A presentation about social media's virtual rabbinic pulpit, delivered to the Rabbinic Management Institute opening seminar at American Jewish University. (October 22, 2013)

1. Rabbis’ Virtual Pulpit:
Connecting With & Empowering Today’s
Jews
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/F8pO4wcR2BU/TmV6BvzVf6I/AAAAAAAACMo/PJjIxn0sFj8/s400/Virtual-Synagogue.jpg
Esther D. Kustanowitz
#RMI2013 - American Jewish University
October 23, 2013

2. Social Media Literacy

It’s not about:
◦ “becoming more tech-savvy”
◦ “being a tech geek”

It’s about learning the tools that help you:
◦ manage, organize and access information
◦ manage, increase and deepen relationships
◦ reach people where more of
them, increasingly, are (Social Media
Revolution)

3. Social Media Resistance
“I don’t even understand how Twitter
works.”
 “Who cares what I think?”
 “I can’t come up with that much content
on a regular basis…”
 “Who has time for this stuff?”
 “Blogging isn’t real writing.”
 “The whole internet is just full of
complaining and negativity.”


4. If You’re Not Listening to
Social Media…

…you’re missing half the story:
◦ Lifecycle (photos, announcements)
◦ Emotional challenges (vaguebooking)
◦ What social and political issues gets your
congregants fired up (positive/negative)
◦ Information about how your congregants use
social media
◦ How congregants feel about your programs
or institution
◦ Access to constructive criticism (without F2F)

5. Should You Blog?
Have you:
 Read blogs and seen what’s out there?
 Identified who will be primarily responsible for
creating and posting content?
 Identified how your voice strengthens and
enhances conversations?
 Thought about comments and if/how they
should be moderated?
 Readied yourself to promote your shul’s
mission, but also retract on self-promotion for
the good of fostering larger conversations?

6. Leadership, (Almost) In the
Beginning

7. The New Leadership Balance
YOU
YOUR
CONGREGANTS

8. Your Congregation:
Characters Welcome

9. Social Media Culture
The power of networks and personal
recommendations more important
 Crowdsourcing challenges and offering
responses:
 Amazon.com model
 Jewish framework:

◦ Kolyisraelareyvimzehla’zeh
◦ Al tifrosh min hatzibur
◦ Lo aleikhaha’mlakhahligmor…

10. From “Top-Down” to
“Up and Out!”

Used to be just top-down:
◦ hierarchy
◦ undemocratic
◦ user impact: low

Now bottom-up:
http://content9.flixster.com/question/46/6
◦ peer reviews
4/76/4664763_std.jpg
◦ consumer feedback
◦ invested “prosumer” class

Next phase: Wonkavator

11. What’s in a name?
Each Person Has a Name
Each person has a name, given her by God and given her by her father and mother
Each person has a name, given him by his stature and his way of smiling, and given him
by his clothes
Each person has a name, given her by the mountains and given her by her walls
Each person has a name, given him by the planets (stars) and given him by his neighbors
Each person has a name, given her by her sins and given her by her longing
Each person has a name, given him by his enemies, and given him by his love
Each person has a name, given her by her feast days and given her by her craft
Each person has a name, given him by the seasons of the year and given him by his
blindness
Each person has a name, given her by the sea, and given her by her death.
-Zelda (b. 1914)

12. Multitudes
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
- Walt Whitman, “Leaves of Grass”

13. Biblical Crowdsourcing:
Ideas From the Multitudes
Law & Order: SBU (Special Biblical Unit)
 Tzelophehad’s daughters shifting
inheritance laws
 2.5 tribes stay on the other side of the
Jordan
 Aaron’s sons bringing a strange fire
 Korach’s rebellion


14. “The Future Cannot Be
Crowdsourced”: A Crowdsourced
Response

15. Social Media Overload
http://wplift.com/freebie-70-32px-custom-social-media-website-icons

16. Facebook vs. Twitter

Facebook – distribution, sharing & discussion
(deeper reach)
◦
◦
◦
◦

a newsroom
the water cooler/break room
Jewish geography: school/camp/uni reunion
evite.com
Twitter - consumption & distribution (wider
reach)
◦
◦
◦
◦
a cocktail party in a large room
a convention
a sports arena
CNN news ticker

17. Google + &Pinterest

Google+:
◦
◦
◦
◦

video meeting center
space to share articles of interest
space for discussion?
better way to organize friends?
Pinterest:
◦ An online portfolio
◦ A scrapbook
◦ A design journal or interior decorating plan

Both: Basically a mystery to me

18. 5 Things You Can Do Now
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Asehlekharav – both rav and rabim
Learn the language
Think about social media as an outreach
strategy and a conversation to build
engagement
Create a content plan
Be open to input & inspiration from
other places

19. Determining Your Brand
What’s your brand identity?
What do you stand for?
What do people think of
when they think of you?

20. What Does ROI Stand For?

21. What Does TBA Stand For?



“The Board divided into four groups, each with a different
exercise. One of them was to rethink TBA. The institution and the
actual letters. Let's say that in addition to TBA standing for
Temple Beth Am, it also stood for what Temple Beth Am was all
about? What would Temple Beth Am's alternate slogan be if it had
to use the same initial letters? As I watched this exercise in real
time, producing both meaningful and hilarious solutions, I […]
instantly saw the wisdom of the exercise. It pushed us beyond the
squat boundaries that can confine us, released some creative and
irreverent energy, and actually produced some good and fetching
new slogans. Torah Be Awesome. The Best Alternative. Ten
Become All (one of my favorite plays on the concept of
minyan). You get the point.” – Rabbi Adam Kligfeld
“Tightwad But Appreciative”
“Thanks, Bespectacled Aba. They Bankrolled Appearance.”

22. 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.


23. Your Synagogue: All things to
all people?

24. Who is the Competition?
1. As You Like It
2. Available/
Accessible
3. No Membership
Fees
4. No Judgment

25. Our “Collateral” Damage:
what message are we sending?

26. Are you reaching everyone?








BANG
Men’s Society
Zahava
YABA/Jewlyweds (20s
& 30s)
Ravakim (40s+)
Boomer Couples
Happy Seniors
Non-Sanctuary
Minyanim




HHD Services
Shiva Task Force
Bnai Mitzvah Visioning
And Esther would add:
◦
◦
◦
◦
Pressman Parents
Brit Milah&Babynaming
TBA Daily Minyan
SOCIAL MEDIA – for
many, the first and most
frequent interface
 FB
groups, Twitter, Pinterest,
other tools
Examples from Temple Beth Am

27. Recruitment: Things to Consider





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?

28. Engagement & Brand Perception





You’ve been working on a mission statement. What would your elevator
pitch be (describe what makes your synagogue or minyan 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 shul 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 the shul’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 shul 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?

29. Presenting Yourself
Who are you? Authentic self
 Which of your attributes are the ones
you want to promote?
 What value do you wish to add?
 Accessibility
 Approach toward interaction


30. Rabbi David Wolpe – Sinai Temple

31. Old Model
New Model
Rabbi works on sermon for
hours/weeks
 Presents to congregation
 Congregation grumbles at
kiddush
 Esther’s Saba says: “If you
dig for 20 minutes and
don’t hit oil, stop boring.”









Blog about sermon topic
Open to community suggestion
Solicit engagement from
stakeholders
Listen to feedback
Incorporate feedback
Inform stakeholders of their
valued contributions
People listen to the sermon
because it reflects them
Feedback continues in-person
and online
Sermon Shakeup

32. Rabbi Menachem Creditor

33. Rabbi Sharon Brous - IKAR

34. Rabbi Jason Miller

35. Jason A. Miller

36. #whatrabbisdo

37. #PewJew

38. 7 Pre-Social Media Strategy Actions
for Your Shul







Determine your institutional voice/s
Consider starting a blog, so you can host
conversations
Consider the role of the rabbi in creating
content and engaging conversation (in any
location)
Identify person/people to update Twitter and
Facebook (daily) and blog (regularly)
Identify newsy angles for programs, use as hook
to promote org in online conversations
Find “mavens”/hubs in your community, invite
their feedback & partnership
Invite personal assessment by a social media
trainer

39. “But I Don’t Have Time!”
Personal Training for Busy Rabbis

Social media regimen/cultural immersion
◦ Find time (coffee breaks, lunchtime, etc)
◦ Check Twitter/Facebook page at least once a day
 Read the Tweetstream or Status Feed of people and orgs
you’re following – begin to participate in conversations
 Share a FB group or event with friends who are “hubs”
◦ Visit blogs at TheJewishWeek.com, Forward.com or
JewishJournal.com
 click on a few headlines
 monitor/join a conversation

Ask questions (professionals/civilians)

40. “What Do I Post About?”

Trends in the Jewish world
◦ Israel
◦ News & politics
◦ Peoplehood & global issues

Trends in the secular world
◦ Pop culture & celebrities
◦ News & politics

41. “But How Do I Find Things to Post
About?”
Google Alerts / Google News Search
(archives)
 Stay tuned to
Twitter, CNN, BBC, Facebook – what are
people talking about, and how does it
relate to your work?
 Authentic lenses on passionate subjects


42. Content Exercise
If your organization had a blog, what
would its purpose/mission statement be?
 How often would you post?
 What would your first five posts be
about?
 Who would write them?
 How would you promote them/get new
readers?


43. Case Study: Jewish Humor Central

45. Resources




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“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)

46. How to Find Me
esther.kustanowitz@gmail.com
 @EstherK
 http://myurbankvetch.com
 Google me
