OUR COMMUNITY

U

ntil a few years ago, if you were 
interested in a local Jewish hol-
iday celebration for families or 
an adult class about Jewish history, you 
might rely on mailings from a synagogue, 
the Jewish Community Center (The 
J-Detroit) or a time-consuming online 
or phone search. But, for the past several 
years, Jlive, an extensive online platform, 
has helped thousands of Jewish Detroiters 
connect with local Jewish organizations 
and register for their programs and events. 
Created in 2021, Jlive’s goal was to help 
community members “do more Jewish” 
— increase their participation in Jewish 
life — and statistical data indicates the 
platform is achieving this goal.
As of this summer, Jlive has had 20,000 
individual registrants — people signing up 
for an event or program. Approximately 
75 local Jewish organizations, including 
synagogues and temples, arts and cultural 
organizations, and educational institu-
tions, have created at least one event on 
Jlive to publicize their programs.
As a single, comprehensive resource, 
Jlive facilitates individual participation 
in Jewish programs, which, in turn, 
strengthens Jewish organizations and bol-
sters overall community connections and 

engagement. 
According to Scott Kaufman, co-man-
aging partner of Jlive and former CEO 
of the Jewish Federation of Detroit, more 
than 250 new people create a 
Jlive Detroit account, which 
saves their information for 
registrations and future noti-
fications, each month. Six 
thousand individuals have 
user accounts. This growth has 
been achieved even without a 
full-scale marketing campaign, 
he notes. “The platform was designed to 
be easy to use. The quality of the visuals 
is very high. People like the design — 
it’s very sophisticated,” says Kaufman. 
Organizations and individuals are not 
charged to participate. 
During the COVID-19 pandemic, 
Kaufman says there was “hyper-participa-
tion with Zoom events” with a drop after-
ward. In 2022, 639 events were posted; 
the number varies somewhat depending 
upon the season. Individual users can 
search events and ongoing programming 
organized by four featured categories: 
Jewish Holiday Events, Young Adults, 
Family Events and Adult Learning and 
Experiences. Users can also search by 

individual Jewish organization. 
“Jlive is on track to host 1,000 events in 
Detroit with 25,000 registrants in 2023. The 
number of Detroit events hosted and regis-
trants is growing at 150 percent 
per year,
” says Zach Weisman, 
Jlive’s head of product who has 
been with the organization since 
its inception. 
Kaufman is pleased that Jlive 
is fostering more collaboration 
among Jewish organizations so 
programming can reach more 
people in an appealing, efficient way. Online 
templates help organizations create their 
program/event publicity, including registra-
tion information, on Jlive. This reduces staff 
time previously spent preparing postcards 
and invitations and also reduces printing 
and mailing costs. 
“In 2023, Jlive hosted a non-Federation 
Detroit event that transacted nearly $40,000 
on the platform in the form of ticket sales 
and sponsorships,
” Weisman says.
One of the organizational users of Jlive is 
the Jewish Community Relations Council/
American Jewish Committee (JCRC/AJC). 
According to Sam Dubin, assistant direc-
tor/director of media relations for JCRC/
AJC, “We have found Jlive to be efficient 

As of this summer, Jlive has had 20,000 individual registrants 
— people signing up for an event or program.

Jlive Expands Jewish 
Community Connections

Scott 
Kaufman

SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

36 | NOVEMBER 23 • 2023 
J
N

Zach 
Weisman