Cherry blossoms bloom. Sure, it’s beautiful, but is it good for the Jews? ~ David M. Bader, Haikus for Jews It’s the middle of the week and perhaps you’re slogging a bit, pecking away at a to-do list that seems to scroll longer and longer no matter how much you accomplish. Read More »

During our recent participation at the URJ , NATA , and USCJ conferences, one common theme emerged: the Jewish community has acknowledged the need to up their game in the online world. Read More »

Once again, we are inspired by the annual publication of the Slingshot guide, a compendium of some of the most vibrant and forward-thinking organizations, projects, programs, ideas, and initiatives in the Jewish community today. Reading through the guide is not unlike picking up a page-turner that will keep you reading past your bedtime. Read More »

At noon today, the Jvillage team will sit down for a Thanksgiving potluck.  It will be a special gathering filled with laughter, stories and thankfulness, a meal founded on the freedom we Jews have in America.Thanksgiving is , has become, a Jewish holiday. Read More »

It seems that everyday there is a new something or other invented or produced that has impact on how your organization should be engaging with your community.  And if it is not something new that has been created, then it is a member of your organization requesting that you communicate through such-and-such an online channel. Read More »

What a high holy day season it has been… for technology!  Facebook completely changed its format, privacy settings, and information sharing; Netflix split into two companies, changed its mind and merged back into one, Google plus went from invitation Read More »

Blogging generates new visitors to your website by: Search visibility: blogs are organized to be search engine friendly.  Plus the more content you have the more chances there are of attracting search traffic. Click through traffic: through posting interesting articles a blog gives a reason for other people to link to you. Read More »

By Melissa Goraj, Former Jvillage Intern Your synagogue already knows what online engagement strategies it should be using to get website traffic. Now, you need to keep your members coming back!  From my point of view, the two things members want out of a website are connections and information . Read More »

Law #1: Be Open The growth of social channels is phenomenal.  And these social channels have enabled more and different voices to be heard.  Being closed to social channels, being closed to these changes will only make you irrelevant.  Plato thought our intelligence would evaporate when we went from memorization to the written word. Read More »

Every organization should have an emergency plan in place for the unexpected.  This plan should be updated every six months, and all the key stakeholders should be involved in both its planning and implementation.   There is nothing new in that statement. What is new is how best to use all the social media tools available today. Read More »

By Melissa Goraj, Jvillage Intern Since I was given the opportunity to start blogging, a Jvillage coworker has been telling me that I am an anomaly among my Jewish peers.  As a young adult, I am very much engaged with my Jewish community.  In college, I studied abroad in Israel, taught Hebrew school, and interned with Jvillage and Masa Israel . Read More »

By guest blogger, Jed Filler I still remember my first computer in 8th grade – called the vic20. It had 24k of ram and games and programming loaded from cartridges. I was amazed when my father brought home an IBM PC – with two floppy drives and 128k of onboard memory when I was in high school. Read More »

By Melissa Goraj, Jvillage Network Intern More and more, successfully engaging young adults in congregational life requires synagogues to adapt to and leverage changes in technology and Social Networking trends. For upcoming events and information, for example, young adults turn to Facebook and Twitter. Read More »

By Jena Strong, Jvillage Membership Engagement Manager Here at Jvillage, we’re fortunate to welcome a couple of stellar interns to our team. Melissa Goraj and Theodore Samets will be contributing to the work of our Membership Engagement and Marketing team over the summer. Read More »

by Jena Strong, Jvillage Membership Engagement Manager Here at Jvillage, we’re fortunate to welcome a couple of stellar interns to our team. Melissa Goraj and Theodore Samets will be contributing to the work of our Membership Engagement and Marketing team over the summer. Read More »

The synagogue world has turned upside down in the past 50 years. Today’s synagogues are faced with incredible change, just at a time when they have an expanding responsibility to enhance and serve their communities–a responsibility to step into the Read More »

Excuse my early and crude approach to one of the most holy times in our Jewish lives–but we have an emergency taking place in our congregations.  We are not attracting new members, retaining existing members, or achieving the revenue we need to do the things that we would like our synagogues to do. Read More »

by Guest Blogger, Rabbi Herb Schwartz Shavuot for too long has been considered “the right church but the wrong pew”–that is, a holiday which is, simply put, celebrated at the wrong time of year. Jewish holidays in America have long profited from the school-year schedule–and the school year is winding down around Shavuot time. Read More »

Boards are a critical pillar of your synagogue’s future, at the very center of your community’s success. Active Board members are the leaders that will get you to tomorrow. Yet most Boards do not see that one of their key tasks is to recruit qualified candidates. Read More »

By Guest Blogger, Rabbi Herb Schwartz They say the Egypt will never be the same. Will your Seder be the same? Oh, I’m certain some of us will take out the same wine-stained haggadah we had last year. Maybe the meal will be the same, the people around the table. Read More »