The Conversation Continues

What has United Synagogue been doing in the last month since the opening of its Centennial Celebration: The Conversation of the Century?

We have been going through evaluations, developing a schedule of webinars that will feature speakers and resources from the conference, and, simultaneously, laying the groundwork for our next convention. We have been delighted by the calls and emails from hundreds of attendees with a single message: "Give us more!"

The feedback from our sessions tells us why. After many of the workshops during our conference, people filled out short questionnaires to note what they learned, what they'll do next, and what additional questions remain. The enthusiastic responses - including the one below that diagrams someone's understanding of Dr. Erica Brown's session on Change, Vision and the Growth Mindset - showed that workshops sparked not only ideas but also more questions.

In fact, out of 652 responses from 39 workshops, there were 540 answers to the question, "What is one 'next step' you're taking after this session?" What did people say? Most of the answers fell into two categories: "Bring back this idea to my shul," and "Continue the conversation with my board."

We all know, though, what can happen to a motivated person who comes back from a conference with a great idea. The reality of leadership, resistance to change, and, frankly, day-to-day business gets in the way of following through.

For that reason, here's what United Synagogue will be doing for the next few months. On a regular basis, we will provide you with information that focuses on a topic from one of our workshops. We'll have links to the presentation if they're available, resources related to the topic and a question or series of questions for group discussion. We want to share the ideas and resources from the Conversation of the Century in the bite-sized pieces that will help you, your board or your congregation create a shared understanding, vision, goals and action.

Cross posted on www.USCJ100.org

How to Find Good News Every Day

I look for good news stories every week because I need a break from the daily overdose of negative in the media. My favorite one-stop shopping for a smile, besides YouTube cat videos, is the Good News Network. Here's an uplifting story from Sunday's pages: A man sat next to a table with two women who had clearly heard bad news about a diagnosis. Seeing their distress, he asked the waiter to give him their bill. He paid his and theirs, and then quietly left. The waiter, who shared the note on Reddit, wrote, "Faith in humanity restored."

And here's another nice piece: Ethan Metzger performs his poem, My Parents Brainwashed Me, at the Bronx Youth Poetry Jam. Watch the whole thing, but here is something that stands out:

My parents did brainwash me... 

As early as I can remember, my parents were brainwashing me to have respect for other people, for their belongings and for myself...

Yeah, my father twisted my infant brain in such a horrific way that he made me value my integrity, and to make matters even worse, he led by example.

Kindness. Respect. Setting a positive example. The enduring values in these stories caught my attention this week. Last week, I got my good news in a different way - through United Synagogue's Centennial Solomon Schechter Awards.

The Solomon Schechter Awards have been the primary way that United Synagogue recognized excellence in programming in our synagogues for many years. Hundreds of synagogues would nominate the programs that they considered innovative or well received. This year, from 190 nominations, we gave eight major awards, and commendations for 40 programs that we hope will be replicated in other communities. Judges looked for more than creativity or events that had a positive response; they looked for impact in creating kehilla - sacred community. The programs receiving this year's Centennial Solomon Schechter Awards - from the deeply rooted focus in the Jewish Center of Princeton's religious school curriculum, The Story of My Family Coming to America, to Shaar Shalom Synagogue's Mitzvah Knitters - grew from a core vision to engage hearts, minds and souls.

We'll be sharing descriptions of all the award-winning programs, but I want to highlight the three that received special once-in-a-century "Chesed" acknowledgment. They were notable because they made an impact on the lives of people beyond their own communities. Here are the descriptions provided by the founders of each of these award-winning programs.




Living Tzedakah in Appalachia, from Congregation B'nai Israel, Millburn, NJ:

Congregation Bnai Israel (CBI) has established, over the past 4 years a presence in McRoberts, Kentucky, in the heart of  Appalachia. There are no Jews in McRoberts, only rural poor.  McRoberts is considered the poorest town in the poorest section of the United States. The goals of the ongoing program include:  1) To introduce the concepts of tikkun olam and tzedakah as responsibilities of our community to the entire world.  2) To educate our members as to the difference between rural and urban poor.  3) To brings hands on experience to our members in working with people outside our comfort zone.  4) To make a difference in the lives of poor people and families in McRoberts, Kentucky.

Weathering Superstorm Sandy as a Family, from Greenburgh Hebrew Center, Dobbs Ferry, NY:

In the Spring of 2012, we adopted a mission and vision statement that lists as one of our core values to "Be a family."  As Superstorm Sandy was approaching, during the storm, and in its aftermath, we applied that core value by actively engaging and caring for the members of our synagogue community as well as the greater community.  By doing so we helped build a sacred community among the members of our kehilla on many levels, including that people had the opportunity to perform mitzvot for one another; our shul became more clearly not just a building but a home, a place of safety and comfort; our Rabbi provided spiritual leadership; and all worked together to collect tzedakah for people in the greater community who were less fortunate than we were.

The Altamont Bakery, from Congregation B'nai Emunah, Tulsa, OK:

The Altamont Bakery, a pro-social enterprise founded by Congregation B'nai Emunah, operates year-round in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Founded in the summer of 2011, it was designed to bring members of the congregation together with formerly homeless mentally ill citizens of our community in a shared, cooperative venture. The goal was to produce an outstanding product line while offering support, encouragement, and a sense of community to men and women who have been marginalized by circumstance.     A large team of Synagogue volunteers works without compensation in this project. A complimentary community dinner is served at the Synagogue on each baking day. A full description of the project is available at the bakery website: www.altamontbakery.com. The great gift of the program is a new insight into mental illness for everyone who volunteers for the project. Our bakers are troubled, uneasy souls who are also talented, generous, thoughtful people, capable of sustained effort and genuine achievement. We have entered into a deep and lasting relationship which feels less and less like a benefaction and more and more like a mutual relationship. The program has opened all of us to a new way of seeing, and to enlarging our sense of the human community where everyone, truly, is an image of the living God.

These programs might not be replicable in your community. They responded to extraordinary circumstances, like a hurricane, or required continual devotion to the vision of extending a helping hand to others. But the enduring values that were the foundation for these programs - kindness, respect, setting a good example - are no different than those in the good news stories I look for every week. They're just practiced on a communal level intentionally, every day, in a sacred community.

We Became A Kehilla In About 5 Minutes

Last Friday afternoon, 200 people walked seven blocks in the pouring rain rather than wait with 300 others for buses that were stuck in Baltimore rush hour traffic. Fifty gave up the wait, avoided the walk and hailed cabs. When they got to the hotel where Shabbat dinner and Friday night services were to begin, the prayerbooks, which were shipped on the buses, were still being hauled upstairs.

The music in four of the five services carried through the thin walls. The choir accompanying Cantor David Propis had to hold their beat against the drums in the Mishkan Chicago service next door. The hallway outside was lined with people in costumes ringing cowbells and banging drums. As we welcomed the Sabbath, they welcomed runners who were competing the next day to raise funds for breast cancer research.

Rabbi Felipe Goodman, of Temple Beth Sholom in Las Vegas, put the cacophony into perspective. "When you go to the Kotel in Jerusalem," he said, "you hear the voices and music of thousands of Jews praying in their own style. We're getting a little bit of that here tonight."

As we settled in, and five different versions of Lecha Dodi floated through the hallways, we were a community that forgot the rain and the rushing. We moved into sacred time and space, and remembered why we came there in the first place - to find each other.

This is why Marty Stein, from Temple Beth El in Aliso Viejo, CA, said, "We became a kehilla in about five minutes."



Over the next four days, 1,200 Conservative Jews would find each other. They would learn with some of the best teachers and thinkers in the Jewish world. Two poets in residence, Andrew Lustig and Vanessa Hidary, would inspire and challenge them with spoken word performances about Jewish identity. 150 USY teens and college students would remind the older adults that there is, in fact, a new generation hungry for the friendship, joy, and exploration that Conservative Judaism allows them. 1,000 clergy and synagogue leaders would see that they are not alone. They would share ideas and ignite relationships that they'll follow up on. United Synagogue would announce new projects, including a cost containment program, health insurance for synagogue professionals, the launch of the continent-wide PJ Library program, and a new teen engagement initiative thanks to the generous gift from the Susser Family Trust.

As for me, I would meet 500 new people each day, and stay up much too late in the Sulam Suite with synagogue presidents, educators, and young musicians and artists. I bit my nails through presentations that ran overtime, re-wrote speeches up to the moment when presenters took the stage, moved chairs, directed traffic, and walked 20 miles a day without ever leaving the building. I have never been more proud or grateful to work with my dedicated, talented colleagues, and our generous volunteers and supporters.

In every session during the conference, we asked people to write what their next steps will be when they get home. Here is a small sampling:

• Focus on builders, not buildings.

• Evaluate how we address people in transition.

• Read more about process theology. I am a committed Conservative Jew, but my theology is still a work in progress. 

• Observe areas where my shul innovates and where there is resistance to change.

• Find ways to help our parents have a “moment” of in-shul spirituality.

• Find a “champion” to start the conversation about reaching out to 20’s and 30’s

• Join “God’s Timeline” and will look into setting up a congregational timeline.

• Speak with my rabbi about his approach to same sex marriage and synagogue wedding ceremonies.

• Taking back to my synagogue a “lens” to see how we might be unintentionally discriminating against those who don’t meet the norm.

• Bring board members into the school wing.

News articles are still being written, and people are still discussing what this gathering meant. Our team is back to work sending out thank you notes, getting the videos of our speakers onto our website, and bundling the resources from nearly 50 workshops together by topic to share with our United Synagogue network. We're debriefing to remember what worked, and fix what went wrong as we begin to plan the next convention in two years.

How would you follow up on the Conversation of the Century?

Break A Leg

I used to volunteer to be assistant director for our synagogue's biannual musical. Having minored in theatre in college, I knew the three priorities for the position: 1) Take copious notes during rehearsals to ensure that decisions one day turn into actions by the next. 2) Get the cast and crew what they need to work together seamlessly. 3) Keep people's spirits up.

A synagogue play is supposed to be a community-building experience. But one year, everyone was miserable. For many reasons, this particular production brought out in 50 adults their worst high school drama behavior, from prima donna tantrums and behind-the-back whispering to sneaking out for a sip of scotch. Ticket sales were slow, no one wanted to rehearse, and the group's motivation was lower than a prison chain gang. The director and producer and I were chronically depressed. 

To cheer up my two beleaguered friends, I wrote an email with the subject line, "How to Produce a Synagogue Play." I gave ten tips that included things like, "Remove dialogue and choral numbers and replace with solos," and "Give 40 performances so every cast member gets the lead at least once." The insider jokes lifted our spirits, I assumed no one else would see it, and we got to opening night.

To my horror, the director had put my email in the printed program! She thought it was lighthearted and funny, and made a great final page. I was overcome with dread, waiting for cast members to take it personally and confront me for humiliating them publicly. I made plans for the next congregation I would join after I was ejected from this one. But no one said anything. They had felt the same way, and understood the good-natured humor.

Move forward 20 years. I am one of the lead professionals producing United Synagogue's Centennial Celebration. My role has felt like being the assistant director of the biggest, most complicated synagogue play ever attempted. It has been exciting, terrifying, and fun. Our team learned how to work together, and after a year of nearly continual communication, we can almost read each other's minds. I can honestly report that I never felt the need to write a tongue-in-cheek email to boost morale, although there was one time when I nearly crafted a fake press release that changed the date of the founding of United Synagogue so we'd have an extra year to plan.

The program guide has already gone to print, but in my own tradition of "how-to" commentary, I now offer my advice on....

HOW TO PRODUCE A SUCCESSFUL EVENT

Tip #1. Celebrate a 100-year anniversary. Really, it makes choosing a theme a breeze. 

Tip #2. Set realistic goals. It will help you make complicated decisions about your space needs. The risk is that if you surpass your expectations, you might have to walk 600 people from your hotel to another one seven blocks away for Friday night dinner and religious services. (The same risk applies to goals for the number of exhibitors. If you're not careful, you will have to convince them that the rafters outside the restrooms are prime space.) 

Tip #3. Boost attendance by holding your event during a secular four-day holiday weekend like Columbus Day. The risk is that the city will host a marathon at the same time. But, you'll enjoy the hunt as you help people search for rooms when your hotel runs out of them. 

Tip #4. If you encourage people to present workshops, be prepared for an enthusiastic response from the community. Then refer to the risks in Tip #2 about space. 

Tip #5. Don't be afraid to assign staff members to the core steering committee who are already too busy to work on one more thing. Look at it like baseball players warming up for their next at bat by swinging two or three times the weight of a regular bat. Those professionals will appreciate how light their regular work load feels when the event is over! 

Tip #6. One month out from the event, turn over 1,000 details that the core team set in motion to about 40 additional staff and volunteers. They'll thank you, too, for the reason detailed in tip #5. 

Tip #7. Look for chair people who are serial synagogue presidents. They are human beings with a strange genetic inability to run away from responsibility, weekly meetings, mind-numbing trivial detail, whining, conflict, political intrigue and constant pressure to raise or save money. 

Tip #8.  Engage an event planner. It's worth every penny to be able to say, "Our event planner is responsible for that." 

Tip #9.  Identify target audiences and ask "connectors" to keep reaching out to them. Avoid counting how many people have registered. Instead, look for who is not registered...yet. In the end, it will make your CEO extremely happy that your assurance, "Everything is going as planned," turns out to be true. Remind him/her of how right you were when it's time for your annual performance review.  

Tip #10. About your family: Remember that they won't understand the new words you'll throw around, like, "room blocks," "exposure," "values engineering," "MOS interviews," and "VOG (voice of God)." Tape a photo of yourself to your refrigerator so they'll remember what you look like if you spend more time in your office than your kitchen for a year. Thank them profusely for their patience with your continual distraction. Maybe even post your thanks publicly on your blog.

With more than 1,000 participants, the Conversation of the Century will take center stage in the Conservative Jewish community when it "opens" on Friday. To the hundreds of performers, speakers, volunteers, and staff who will bring it to life, I say thank you, and, as they say in the theatre, "Break a leg!"

What Synagogues Can Learn From "Breaking Bad"

What will you be doing tonight at 9:00? If you're like me and 6 million other people, you'll be watching the final episode of Breaking Bad. And if you're like me and 4.8 million other people, you didn't watch the first season when it began; maybe not the second or third, either. You caught up later during a few weeks of "binge watching."

As the New York Times noted yesterday, Breaking Bad's audience grew over time because of word of mouth and its availability through Netflix:

"Breaking Bad" made its debut in 2008 to an underwhelming 1.2 million viewers - which would have caused many programming chiefs to drop it. But the show dodged cancellation and slowly built a following - especially once the old episodes were made available en masse on Netflix. 

Just using my own tv viewing habits as an example, similar cases can be made for The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, Rome, Downton Abbey, House of Cards, The Newsroom, Copper, and DaVinci's Demons. You can make your own list, or take this advice from Newsday if you haven't started this new habit.

It's a habit that is here to stay. Advice about what's good to watch comes from people who we view as reliable sources - our friends, family, coworkers, hair stylists - anybody, really, but the networks themselves. Amazon started us on the habit when they published reviews of books by readers, and then told us what other readers like us were also reading. We now buy music, clothing, shoes and housewares, eat in restaurants and stay in hotels AFTER we check the ratings from other people. Our computers and smart devices allow us to find what we want when we're ready.

I think this habit has implications in our kehillot, (communities). Clergy and lay leaders have tried for years to entice members to come into their synagogue buildings with programming. Volunteers have been burned out, budgets have been blown, new ideas have come and gone. Synagogue leaders complain of low engagement in programs, and yet continue to look for new ideas for programs. In part, it's because they ask their members what will get them more involved, and the answer they often get is, "New programs." Or, "More programs."

For this reason, I am watching data coming in from members of the 10 kehillot in United Syagogue's new Sulam for Strategic Planners program. Strategic planning teams are using our template and collection mechanism for congregational surveys to guide their planning.

We will share a summary of the aggregate data once participating synagogues have reviewed it, but here are the results from one question that has to do with programming.

Out of nearly 2,000 respondents, 593 people filled in the blank for the following question:

If our congregation would offer _____, I would attend and ask a friend to join me. 

A text analysis showed that the most frequently used words in their essay answers were adult, Jewish, social, Hebrew, services, programs, night, and classes. The most frequent phrases were Friday night, adult education, education programs, cooking classes, learning opportunities, Hebrew classes, social programs and more family.

There is nothing new in those answers.

I mentioned in a previous post that I look for the story where data points, rather than at the data itself, so I searched for other patterns. Hidden in the phrases of all of the respondents were feelings, not program ideas. Words like inspiring, ruach, exciting, convenient, illuminating, interesting, spiritual, enlightening, meaningful, dynamic, powerful, uplifting.

So, what can Breaking Bad teach synagogues? Its breathless fan base illustrates what is behind building an audience today. Think back to when you first heard the premise of the show: A high school science teacher dying of cancer decides to make money by getting into the methamphetamine business. If you ignored it, or found it a little repulsive, so did I...until my cool friends, and my most upright, straight-laced family members, told me I would feel like I got on a roller coaster and wouldn't want to get off. They didn't tell me what the story was about; they told me how I would feel. Against my own quantitative data about my preferences, (the amount of historical fiction listed in paragraph three of this post is no coincidence), I followed their advice. One Breaking Bad episode, and I was hooked faster than a...well, you fill in the blank with the clever meth addict metaphor.

People respond to word of mouth testimonials when they're about feelings, not content.

Advice to kehilla leaders: Planning any new successful program or initiative will require paying less attention to what the program planner thinks is good content, and more to how the program will transform people. It begins with assuring that new ideas are based on values, mission, and impact. If participation isn't a home run at first, before declaring it a failure, check to see if you have a few raving fans. Then help them bring in others. Synagogues might not have Netflix or On Demand where people can catch up or get on board, but we have You Tube, live streaming, Facebook, polls, newsletters, listserves, personal conversations, tutoring, Shabbat dinner, and services every week (or every day!). Find ways for a small community to build a larger community.

This week, we will publicly announce the recipients of the Centennial Solomon Schechter Awards. We'll honor the winning kehillot on Monday, October 14, at our Centennial Celebration. Their programs are excellent examples of planning that began with a holistic vision of transforming hearts and minds. Some were an instant success; others built their audience and impact over time. The best of the programs adapted and changed according to what they learned from the community. Watch for the announcement and descriptions as we highlight them on our website, in webinars, and at conferences throughout the year.

In the meantime, you'll find me at 9:00 tonight with my popcorn and beer in front of my tv. Because I'm a multi-tasking nerd who loves to find community among strangers, I'll also be enjoying the interactive surveys and quizzes on the Breaking Bad StorySync on my laptop.

And I'm open to suggestions for the next tv series to add to my binge watching queue.

What Has Changed in 100 Years?

The year: 1914.

From The American Hebrew newspaper, commenting on the second annual meeting of the new organization, The United Synagogue of America:

The United Synagogue is still in an embryonic state. This was proved by the many reports rendered during the all day session. The first year of activity showed no practical results, for no real work of any kind was indulged in. It was a twelve month period of experimentation. Each committee (there were six) conducted several investigations and at the meeting the chairman spoke of these investigations. Furthermore, each committee suggested plans of active work to be engaged in by the newly-appointed committee during the coming year.

I found this quote within a document, A History of The United Synagogue of America 1913-1963, written by Abraham J. Karp on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of United Synagogue. It's a commemorative piece, intended to show the growth of the organization. Knowing what I do about startups and organizational change, I'm not surprised that the second year progress report on the founding of United Synagogue seemed like an account of maddening committee wheel-spinning. As the founder of United Synagogue, Solomon Schechter's idea of a "big tent," according to Michael Cohen, meant balancing "inclusivity with boundaries." Where do you put the pegs of that tent? Some would argue that we're still working on it.

In addition to the history lesson, I'm fascinated by the challenges traced by Karp in the first 50 years of United Synagogue's history. Here are some examples:

1914: There were 24 congregations affiliated with United Synagogue. Their religious school students numbered 2385 boys and 2096 girls. At the United Synagogue annual meeting, Solomon Schechter commented on the report of the Education Committee, given by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan:

The congregations have to maintain a double system of schooling in order to meet the wishes of the two classes of members that are usually to be found in every congregation, namely, those whose slogan is "more Judaism," and those who ask for "less Judaism."

 Excerpt from a Report on the 1922 Convention, by H.B. Bernstein:

...One would gather from what was said that unless we begin immediately to interpret our sacred literature in the light of modern thought we shall not be able to hold our college students against the free sciences they learn. This statement was repeated so often as to give the impression that there was no critical work being done today. This was not the case, was the reply.

 The Herald of the United Synagogue Recorder, May 1, 1925:

In addition, several new important activities are being inaugurated...Of considerable value is the Teachers' Registry which has been established. The hundreds of communities, large and small, that need teachers or principals, are finding their task made much easier through this Teachers' Registry.

The keynote of the Sixteenth Annual Convention held in Chicago in April, 1928, was "Reunite Synagogue and Life," and President S. Herbert Golden talked about lay leaders:

Our laity should be so brought up as to be ever prepared when the call of service comes to answer "hineni." By drafting the baale batim into the administrative tasks of the organization, we can leave the rabbis free to devote themselves to the religious and educational phases of our program. 

The biennial convention in Chicago from May 13-17, 1948, according to Karp, focused on Palestine, Europe and America.

On May 15th, the very day when the State of Israel was proclaimed, the session was devoted to "The Jewish State-Promise and Challenge."

And the theme of the 1953 convention was "Building Synagogue Leadership."

A National Survey On Leadership disclosed a vast gap between the actual and desired. The sessions were devoted to the bridging of this gap.

Education, Youth and Young Adults, Membership, Volunteerism, Israel, Leadership. We're still tackling issues of kehilla - sacred community - described since the earliest days of the 20th Century, even though the dynamics of what we're addressing and how we're going about it have shifted.

The 21st Century updates to these challenges will take place at United Synagogue's 100th anniversary celebration, October 11-15, in Baltimore. There are about 130 sessions and workshops. Here are some of them. I'll leave it up to you to recognize how our focus and direction have changed since that second annual meeting in 1914. And to be part of the next century's conversation.

Education

• Rabbi Jim Rogozen, United Synagogue's chief learning officer, will convene, The Future of Congregational Education, with Jonathan Woocher, David Bryfman, and Nancy Parkes
• Congregational Education for the 21st Century: Religious School in the Clouds, led by Wendy Light and Dr. Richard Solomon
• Terry Kaye will lead, From Vision to Nitty Gritty: Putting Educational Technology into Practice 
• Ensuring the Jewish Future: The Case for Day Schools, with Dr. Elaine Cohen, Rabbi Moshe Schwartz, and Bill Zarch
• Maximizing the School as an Asset of the Congregation, with Sue Wyner

Youth, College Outreach and Young Adult Engagement

• A Memo from Your Future, with Rabbi Dave Levy, Michael Sacks, and USYers
• Making the "Next Generation" the "Now Generation," In Order to Ensure a "Future Generation," with Yossi Garr, Teri McGuire, Rabbi Ita Paskind, and Rabbi Joel Seltzer 
• From Campus to Kehilla: What Synagogues Can Learn from College Communities (And Vice Versa), led by Seffi Kogan
• 50 Shades of Growth: Engaging the Hearts and Souls of 20s & 30s, led by Rabbi Jeremy Fine and Rabbi Aaron Weininger

Membership

• Tefilla as a Vehicle for Engagement and Building Community, with Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann
• Inside Outside: Renewing Jewish Outreach, a panel discussion with Debbie Albert, Rabbi Daniel Burg, Rabbi Adam Greenwald, convened by Rabbi Michael Siegel
• Reaching Out to Interfaith Families, with Rabbis Elliot Cosgrove, Ed Feinstein, Deborah Wechsler, and Michael Siegel
• Technology and Engaging Families: It's not about getting them in the door anymore, with Jill Allenberg Stepak and aliza Sperling 
• Where is Your Place in Our Story? Storytelling as a Tool for Welcoming, with Jennifer Rudick Zunikoff
• Intermarriage and the Conservative Movement: Responding to the Challenge of Demographics, led by Rabbi Charles Simon and Steve Lachter

 Volunteerism and Leadership

• Volunteer Recognition: An Easy Resource Tool for Kehillot, led by Linda Sussman, USCJ kehilla relationship manager 
• V'Asu Li Mikdash: Build for Me a Sanctuary - Creating and Recreating the Kehilla of Today and Tomorrow, with Rabbi Hayim Herring and Rabbi Sid Schwartz, moderated by Rabbi Michael Siegel
• Creating an Effective Board, with Susan Kasper and Robert Leventhal
• Sacred Community and Fiscal Responsibility, with Fred Passman and Barry Mael

Israel

• Next Year in Jerusalem: Fact, Fiction, Fantasy or Farce? with Dr. David Breakstone, Rabbi Amy Eilberg, Yizhar Hess, Arie Katz, moderated by Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt
• 65 Years of Israeli Popular Music in 60 minutes, with Cantor David Lipp
• Why You're A Better Israel Educator Than You Think You Are, with Rabbi Josh Fiegelson and Aliza Goodman
• Maalot: Innovative Programs for Israel Education and Advocacy, with Rabbi Paul Freedman and Morey Schapira
• The Schizophrenic Zionist, with Dr. David Breakstone and Joel Chasnoff 

PJ Library Goes to USCJ

Leaders of 118 Conservative synagogues were notified yesterday that for the first time they will be able to bring the gift of Jewish books, available through PJ Library, to children in their communities. This unprecedented expansion of the PJ Library program is into areas where there are no other PJ Library "partners," like Jewish Federations or JCCs. These synagogues join 37 others that are able to access PJ Library resources through United Synagogue's partnership with the Harold Grinspoon Foundation. It will result in up to 30,000 new subscriptions over the next five years of the program.

Why does this matter?

PJ Library is one of the simplest and most elegant entry-point-into-Jewish-experience programs, in addition to Birthright, to emerge in our 21st Century community. Begun in 2005, PJ Library recently reached its one-millionth subscriber. A report on its impacts will be published soon, but at a February 2013 PJ Library partnership launch involving United Synagogue, Union for Reform Judaism and the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, the good folks at PJ Library described some jaw dropping statistics. Between 40 and 80% of PJ Library subscriptions go to unaffiliated families, depending on the community.

PJ Library makes inroads because it's free. Grandparents sign up their grandchildren. Parents notice its "no strings attached" offer. But the best approach to any free gift has to include follow up and build relationships if the ultimate goal is to connect young families to the Jewish community. Synagogues are the natural entry point; they have the best chance of supporting Jewish identities and journeys over a lifetime. Many synagogue leaders ask how they can find and reach out to the unaffiliated. PJ Library seems to be a great answer.

The potential strength of this new program, and where we're testing new territory, is what happens in synagogues that commit to using this outreach tool. This is not a free gift to a synagogue; it's a matching grant. Although the cost per subscription is significantly low because of the underwriting by United Synagogue's donors and the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, each participating synagogue must commit to raise their share towards their subscription goals. Participating synagogues will get advice and help with securing donors in their synagogues. And we're offering resources for outreach and engagement, networking the professionals and volunteers who will work with PJ Library families in their kehillot. We're even providing strategic planning resources to align their work with the vision of their leadership. I believe that the synagogues that commit to offering PJ Library will strengthen their leadership, membership and infrastructure, in addition to giving Jewish books to young families in their communities.

Here's a video that gives a peek at what is being accomplished already in our pilot program with 33 synagogues in metropolitan New York.

Find out if your kehilla is eligible for the USCJ-sponsored PJ Library program by emailing our PJ Library Coordinator, Rabbi Cara Weinstein Rosenthal. If not, it means you're in an area where PJ Library is already available. But don't feel left out. We have created a special venue for families in your community to build relationships, and have a great Shabbat experience at our Ramah-USY Family Camp at the Centennial Celebration in Baltimore. Scholarships for PJ Library families are available. So find the PJ Library families in your kehilla, and let them know you can help them receive the gift of Shabbat.