THE POWER OF &
A Spiritual Renewa
THE FUSION OF DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY-
THE 2001
DEVILLE
Trial Membership
San Francisco temple tries
voluntary dues to get rid
of shul sticker shock.
New York
emple Emanu-El in San
Francisco had a problem. No
matter how hard it tried to promote
its innovative Hebrew school,
dynamic clergy or range of services,
prospective members always had one
question: How much does it cost%
"They didn't want to know who
the rabbi was or what the programs
were," recalled Gary Cohn, the tem-
ple's executive director. They wanted
to know about dues, and we wanted
to take that out of the equation."
So four years ago the Reform tem-
ple did something that is standard
marketing in the for-profit world, but
unusual for a Jewish organization: It
offered one-year trial memberships.
Under Temple Emanu-El's policy
of "voluntary dues," newcomers are
encouraged, but not required, to
$549
Per month + tax*
$2,000 down,
$3,044 due at signing,
36 months,12k per year.
Mon. & Thurs. till 9 pm
Tues., Wed., Fri. till 6 pm
THE POWER OF &
THE FUSION OF DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY
7100 Orchard Lake Road (at 14 1/2 Mile) • West Bloomfield
248.851.7200
REMAKING
from page 59
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Wishing All of Our
Customers a
Healthy and
Happy New Year
From DAVID BLATT and Staff at
FIRST ALLIANCE MORTGAGE
877-FIRST-YES
(347-7893)
www. fi rstal I iance.com
9/29
2000
60
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make a contribution the first year. If
they stay on as members, they are
asked to gradually increase the con-
tribution over the next three years
to the standard rate: 2 percent of
the family's household income, with
a suggested minimum of $1,400.
Now the shul is attracting approxi-
mately 200 new members each year,
compared with 50 new members per
year before the policy existed. About
65 percent have gone on to become
paying members.
In a Brandeis University study
conducted of Ernanu-El's policy, 78
percent of new members said the
dues policy was important in their
decision to join the synagogue.
About 73 percent of those surveyed
had never belonged to a synagogue
as adults.
Many newcomers — given the
choice — actually opted to pay more
than they were asked, with one per-
son jumping from a $400 contribu-
tion to a $4,000 contribution and
another going
0 0 from givingnothing
to contributing $3,000.
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but stands for six "spokes" of syna-
gogue life: prayer, institutionalizing
change, study, good deeds, ambiance
and healing.
Formed four years earlier than
Synagogue 2000, the ECE has a simi-
lar approach and has worked with 14
Reform temples. A project of the
Reform movement's Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion,
ECE encourages congregations to
make education central to all syna-
gogue activities rather than be simply
a function of the religious school.
It is not clear whether transforma-
tion efforts affect membership num-
although proponents says if
bers
they are successful they ultimately
should attract new people. Most
involved in the processes say their pri-
mary focus is on intensifying the expe-
riences of people who are already
members.
Not everyone is an advocate of
change on the institutional level,
though.
And even some champions of trans-
formation efforts, like Agudath Israel's
Rabbi Alan Silverstein, question
whether Rabbi Hoffman's therapy
metaphor is appropriate.
"I'm sure Synagogue 2000 didn't
hurt us, but we didn't promote it as
outreach," says Rabbi Silverstein, not-
ing that his synagogue's membership
has tripled from approximately 300 to
900 families over the past 20 years.
"It's more inreach, to intensify the
involvement of those that are mem-
bers."
While Synagogue 2000 "can elevate
the synagogue to another level," says
Rabbi Silverstein, "Larry really believes
the synagogue is more ill as an institu-
tion than I think is the case."
Rabbi Silverstein points to a recent
study of Conservative congregations
indicating that more synagogue mem-
bers are regular participants in Shabbat
services than were earlier in the last
century. Other studies have found
young affiliated Conservative Jews are
better educated in Judaism than their
elders.
"The assumption that davening life
in the non-Orthodox synagogue is
broken, failed or does not exist, I don't
accept," says Rabbi Silverstein. "Could
it be better? Sure. But we're doing bet-
ter than evor before."