -- impression?

Five Keys to a Welcoming Home

• Ushers should smile and say welcome. That first interaction sets the tone for the full experience.

• Prepare a "High Holiday" customs tip sheet, enabling everyone to understand the "rules" for the day.

• Overdo your signage. Make it easy for people to find their section, the coat room, the restrooms, the appropriate childcare room, etc.

• Provide pre-printed name tags. When we only see each other once a year, names can be challenging.

• Keep your bathrooms clean. Believe it or not, your bathrooms say as much about your synagogue as your sanctuary.

As you think and plan through the High Holidays, think through the lens of a first-time experience. You will discover many details that will make this a more pleasurable experience for everyone.