THE NEW COMMUNITY CONNECTION: ENGAGING AND EMPOWERING TODAY’S JEWS. By Esther Kustanowitz, August 26, 2012

1. The New Community Connection:
Engaging & Empowering Today’s Jews
Esther D. Kustanowitz
Temple Beth Am Board Retreat
August 26, 2012

2. Where Good Ideas Come From
(Steven Johnson)

3. Community – Leadership, Individuals & the
Collective

4. Characters Welcome

5. What are these slogans/jingles for?
 What happens here, stays here.
 What’s in your wallet?
 Nobody belongs here more than you.
 Helping you take one step further on your Jewish journey.
 Live generously.
 Come stay with friends.
 Someone made a store just for me.
 Know the code.

6. What Does TBA Stand For?

7. Rethinking Community, Connection &
Membership

8. Rethinking Community

9. Rethinking Connection
Weak Ties? Strong Ties?

10. Finding the Perfect…Shul

11. Should Synagogues Be a One-Stop Shop
for Jewish Connection?

12. Rethinking Membership
August 10, 2012 August 23, 2012

13. Who is the Competition?

14. “Without Organizations” vs.
“People Coming Together”

15. “Affinity Groups” & Lifecycle Involvements
 BANG  HHD Services
 Men’s Society  Shiva Task Force
 Zahava  Bnai Mitzvah Visioning
 YABA/Jewlyweds  And Esther would add:
 Pressman Parents
 Ravakim
 Brit Milah&Babynaming
 Boomer Couples  TBA Daily Minyan
 SOCIAL MEDIA – for many, the first
 Happy Seniors and most frequent interface
 Non-Sanctuary Minyanim

16. Barriers to Entry / How to Dismantle Them
 Fear of institutions  TBA members and leadership becomes more
active in community, outside the walls
 Distaste for synagogues
 Identifying what both parties bring to the
 Needs being met in other places table, make prospective members feel listened
to
 Online
 Other IRL activities  Listening to needs, understanding other
options and identifying points of partnership
 Social hesitations and collaboration
 Too large
 Bring a friend, shul hop, partner with other
 Not enough people in specific demographic organizations
 Spiritual uncertainty  ?
 Geographical location  ?

17. Things to Think About…
 What’s your “engagement story”?
 How can you better foster members’ creativity, empowerment and investment in programming
and synagogue offerings, and engage membership as organizational advocates?
 Identify your assets (institutional strengths, and members’ skills and interests), and leverage
them toward creating deeper emotional touchpoints
 How can you learn from and collaborate with other synagogues and communities?
 What conversations can you convene that affect the wider community, and how can you engage
other community members and institutions in this conversation?

18. Resources
 “Dues and Don’ts: Shuls Try Different Membership Models” – J Weekly, August
23, 2012
 “Many Claim Membership But Few Pay Shul Dues” – Jewish Daily Forward,
August 10, 2012
 “Where Good Ideas Come From” (book trailer) – 2012
 “Getting Engaged, Part 1” &“Getting Engaged, Part 2: Courting Engagement” –
MyUrbanKvetch.com, August 2012
 “Looking for the Perfect…Shul” – The Jewish Week, 2007 (includes link to
Emergent Jewish Communities study from 2007)

19. Questions for Discussion
 You’ve been working on a mission statement. But what would your elevator pitch be (describe what makes
Beth Am special in under one minute)? If you hired an ad agency to create a campaign for you, what would
your messaging/slogan be?
 If you were training TBA members as ambassadors, what would you teach them about the institution, its
members and offerings that they don’t already know? What personal skills, background or institutional
information would you insist that they have?
 Who are the people in your neighborhood? (Map your current assets: who can promote and advance TBA’s
brand and offerings). Who are your current stars? Which stars outside are you looking to recruit? Identify
appropriate asks, some of them not financial.
 Which TBA events are the best-attended? How do you follow up with attendees after events? Can you
identify additional calendar points that might be “hot spots” for engagement?
 How do you structure partnerships? Can you think of recent partnerships that have been successful? What
made them successful? What about challenged partnerships? How would you have fixed them?