Thinking about LESS as a vehicle for Thriving Sustaining Synaogues

Of late, I find myself focused on less.

I’m not referring to the volume of what I’m pondering but about living with and on less. In our acquisitional,
consumerist, materialistic world, you might wonder how I started obsessing about less.

First, the novel World Made By Hand inspired me to think about a world where we could suddenly be plunged into living without the comforts of oil, electricity, and technology. (I recommend it—the book,
not the living situation.)

Then there was a workshop I attended on Systematic Inventive Thinking (SIT). SIT is a strategic planning tool where participants explore a problem or situation in two ways. The first way is to expand or multiply the
focus. The second way is to imagine the situation where that focus does not exist, to where it has been subtracted. The idea being, how can we maximize our use of something and/or how can we learn to do what we do differently. How do we move ourselves to a place where nothing is a given, nothing is taken for granted, and there are no sacred cows?

As I anticipate applying this newfound methodology to the work we do at the Synagogue Leadership
Initiative, I find myself eager to chat with lay and professional leadership about distribution of resources
and sustainability. As many religious institutions struggle to balance the budget in a way that does not push
them over the tipping point of affordability of belonging (dues), I feel that SIT could be just the tool we need to help us find new solutions. For example, what would the outcome be if we applied the SIT method to
the synagogue building? For our example, we will accept that, along with salaries, the single greatest consumer of financial resources is the synagogue building itself. Mortgage, roof and parking lot repairs, utilities, liability insurance, landscaping and snow removal are just a few of the costs incurred when it
comes to building ownership.

Since most synagogues use a significant amount of resources to support their building, wouldn’t it be prudent for us to spend sometime thinking about how to maximize the building and then to, conversely, imagine what the synagogue would look like without the building?  Disclaimer: While I am fascinated by SIT, I am not an expert in it so I will attempt to do justice to the methodology but as a novice. Additionally, I am neither a lawyer nor an accountant so if you decide to embark on this type of endeavor do be sure to consult with your experts.  To find out more about SIT visit www.sitsite.com.

So, let’s work.

Imagine what our world would be like if we multiplied our synagogue building.  How could we use available
space to its maximum capacity to create ways to share in the overhead of the building?  What synergies exist that should be considered as part of this equation? In considering sharing the building, there are some endeavors that could feed people into the institution: pre-school; camp; religious school; religious high school; social service programs for seniors and/or special needs; hosting support groups; office and event space for another Jewish nonprofit. There are also some partners that would help financially but would be unlikely to impact our community by bringing prospective members. Those might include: sharing our sacred (worship) space with a non-Jewish religious group; housing a non-religious school on our premises such as a
Montessori or special needs school; or sharing office space with another entity.

Now, imagine what if we were to (gasp) subtract the building from our synagogue equation. What would
our synagogue look like if we did not have a building? How could we do what we do, differently? For services, for example, could we rent space in another house of worship, school, office building, or hotel? Could we meet in the homes of members? Could we worship outdoors? For religious education, could we rent a public school, or day school? Could we meet in a participant’s home? Could we develop an online learning community? For adult education, could we rent space? Could we meet in donated pace or community space, such as a library? Could we partner with local JCCs to provide vibrant adult education
that takes place on their premises? This, in particular, exemplifies a wonderful synergistic relationship of
the synagogue’s rabbi (as part of his/her employment agreement) teaching at the JCC (for no rent but class is
also open to non-members). Could we develop an on-line learning community (using Web-ex, Oovoo, etc.)?

The provocative brief example above just scratches the surface of what our community could achieve by applying this methodology.  What other areas can we explore with this tool?  Might it be handy when
considering staffing models?  Worship?

Let us know if you would like some assistance in launching your own SIT endeavor.

Lisa

I N V I S I B L E

Can you see me?

I am sad. I feel alone. I… recently divorced; had a miscarriage, lost my job.

I need… camaraderie; a network; an ear; a shoulder; an invitation to Shabbat dinner or a seder.

Can you see me? I am part of your sacred community. See me. Serve me.Remember me.

Being with me makes you uncomfortable. I do not want to be on the sidelines waiting for my life to

(re)start. I will not feel like a fifth wheel. Your happiness will not make me sad. You may find my sadness contagious but that is not my fault.

So much of participation in synagogue life centers on the family. We are all very focused on children and young families. Many sacred communities are not addressing the needs of singles (or single again), those without kids (by choice, infertility, empty nest), those in crisis (due to job loss or illness). In fact, so much of the way we are structured and the way we program present barriers for those who don’t fit the cookie cutter mode of idyllic life.

Why are we uncomfortable with those whose lives are not like our lives? Does thinking about some of these situations make us nervous? Terrified? Envious? Feelings such as, “there but for the grace of G-d go I” or “being around divorced people might plant a seed of possibility in my spouse’s brain,” or “we can’t invite the Schwartzes out to dinner as one of them is out of work and maybe they cannot afford it,” are more common than you think. Whether because of unspoken (or dare I say, ungenerous) feelings or simply due to oversight, congregants in these categories are often on the periphery.

As sacred communities it is incumbent upon us to make a place at the table for all who choose to be a part of our synagogue society. At a recent screening of the film, Hineini: Coming out in a Jewish High School, I was struck particularly by two things. The first was that during the film, the young woman who is the center of the movie says that she feels “invisible.” Invisible! That simple statement choked me with tears. How can a person who is at our table feel invisible? How can we permit someone to feel invisible? What is our responsibility to this person? In answer to that I share with you the other statement that has stayed with me, which emanated from a panel discussion that followed the movie screening. At it, Rabbi Shmuel Goldin of Congregation Ahavath Torah in Englewood said the phrase, “value without validation.” That simple phrase resonated so completely with me that I typed it into my Blackberry. It caused me to reassess the labels that I/we put on people. Meaning, I can value the person even if I cannot relate to (or do not approve of) some aspect of their life. I can value the human without validating or sharing every aspect of their life.

Innocently, sometimes our reason for avoiding people who make us feel uncomfortable is because we don’t know what to say or we’re afraid to say the wrong thing. I implore you not to let that be the reason you stay away from someone on the periphery. Truly, a simple, “I don’t know what to say,” “I’m thinking about you,” or “I’m happy to see you,” are enough to break the ice and start a dialogue. Remember, my point here is that those on the periphery don’t have to fit into our activities. We may have to bend our activities to include them. For example, while you are free to invite your childfree friends to your child’s birthday party, you can also hire a babysitter and go out for childfree activities, as well.

There is an opportunity here for each of us to step out of our comfort zone (or even the doldrums), to make new friends, to try new things, to explore other activities and prospects. The added benefit is that by exploring these opportunities we also create a chance for welcoming and inclusion.

Can you handle the truth?

It’s a new year full of new beginnings.

It’s a time when lots of new people come into our lives offering us wonderful opportunities, if we are open to receiving them.

post high holiday survey

Indeed, this process of integration is being played out in all of our synagogues as each of us welcomes our new members and begins the work of transforming them from newcomers to insiders.

Last year, an article I wrote—What Will You Do with theJew in Your Pew?—opined on many integration ideas. (You can access it below.)

The inspiration for the article came when I observed how much effort we put into recruiting new members, but how little we did after delivering a welcome challah once they joined.

If this topic seems relevant to you, I invite you to save the date for an upcoming SLI program on Membership Integration on October 14 at the UJA NNJ offices in Paramus. (More info available at www.ujannj.org/sli.) Riffing on that theme, I began to think about how our synagogues might be evaluated on other offerings.

For a number of synagogues, the High Holy Days are their single largest event of the year. They expend months of planning, learning, and coordinating to offer a meaningful and satisfying experience for the biggest crowds of the year. We know this is a major and unique opportunity. We think long and hard about

what compelling messages we want to convey to make the

most out of the opportunity.

My question is: “How do you know if you have succeeded?” Many synagogues engage in High Holy Day post mortems to review all of the aspects of those intense days. How do we gather that information? Whose opinions are taken into consideration, or are we only considering anecdotal information and the opinions of those around the meeting table?

Can you handle the truth? This year, why not set about compiling real data to truly inform your discussion and decision making.

Consider asking questions from the mundane to the spiritual. Check out our excellent sample survey from Temple Emanu-El of Closter, NJ (shared with permission), located in the B.R.E.A.D. (Best, Replicable, Expandable, Adaptable, Doable programs that work) section of the SLI website at www.ujannj.org/sli.

In a world where choices abound I encourage you to embrace the truth and use it as a stepping stone for enhancement and change.

Wishing you a happy and healthy 5771.

Lisa

Lisa Harris Glass, FSA

What will you DO with the JEW in your PEW?

What will you DO with your JEW in your PEW? It’s time to talk integration.

After the high holy days is the point in the year when most congregations have seen the largest influx of new members that they are bound to get. We have gained members through outreach, open houses, pre-school and religious school . . . now what?

It seems that so many of our congregations spend (and rightfully so) a large amount of time and resources recruiting new members. We then seek to integrate the new member by bringing them a challah on Shabbat and perhaps even welcoming them at a new member Shabbat dinner in the synagogue. After that, then what? What is your plan? To truly be successful at creating life-long members an integration plan must be developed, nurtured and updated.

The low-hanging fruit of integration includes such things as:

• Make sure new members are entered into the database so they will receive e-mail and snail mail.
• Be sure to make sure that any yahrzeit information has been entered in to your system so notifications can be sent.
• Be sure to enter new members’ Hebrew names onto your Sanctuary rolodex so when they are called for an honor (aliyah) their names are on file.
• Check to see what committees or interests a new member has checked off on his/her application and forward that information along so new members are invited to participate. Follow up with committee chairs to be sure they were.
• Beware of using terms on notices and in articles such as, “after services” and “after minyan” without mentioning what time those services and minyan take place. New members are unlikely to have this information memorized.

Havurot groups (friendship circles) are another way that many synagogues use to integrate people into social groups. These havurot may be based upon common interests, common time in life (singles, young marrieds, married without kids, married with kids, empty nester, single again, senior, GLBT). These groups often become the foundational structure for a synagogue with many groups staying together for decades.

The above steps are great, but they are not enough. If a welcome challah, shabbat dinner, committee work and havurot are the only integration plans at your synagogue I would ask you to do more. I urge you to do more. The above is a good start. But we can do better. Consider the following:

• Give new members an opportunity to have a private or group meeting/meal with the rabbi, cantor, school director, executive director. Developing a relationship with the rabbi and other professionals are key to member integration. It is the best way for people to know that they are recognized, known and appreciated. Further, is lays a groundwork for the future for times when these members will be interacting with them on a more intense and intimate level regarding life cycle events.
• Are you Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative, Orthodox, Modern Orthodox? Do your members know what that means? Take the time to explain what your religious practices are to new members. You would do well to spell out the specific observance customs of your community. For instance, do you do a full Torah reading or are you on the triennial cycle? Do women count for minyan? Are members encouraged to participate as service leaders and Torah and Haftarah readers? Etc.
• 
  
  Take the time to explain to your members your style of worship? Remember, some people actually join your synagogue without ever having attended a service. Different synagogues have different worship customs (for example do you stand for the entire Aleinu or sit down after Ain Od? Does everyone stand for Kaddish or only the mourners and those observing yahrzeit? Are you a synagogue where community members wish each other “l’shana tova” or are you more of a “gut yontiff” community? Knowing the customs of your community will go a long way to making people feel “in the know” or like “insiders.”
• 
  
  Do we provide new members with a map of our building? Doing this helps by explaining your synagogue “jargon” (Not everyone will know what you mean when you refer to “Weinstein Hall,” or “Littman Loge.”). Also, some synagogues only unlock certain doors on Shabbat and even different doors for the high holy days. Walking to the wrong door can be frustrating and embarrassing. Pass this information along. Members should also know where the rest rooms and coat rooms are. I would go so far as to encourage you to communicate fire exits and fire extinguisher locations. The location of first aid and AED devices and your evacuation plan if you have one. Of course, your building should have good signage so it is easy for people to navigate their way once they are in the building.

What great integration techniques are you using in your synagogue? Please feel free to comment so we can learn from eachother.

Edited August 2010

Crafting Your Compelling High Holy Day Message

It’s not too late to craft a compelling, powerful High Holiday speech! Click here (leads to the SLI landing page and then look on the right for the phone) to spend fifteen minutes listening to SLI’s August 5th teleconference on “Crafting Your High Holiday Message”, presented by SLI Director Lisa Harris Glass.

Membership Season

Duck season! Wabbit season! Membership season. It's July, and it's hot. So, stay inside and work on your membership plan. What are you going to do this summer to meet affiliated and formerly affiliated people in your catchment area and attract them to your insitution? Here are a few items to consider . . .

1. Make sure you are open for business for new members. Is your membership kit/brochure up-to-date? Is there a letter of welcome from the rabbi and president and education director in it? Are there descriptions of your programs? Service times? A map of your facility? Web-site information? An application and a list of your fees? Great! Now, IS THE WHOLE THING ON LINE? A great on-line application package that I came across can be viewed at: www.mjcby.org/Membership.html.

2. Traditional open houses are still a great idea and you should definitely schedule a couple; however, synagogues need to be a little more out of the box when figuring out where you will go to meet prospective members.

a. One idea is to use geo mapping to find out where your members live. (A great free tool is http://www.batchgeo.com/.) You can easily download your members' addresses into the utility and batchgeo will map your membership. Once done, this can be a tool for figuring out where to focus your membership activities such as advertising, mezzuzah hunting and parlor meetings during which you can even offer to set up carpools.

b. The batchgeo tool can also help you focus on where to host your out-of-building activites. Consider a playground playgroup, bookstore or library story time, book discussion or speaker, or a friend finder table in your local supermarket.

c. Why not plan a synagogue reunion at your local town pool. This is great if your pool offers a day rate. If your pool does not, call and see if the synagogue can book a party. Many town pools already offer birthday party deals. Consider this a giant anniversary party. Just think, when non-members see all the fun that your members are having together as a group, they will just naturally want to join the fun.

d. Take a table at the local town fair or farmer's market and offer a raffle item so you can collect names and addresses.


3. Signage is important.

a. Hang a banner on your building such as, "Now accepting new members." or "Ask us about High Holiday tickets." or some other catchy phrase. Your building is a great canvas for your message.

b. Not situated well to put a banner on your building . . . ? Temple Beth Ahm Yisrael in Springfield, NJ bought an ad on a billboard in the middle of their town to adverstise their presence there (as they are located off the beaten track.) The synagogue found that this way of advertising was not prohibitively expensive at all when compared with advertising in local print media.

c. Buy some ad time at your local movie theater. Let people know you are there while they are waiting for the coming attractions.

What has worked for you? Feel free to share some of your great membership ideas.

B'shalom, Lisa

Two years with no raise . . .

It's budget season and once again many synagogues (and other non-profit organizations) are facing income projections lower than they had hoped for when they were doing last year's budget. Many of you took real and extensive measures to trim our budgets last year. The results, in many instances, was a lean budget with almost no fat left. Now in the Spring of 2010, many synagogues are engaged in putting together a 2010-2011 budget that has not significantly eased since last spring.
Last year many synagogues gave no raises to non-contract staff and even asked contractual staff to forego increases they were contractually entitled to. This year many are contemplating a similar situation for non-contract staff again. While every employee should be grateful to have a job in this economy, we must also keep in mind that staff morale is a real issue that effects productivity.
If you cannot give money this year. Consider giving things that cost the synagogue little or nothing to give. For instance, perhaps you could offer an additional week of vacation in lieu of an increase. You could also offer free high holiday tickets, synagogue membership, and building usage for little or no impact on your bottom line.
Afterall, expenses have gone up for your staff. They are paying more for health insurance, property taxes and grocery bills. As their incomes have stagnated their ability to afford what they need has narrowed. I encourage you to get creative so your staff will know that they are valued by your community even when you cannot show them in the form of money.
B'shalom, Lisa