Synagogue Programming >> Teleconferences
United Synagogue’s Best Practices Webinars and Teleconferences
Recognizing that the world has changed and technology often can trump geography, United Synagogue offers teleconferences about issues that affect synagogues across the continent. Instead of taking the time to drive to a meeting, members of our affiliated shuls can set aside an hour, pick up a phone, and learn from our experts. Once the teleconferences are over, we make them available here.
Upcoming Teleconferences
- Inclusion on the High Holy Days - Two experts in inclusion will offer practical ideas on how to make the high holy days accessible to everyone, including people who live with disabilities. As we begin the period of introspection that leads up to the Yamim Noraim, we can begin to think as well about how to make the inspiration and joy of the holidays open to everyone. The conference call, which will include some discussion, is set for Thursday, August 19, at 4 to 5 p.m. Eastern Standard time. To register, email Ariela Brody with your name, the organization’s name, and your synagogue’s name, city, and state or province. It is open to members of affiliated congregations.
Past Teleconferences
- Jewish College Choices - There are so many factors to consider when you (or your child, or your congregant’s child) considers a college, and certainly a campus’s Jewish life should be among them. Koach’s Rabbi Elyse Winick examined those issues. Here’s the audio and here is the accompanying PDF.
- Membership - How do you (assuming that you're a synagogue) recruit new members? How do you retain them? To begin at the beginning, how do you start the process? Robert Leventhal of the Alban Institute led a teleconference exploring those and related questions. Here's the audio, here is the accompanying pdf.
- How Can We Really Make This Night Different? - In early March our early childhood consultant, Maxine Handelman, who combines an extraordinary understanding of young children with an adult’s clear eye and smart voice, will talk about how to bring the seder alive and engage all your guests of all ages in our basic foundational story. You can listen to the teleconference or look at the resourse list that accompanies it.
- 10 Ways to Raise $10,000 - Lisa Harris Glass, our Mid-Atlantic district director, who specializes in board committee and volunteer development, budgets and fundraising, membership, and synagogue operations, talked about 10 Ways to Raise $10,000. Listen to two different sessions and take a look at PDFs of relevant material.
- Marketing Your Shul - Steve Rabinowitz, Jewish media consultant extraordinaire, talked, with his idiosyncratic wit and style, about new PR and marketing strategies for synagogues. Listen to either one of his two calls.
- Midyear Evaluations - Rabbi Charles Savenor, director of our Metny region, describes four ways for synagogue lay leaders to conduct midyear performance evaluations of clergy and professional staff. These evaluations, he says, makes year-end performance reviews more productive. Evaluating their performances at midyear allows synagogue lay leaders to create an atmosphere of ongoing trust that makes year-end performance reviews more productive. Listen to it and take a look at the accompanying materials.
- Jewish Disabilities Month - February is Jewish Disabilities Awareness Month. In early January, 2010, we helped synagogue leaders acknowledge the day with a conference call and supplied them with a list of resources and FAQs.
- Adult Education Programs - We looked at two successful adult education programs and a Jewish film series on November 30, 2009.
- Fundraising - On October 27, 2009, a discussion of fundraising included Dr. Fred Harris on The Membership Lottery, Doreen Karasick on A Walk Down Ben Yehuda Street, and Jon Fraade on the Year of the Torah.
