{"id":3323,"date":"2015-06-09T13:22:58","date_gmt":"2015-06-09T13:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/community\/?p=3323"},"modified":"2015-06-09T13:30:20","modified_gmt":"2015-06-09T13:30:20","slug":"the-three-killers-of-healthy-synagogue-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/community\/ou-synablog\/the-three-killers-of-healthy-synagogue-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"The Three \u201cKillers\u201d of Healthy Synagogue Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Synablog623x221\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Rabbi Einhorn\u2019s\u00a0SynaBlog\u00a0is a new innovative\u00a0blog\u00a0that shares tips, tactics, strategies and best practices that enable Shul growth and promote Shul vitality.<\/em><\/p>\n

As we already have been discussing, synagogue growth is a complex and sophisticated nut to crack. A lot of moving components go into what makes one shul more successful over the other. While there is no one silver bullet I would say that there are three basic enemies that ANY synagogue leadership team can avoid in their search for greatness:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Inability to say \u201cno\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The need to please and say yes to everybody can put our development in a real tailspin. We find ourselves running programs that our synagogue had no business running. We started trying to meet the demand of constituents who don\u2019t represent the missions demographic or interests. It\u2019s okay to say \u201cwe\u2019re not ready to run a program like that at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Fear of making a mess<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      I\u2019ve been told in the past \u2013 \u201cRabbi let\u2019s avoid that big party it\u2019s going to make a mess of our ballroom.\u201d Or the perennial \u201cWell we\u2019re not counting on wear and tear costs.\u201d Let me tell you something from my experience as a Shul Rabbi and heavy programmer \u2013 sometimes THE MESSIER the better. Sometimes being imperfect and having extra people crash and not having paint at the carnival splatter on the wall is just what an uptight congregation needs. We have so much structure and consistency that it\u2019s healthy to allow our programs to grow with more flexibility.<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Unhealthy fiscal habits<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        This category probably needs its own blog post but I\u2019m going to mention it here. On your journey to becoming a cutting edge and unique shul a lot of initiatives, guest speakers, Shabbaton meals will probably be served. Budget, budget, budget. Plan a clear focused P & L Chart. This will let you know how much you\u2019re going to need to fundraise for your Youth program, Outreach plans, etc. Without healthy fiscal habits, you can find yourself only a few months in, in a hole that may be very difficult to climb out of.<\/p>\n

        To receive the OU\u00a0Synablog\u00a0to your inbox, please\u00a0click here<\/a>\u00a0to sign up.<\/p>\n

        Rabbi Shlomo Einhorn is a Musmach of Yeshiva University. He has served as the founder of WINGS a Synagogue Consulting group. Prior to moving to Los Angeles, Rabbi Einhorn was the Rabbi of Manhattan\u2019s West Side Institutional Synagogue where he helped grow the membership by 70% over 4 years. Currently, he is the Rav and Dean of Yeshivat Yavneh.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Rabbi Einhorn\u2019s\u00a0SynaBlog\u00a0is a new innovative\u00a0blog\u00a0that shares tips, tactics, strategies and best practices that enable Shul growth and promote Shul vitality. As we already have been discussing, synagogue growth is a complex and sophisticated nut to crack. A lot of moving components go into what makes one shul more successful over the other. While there is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":454,"featured_media":2974,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ou-synablog"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Three \u201cKillers\u201d of Healthy Synagogue Growth - Community<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/community\/ou-synablog\/the-three-killers-of-healthy-synagogue-growth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Three \u201cKillers\u201d of Healthy Synagogue Growth - Community\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rabbi Einhorn\u2019s\u00a0SynaBlog\u00a0is a new innovative\u00a0blog\u00a0that shares tips, tactics, strategies and best practices that enable Shul growth and promote Shul vitality. 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