December 16, 2005

OU Announces Six Winning Synagogues Nationally of Program Initiative Awards of up to $20,000 Apiece; Three Smaller Communities Share in Largess

As the leadership of synagogues across North America waited in anticipation, the Orthodox Union announced today that six OU congregations were winners in its first-time program to provide grants of as much as $20,000 apiece – totaling up to $100,000 -- for “unique and innovative programs having a positive impact on their community.”

The OU announced the grants program in May with the stated goal of “encouraging initiatives to strengthen local synagogue and communal life.” In an historic step by the OU, this was the first time that the organization has provided financial grants to its synagogues to develop programming.

Since not every winner requested the maximum $20,000, the OU was able to fund a sixth proposal, rather than five as originally planned.

The winning initiatives ranged from a synagogue’s plan to introduce its community as a wonderful place to live as an Orthodox Jew (Harrisburg, PA), to a Torah arts festival (Venice, CA), to a training program for synagogue lay leadership (New York, NY).

The announcement of the Orthodox Union Programming Initiative Awards was made on OU Radio, www.ouradio.org, by OU President Stephen J. Savitsky; Emanuel J. Adler, Chair of the OU’s National Commission on Community and Synagogue Services; and OU Chairman of the Board Harvey Blitz, who is also Chair of the awards program.

The winning congregations (in alphabetical order) and their programs are:

Beth Israel Synagogue, Omaha, Nebraska
Jonathan Gross, Rabbi
Bonnie Bloch, President

“Parents Are Teachers: to give parents the resources needed to most effectively jump start their children’s Jewish education.”

Congregation Rodfei Sholom, San Antonio, Texas
Arnold Scheinberg, Rabbi
Peter Price, President

Two programs:

“Israel Public Action Committee (IPAction) 18-Month Survey of the San Antonio Express-News’ coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: to clarify facts about Israel and the Middle East, identify anti-Israel bias in the media and advocate for Israel.”

“Adult Education Program Promotes Deeper Knowledge of Prayer: to introduce ‘Soul Words,’ a fascinating ten-week program that analyzes the deeper significance of Hebrew words and phrases in the siddur.”

·Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, Bronx, New York
Avraham Weiss, Rabbi
Daniel Perla, President

“The Legacy Project -- Intergenerational Dialogue: to open a vital communication line between the community’s senior citizens and youth through congenial and productive dialogue, between teens and Holocaust survivors in particular.”

Kesher Israel Congregation, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Chaim E. Schertz, Rabbi
Norman Gras, President

“The Harrisburg Time Share: to recruit prospective new Orthodox families to its community through innovative outreach.”

Lincoln Square Synagogue, New York, NY
Shaul Robinson, Rabbi
Paul Freilich, President

“JLLM -- Jewish Lay Leadership MBA: to provide expert training in Jewish communal life and synagogue lay leadership, modeled on the traditional MBA degree.”

Pacific Jewish Center, Venice (Los Angeles area), California
Benjamin Geiger, Rabbi
Judd Magilnick, President

“The Venice Torah Arts Festival, to turn the synagogue into a stimulating summer venue for the legions of tourists from around the world who visit this beachfront community.”

Earlier in the day, Mr. Savitsky, Mr. Blitz and OU Executive Vice President Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb called the leadership of each of the winning synagogues to inform them of their grant and to congratulate them on their success. A total of 61 entries were received, according to Mr. Adler.

“The winning entries represented extraordinary ideas, from extraordinary synagogues, which should have an extraordinary impact not only their own congregations but on OU shuls across North America,” Mr. Savitsky, Mr. Blitz and Mr. Adler declared in a statement. One consideration in the judging, they said, was whether the program could be easily replicated in other synagogues, so that even those congregations that did not have winning entries, or did not compete in the program, can be beneficiaries of the new ideas.

“This program generated extraordinary excitement,” explained Mr. Savitsky, “because there are so many creative people – lay and rabbinic – in our congregations who spend a great deal of time thinking of ways to benefit their communities, and who were now given carte blanche by the OU to think ‘outside the box,’ to come up with ideas that previously would not have been possible to implement, with the expectation that those ideas could now become reality.”

“Synagogues receive many benefits by being part of the OU,” added Mr. Blitz, who was Mr. Savitsky’s predecessor as OU President. “We are sure that this particular benefit will be very much appreciated.”

Three of the grants went to smaller communities; the OU has an initiative to enhance Jewish life outside of large metropolitan areas. “Orthodox life is alive and well outside of the big cities,” Mr. Savitsky said.

The judging was done by the members of a subcommittee of the Commission on Community and Synagogue Services under the direction of Mr. Blitz, along with Mr. Adler, together with key senior staff led by Rabbi Moshe D. Krupka, OU National Executive Director, and including Rabbi Mayer Waxman, Director of Synagogue Services.

“Given the quality of each of the entries, and the thought that was obviously put into them, this was a very difficult judging process,” explained Frank Buchweitz, OU Director of Community Services and Special Projects, who coordinated the awards program and the judging. “We want to thank each of the synagogues and their lay and religious leadership for taking the time and effort to produce so many outstanding proposals.”

Even as they announced this year’s grants, Mr. Savitsky, Mr. Blitz and Mr. Adler announced that the OU will offer the program once again in 2006.

To make it possible for the winning programs to be replicated elsewhere, the OU will publish and send to its synagogues an outline of the proposals with the title, Everyone Is a Winner: The Six Funded Proposals in the Orthodox Union Programming Initiative Awards Program, To Help Your Congregation Move Forward.

In addition, special editions of the OU’s Synagogue Trends magazine will be published which will highlight several of the programmatic suggestions and the synagogues which proposed them. The OU’s Jewish Action magazine will feature coverage in its Spring issue.

The rabbinic and lay leadership of the synagogues awarded grants will be encouraged to attend the OU’s Biennial National Convention in Jerusalem next November to report on the progress of their programming, and to motivate the development of additional initiatives on the part of the leadership of the many other OU synagogues who will be in attendance.

* * *

The Orthodox Union, now in its second century of service to the Jewish community of North America and beyond, is a world leader in community and synagogue services, adult education, youth work through NCSY, political action through the IPA, and advocacy for persons with disabilities through Yachad and Our Way. Its kosher supervision label, the , is the world’s most recognized kosher symbol and can be found on over 409,000 products manufactured in 83 countries around the globe.

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