One of the best parts of being the marketing consultant for STAR is the opportunity to meet with synagogues across the country and talk “shop.” On Monday, May 12th I had one of the opportunities as STAR took its show on the road and held a workshop on Social Media for Chicago Area Synagogues.
Social Media is a term that many people are just beginning to hear and most are not sure if they understand.
Social media is a term that refers to the technology and practices that people use to share information, opinions, insights and experiences. Most important it is a fabulous tool to build and strengthen relationships with members.
Because social media is to many “a tsunami” it can feel overwhelming. One of the key messages of this workshop is you don’t have to do everything — just start small.
In her opening remarks, welcoming Chicagoland synagogues to STAR’s orkshop, Harness The Power of Social Media, Marsha Katz Rothpan asked the group, “Have you ever been bageled?”
Rothpan, STAR’s Senior Program Officer explained that her dad sent her one of “those” viral emails recently – the kind you forward and forward and forward to friends.
This is from that email.
It all started when my friend Doodie Miller– who wears a kippah — was
back in college and suffering through a tedious lecture. As the professor
droned on, a previously-unknown young woman leaned over and whispered in his ear:
“This class is as boring as my Zayde’s seder.”
You see, the woman knew that she did not “look” Jewish, nor did she wear any identifying signs like a Star of David. So foregoing the awkward declaration, “I’m Jewish,” the girl devised a more nuanced — and frankly, cuter — way of heralding her heritage.
This incident launched a hypothesis which would henceforth be known as the Bagel Theory. The Bagel Theory stands for the principle that we Jews, regardless of how observant or affiliated we are, have a powerful need to connect with one another.
To that end, we find ways to “bagel” each other — basically, to “out and connect” ourselves to fellow Jews.
In the workshop, participants were introduced to technologies that are being used by fellow Jews to “out and connect.” From blogging to social networking sites to Twittering, the workshop gave participants an overview of these new communication tools and discussed strategies for helping synagogues incorporate these strategies to reach out and create stronger relationships with their members.
Participants gave the workshop high marks saying:
“Good introductory program”
“One workshop not enough, need more hand-holding sessions…”
“It was informative and I enjoyed it! I recommend this to everyone!”
“Start small - small steps, just start”
“Make longer…webinar series”
A big shout out to Synaplex™ congregation Am Yisrael for hosting the event. Thank you Nancy Holeb Nevins (Exec Director), Randy Horton (board member and Synaplex co-chair) and Brian (staff) for making us feel so welcome.
And, a big Thank You to the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation and Chicago the Board of Rabbis for their endorsement and helping with the promotion of the workshop.
This was the first of several On The Road Workshops STAR plans to hold throughout the country. The workshops will be on a variety of topics. We’ll keep you updated on the location and topic for the next workshop.
One of my passions at STAR is to connect Torah (in its broadest sense) with ideas and tools from the organizational world. I’ve learned that each world can enrich the other.
While recently preparing for a UJA-Federation of New York conference on synagogue change, I had one of those bridging insights. That insight generated four questions which volunteer and professional leaders can ask at staff and board meetings as a way to assess how to extend the impact of the good work of their congregation.
At what organizational stage (e.g., mature, renewing) is your congregation and is it time to plan for the next one?
How often do you explicitly ask if your core activities are really helping fulfill your temple’s mission?
Is your temple’s style of leadership appropriate for its stage?
How can you channel periods of disorientation that happen throughout the life of a synagogue into creativity and not chaos?
An explanation of how I arrived at these questions….
Life Stages of Organizations
Like all organizations, congregations go through different stages of growth, maturity, and renewal (depending upon a little mazel and lots of planning) or decline. Each stage requires a different leadership style and often a change in leadership. And knowing about them can help organizations proactively prepare for their future, instead of being taken aback by it. An excellent book about this subject is The 5 Life Stages of Nonprofit Organizations, by Judith Sharken Simon.
The Torah as Reflecting Life Stages and Organizational Change
I was then struck by how we might think of the Torah as the story of the Jewish People, Inc. The corporation begins as a family-run business for several generations (think the Patriarchs and Matriarchs), with an informal governance structure. But because opportunities look like they might be drying up (famine in the land), the grandson (Jacob) of the founder, who is now leading the company, sends his children into new territory. The family prospers there, opens up 12 different business units (the 12 tribes), really thrives and matures.
But unexpectedly, there’s a hostile takeover (really hostile—Egyptian enslavement of the Jews), which almost destroys the memory of the founders’ dreams. They can no longer fulfill their mission. Eventually, a few descendents become restless (Moses, Aaron). They remember the founders’ stories and accomplishments, become nostalgic and realize that they must reclaim the dream for the sake of the family.
A humble but resolute leader (Moses) arises to renew the dream. He paints an inspiring vision of the future (a land flowing with milk and honey), and easily rallies the troops behind it at first. But, when they encounter resistance (Pharoah), they become reluctant followers. So, with an appeal to a higher authority (God), and a tenacious hold on the dream, they plot a strategy to return them to corporate headquarters.
On their way back home, the founding family, which has now grown, acts out in dysfunctional ways, causing great havoc with the leaders (routine rebellions). Sometimes, this dysfunction becomes very personal (attacks on the leaders by family members). Chaos threatens the organization. But an outside organizational consultant (Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses) is brought in and recommends a new and broader leadership and governance structure (a system of judges). The leader agrees that it’s a great idea to empower those on the front lines to make operational decisions. He also hires a COO (Joshua), perhaps unconsciously thinking of succession planning.
Following a thunderous annual meeting (the revelation at Sinai), the shareholders direct the leaders to develop a 10 point plan (the Ten Commandments), which they unanimously ratify, along with an operational plan (the rest of the commandments). While progress toward reaching corporate headquarters is uneven, with periodic shareholder and director rebellions, the new leadership team remains resolute in pursuing the vision, and cultivating a younger generation of leaders who will be ready to lead the corporation into its next stage (okay—so it takes a little long—40 years!)
By the time the old guard passes on, they have successfully transferred leadership to the new generation. This generation has internalized the mission but will need a different kind of leader (Joshua) and leadership structure (the Judges) to battle for ownership, with other competitors firmly entrenched in their old territory (for example, the Canaanites). While adapting the family values to their place and time, they renew the dream and begin the second cycle of organizational development.
Torah Can Yield Fresh Insights and Questions for Synagogues
So, why was I excited to discover this analogy? Because it reminds me looking at Torah through the lens of organizations can shine a light on key insights into congregational life that can become obscured, as in this case, that:
Big ideas remain dreams until they find the right leaders and the right structures.
Using outside help at key transitions is valuable.
Plan for leadership succession.
These kinds of analogies between the Torah and the organization world also help us realize how much we are still living out the dreams of the founders! And, they can generate questions to keep the work of synagogues vibrant.
B’shalom,
Rabbi Hayim Herring
The video has gone viral and is on YouTube, Yahoo Video, AOL Video, Facebook and My Space.
In the past few days thousands of people have watched. The success of this video and the exposure that the Streit’s brand is receiving is coming at an interesting time for matzah and the Streit’s business.
As the New York Times is reporting there is a Matzah shortage. Add to that the fact that Streit’s is planning to move from it’s Lower East Side location to New Jersey. Streit’s has been part of the Lower East side for 75 years.
So in the midst of all this potential trauma to its customers, Streit’s–thanks to social media– is gaining enormous brand exposure and goodwill. In the process Streit’s is cultivating a relationship with Gen Y, Gen X and Milleniums. Which brand of matzah do you think they’ll select the next time they need to pick up a box?
Are there lessons to be learned here for synagogues? I hope you’ll join me in a conversation!
I started working in the area of outreach to interfaith couples and families over a decade ago.During that time, I’ve come to appreciate the possibilities and the pitfalls of outreach. There are a few key principles that especially guide my thinking, which I want to share with you.
Active congregational outreach and welcome to the interfaith and those interested in study about Judaism requires a commitment by clergy and the lay leadership.
The process for creating a welcoming community, however, may require the efforts of a committee charged with the long-term task of assessing the synagogue’s current strengths and areas for improvement and implementing change.
Is your synagogue in need of an outreach, or Keruv, committee? Here is my list of the Top Five issues an outreach committee may need to address.
1. A synagogue outreach committee may address the stigma of interfaith marriage within the community. In the past, an interfaith couple’s commitment to creating an authentic Jewish home was suspect and the ability for a non-Jew to raise and support a Jewish family was questioned. However, the experience of many interfaith families has shown otherwise. A committee may address this stigma as well as the notion that welcome to interfaith families sends a message to young people that interfaith marriage is an acceptable and accepted option.
2. A committee must address the changing demographics of our Jewish community. Policy changes may be needed to provide for greater inclusion and acceptance of current, but often invisible, interfaith families. This includes revisiting longstanding policies such as the right of a non-Jew to hold a board position or teach in the religious school; the decision as to whether a non-Jew is considered a member of the congregation and listed on the membership roster; and whether voting rights should be accorded the non-Jewish spouse.
3. There is a need to find creative and appropriate ways to acknowledge and include non-Jewish family members in worship and ritual events. A committee may serve to distinguish between rituals that have excluded non-Jews based on synagogue tradition and a culture of exclusiveness verses hahachic principles that may or may not have informed past decisions. Meaningful participation can take many forms if there is a will on the part of the leadership to foster inclusiveness.
4. Classes and programs are necessary to provide for the myriad needs of non-Jewish members and those unaffiliated couples approaching the synagogue for support and assistance. In addition, those interested in conversion to Judaism also have special needs as they integrate into Jewish life. A committee, working along with other synagogue committees such as Membership and Adult Education, can identify educational needs and ensure that the proper staff and resources are provided to achieve these goals.
5. A committee may serve to promote the values and principles of interfaith outreach to all departments and committees of the synagogue. In addition, many fine resources are available through national organizations and publishers. It is important to be familiar with and take advantage of the wisdom and creative ideas that have been successful in other parts of the country. A committee may maximize such efforts.
STAR is proud to be at the forefront of such creative programming with Call Synagogue Home: Connecting Interfaith Families through Transformative Lifecycle Events. For more information on becoming part of a Fall 2008 cohort, please contact Karen Sobel, CSH Project Consultant, at ksobel@starsynagogue.org.
If you had to create a list of Modern Day Plagues, what would that list look like?
That is exactly the question I was asked by a reporter from the Minneapolis StarTribune (the major local daily newspaper in Minneapolis), for a story he is writing for Passover.
This is the list I sent to him –with the addition of Reality TV, which one of my colleagues suggested.
The question is so good that I thought I would ask it to you!
1. Genocide in Darfur
2. Fanaticism of any kind (political, religious, secular)
3. Addiction to the screen (cell phone, computer, television, etc.)
4. Poverty
5. Environmental neglect
6. Suppression of human rights
7. Fear of people who are different from us
8. Allowing approximately 45 million Americans to remain without health insurance
9. Denying too many children a chance to thrive physically, emotionally, spiritually
and educationally
10. Complacency with the status quo when we know it should change
While I certainly intend to recite the traditional 10 plagues as a part of retelling the Passover story, I appreciated this reporter’s question. As Jewish community, we have to address our own internal needs. But, out of our deepest Jewish convictions, and with a conscious awareness of Jewish values, we also need to engage with local, national and global issues which are plaguing our society today. Click Here to take survey
It’s become a Purim/Synaplex(tm) tradition. For the third year in a row, Brotherhood Synagogue in New York has hosted a Friday night congregational dinner with a comic as the “main” entertainment during their Synaplex weekend closest to Purim.
Turns out the comedy hour Shabbat dinner is one of the best attended congregational dinners throughout the year. This year more than 100 people attended.
While these dinners are popular, inviting a comic into a synagogue is not the easiest event to pull off. Different generations appreciate different types of humor and finding someone who can appeal to all generations is an important part of the planning process.
To vet their guest comedienne, Synaplex co-chairman Debra Pearlstein says she relied on word-of-mouth. “In this case, someone saw the comedienne at a Schechter school event and liked her, and the venue also gave me confidence she could handle a synagogue crowd,” Pearlstein explained.
As an added precaution, however, Pearlstein visited the comic’s website where she was able to read her bio and see excerpts from her routine. Having this online preview gave Pearlstein the confidence that this comedienne would work in a synagogue setting. She also had something else going for her.
This particular comedienne had written and performed in an off-Broadway show about some of the great Jewish women comics of the past –think Totie Fields. So after her routine, the comedienne agreed to take questions from the audience about some of these entertainers. “That resonated particularly well with our older members.”
Brotherhood Synagogue is not the only congregation to invite comedians to perform at a Synaplex Friday night congregational dinner; Town & Village Synagogue also had a great turnout for their comedy night. As it turns out one of their members is a comedian. Instead of having just one comic, Town & Village asked their comedian member if he could recommend some comic friends to join him.
The committee didn’t vet the other comics and while the committee co-chair Elinor Nauen says one was a bit bawdy for their congregation, the event was so successful that they are scheduling a comedian to perform after Friday night dinner again this year.
East End Temple in New York also invited a comedian to perform, Ellen Wiewel, Synaplex co-chair says, “We heard about Joel Chasnoff through our Temple’s Educator, who is well-connected and vouched for his talent. He also had an extensive website with testimonials and a clip from his comedy CD, and he lives in NYC, so we did not have to wait for him to be touring to the city. The Educator put us in touch with Joel, and Karen Solomon (co-chair) finalized the booking.”
East End Temple had the highest turn-out for Joel’s performance of any Synaplex program in the last two years, 100 people (good for a congregation of about 250 families).
Says Wiewel, “There was something wonderful about so many people turning out to laugh together in the sanctuary the middle of winter - and laugh we did. Feedback from audience members was positive, including that they appreciated the ease of just enjoying Shabbat together by being entertained without having to think (many of our programs are academic or political), and that we should have more comedians in the future.”
Much of the work we do at STAR is future oriented. Based on the best available data, and discussions with synagogue and philanthropic leaders throughout the country, we try to anticipate the future shape of the Jewish community so that we can prepare for it.
But periodically, I need to be reminded to pause and look backward so that the Jewish future will flow from past experience. That way, it is more likely to be authentic and lasting.
Immediately after Purim, I start to think about the next Jewish festival, Passover, in earnest. As a mental warm up exercise for preparing, I began leafing through a relatively new haggadah, entitled, A Night to Remember. The Haggadah of Contemporary Voices, by Mishael Zion and Noam Zion.
I came across a comment by the novelist, Rabbi Chaim Potok, of blessed memory, which provided this reminder to look back before thinking ahead.
Potok wrote:
I don’t think you can be fully a member of the Jewish people and, creatively, a member of humanity, without knowing who you yourself are.The only way you achieve a deep sense of self is to know your own beginnings. That’s why Torah is important to the Jews. Torah is a Jew’s sense of self…the foundation stones of it. Then you can pick and choose, quarrel with it, discard this, accept that; but at least know where the shoreline is before you begin to row away from it! If you are rowing and there is no shoreline at all, then you’re navigating blind; and to navigate blind is to live in dread.
The haggadah itself is a wonderful example of how that can be done. While it contains a basic script dating back to approximately 2000 years, the haggadah has morphed throughout the centuries to reflect the zeitgeist of each age. In more recent times, haggadot set within the frameworks of environmentalism, feminism, vegetarianism and chemical dependency have been created.
Those efforts which seek to engage younger generations can take a page from the haggadah and its ability to serve as an old yet relevant educational framework. We have to speak to upcoming generations, who carry the Jewish future within them, in their idiom. But, we also have to guide and challenge them to find those connecting threads that are a part of our collective inheritance and weave them into the emerging Jewish narrative.
With the best of intentions, many synagogue leaders try to please every congregant.
After all, we want to model the Jewish values of kindness, respect and caring in the synagogue. And, we know that retaining synagogue members and finding good volunteers are serious challenges, so they strive to respond positively to every request and criticism.
But trying to be loved by everyone was never realistic, and we’re reminded of that when we read the Biblical Book of Esther, one of the central ways we celebrate the upcoming holiday of Purim.
This story, which presents the first plan for genocide against Diaspora Jews, is so gripping that it is easy to miss one of those leadership gems found in the last sentence of this book.
One of the heroes of the story, Mordechai, eventually rises to second-in-command over the Persian Empire. Mordechai is no closet Jew but openly wears his identity proudly. In fact, his refusal to bow before Haman, the story’s villain, is what sets a nearly successful plan of genocide into motion.
Fortunately, in this case, the plot is foiled and this story concludes happily for the Jewish people. Haman, who had been second-in-command, is punished by death and Mordechai replaces him. At the end of the story, the narrator offers a judgment about Mordechai’s leadership (chapter 10, verse 3)–and Mordechai was beloved by most of his fellow Jews.
Note that the verse does not say that Mordechai was universally loved–rather, he was beloved by a majority, which means that even he had his detractors. We’re not told why some of the people had issues with Mordechai. But it didn’t seem to matter to readers then and it shouldn’t concern us either. That’s because one of the conditions for leadership is the willingness to be the object of criticism.
Leadership means being out front on issues of critical impact. The art of leadership is to identify and articulate those issues, while building a coalition of individuals who agree with you. That way, you’re not so far ahead that you wind up standing alone, but you are far enough out there to challenge the community to move closer to the new ideal or idea which you are proposing.
Mordechai’s measure of acceptance by his people reflects this approach toward leadership and is ultimately better for community. Those who try and please everyone will of necessity avoid making difficult choices that real leadership requires.
So while maintaining our highest Jewish sensibilities as we lead, let’s take our cue from Mordechai and realize that by maintaining a majority of support, we will more likely fulfill our own leadership challenges.
Karen Sobel, Call Synagogue Home Project Consultant, spent time this week reviewing the findings of the extensive Pew Study on Religion. Here are some of her thoughts.
Jewish demographers and all those committed to a vibrant future for the American Jewish community in the twenty-first century will need to pay close attention to the findings released this week in the Landscape Survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The findings confirm “the extent to which Americans are on the move religiously… (in) an incredibly dynamic religious market place,” said Luis Lugo, Pew Forum, Director.
As I cull the report through my Jewish lens, I find a mandate to continue to advocate an agenda of welcome and inclusiveness for the Jewish community. Notable to me is a picture of an unaffiliated population who by and large are not atheists. We must actively reach out to this group, regardless of marital status or the spouse’s religious affiliation if we are to stem the tide of declining Jewish affiliation.
Most fascinating is the finding that more than half (54%) of those who were not affiliated with any particular religion as a child now identify themselves as members of a religion. What this says to me is that a majority of people who were raised in a non-religious/unaffiliated setting will seek out a religion in the future. The opportunity for us today is to create a welcoming environment so they will choose or return to Judaism.
I offer a few notable statistics from the report and encourage you to view the full report at http://religions.pewforum.org.
• The percentage of those born Jewish is 1.9% of the total U.S. population. However, only 1.7% of adults identify as Jews, a net loss to our people of .2%.
• 28% of U.S. adults have left the faith in which they were raised in favor of another religion or no religion at all.
• Among those ages 18-29, one-in-four say they are not currently affiliated with any particular religion; the statistic is 16.1% among all adults. Thus, the unaffiliated comprise the fourth largest “religious” tradition in the United States.
• Within the unaffiliated population one-quarter identify as atheists. The remaining three-quarters describe their religion as “nothing in particular.” And yet, a full half of this group says that religion is somewhat or very important in their lives.
• Those movements that are growing are simply gaining new members at a faster rate than they are losing. Those that are declining in number because of religious change simply are not attracting enough new members to offset the number of adherents who are leaving.
• Jews tend to be older than other religious groups, with 51% aged 50 and older. The study found that 72% of Jewish homes have no children under age 18 living at home.
I look forward to hearing how you interpret the data and plan to respond to the suggested trends.
When your synagogue is trying to make a change become permanent–a part of your congregation’s system–there are many ways to increase the chance of doing so.
A few weeks ago, I made a presentation in Philadelphia to a lovely group of rabbis involved with STAR’s Synaplex™ and PEER Initiatives. My good friend, Rabbi Phil Warmflash, Executive Director of the Jewish Outreach Partnership of Philadelphia invited me to speak with them about Synaplex as a catalyst for systemic change.
By coincidence, I had recently purchased a book by William Bridges, Managing Transitions. Given my assigned topic of “systemic change,” I was curious to read what Bridges had to say about the difference between “changes” and “transitions,” two terms often used interchangeably although they are different.Bridges writes:
Transition is different (from change). The starting point for dealing with transition is not the outcome but the ending that you’ll have to make to leave the old situation behind. Situational change hinges on the new thing, but psychological transition depends on letting go of the old reality and the old identity you had before the change took place. Organizations overlook that letting-go process completely, however, and do nothing about the feelings of loss that it generates. And in overlooking those effects, they nearly guarantee that the transition wilt be mismanaged and that, as a result, the change will go badly. Unmanaged transition makes change unmanageable. Transition starts with an ending. That is paradoxical, but true.
So when you need to make changes in your synagogue, what can you do to ensure success?Remember that for a change to succeed it requires a period of transition. That means enabling people to speak about their positive or negative feelings created by the change, finding continuities with the past when they exist, or honoring the past by acknowledging that the status quo has given birth to new opportunities.
Equally important, give people the resources to feel confident with the change and communicate (which means both listening and explaining) key milestones along that transitional road to the desired change so that people celebrate and understand progress.
No matter how hard you try, a few people will still look on the past wistfully. After all, as we read repeatedly in the Book of Exodus, if the Israelites could miss slavery in Egypt, it shows that letting go even of painful situations still leaves a void filled by nostalgia. But distinguishing between a change and a transition, and helping people make it through, is one of the most important tasks of leadership.
B’shalom,
Rabbi Hayim Herring
Immediately after Purim, I start to think about the next Jewish festival, Passover, in earnest. As a mental warm up exercise for preparing, I began leafing through a relatively new haggadah, entitled, A Night to Remember. The Haggadah of Contemporary Voices, by Mishael Zion and Noam Zion.
With the best of intentions, many synagogue leaders try to please every congregant.
