OU Presents Leadership Development Seminar, Feb 11 in Atlanta, To Help Community Leaders

24 Jan 2007

ORTHODOX UNION PRESENTS LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT SEMINAR, FEBRUARY 11 IN ATLANTA, TO HELP COMMUNITY LEADERS ENRICH THEIR SKILLS AND MANAGE THEIR SYNAGOGUES MORE EFFECTIVELY

The Orthodox Union will present a regional Leadership Development Seminar in Atlanta on Sunday, February 11, for synagogue officials from Atlanta and the nearby South. Regional seminars are presented by the OU throughout the year to rabbis, presidents, executive directors and board members from across North America, designed to enrich skills and help community leaders manage their synagogues more effectively.

The program is presented by the OU’s Department of Community Services in conjunction with Congregation Beth Jacob of Atlanta, which is under the leadership of Rabbi Ilan D. Feldman and is an OU member congregation. It will be held at the synagogue, 1855 LaVista Road NE, from 12:30 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.

Besides Atlanta, invited to participate are synagogues from Savannah, Sandy Springs and Dunwoody, in Georgia; Chattanooga and Nashville in Tennessee; Jacksonville, Florida; Birmingham, Alabama; Charleston, South Carolina.

The program will be presented by Frank Buchweitz, OU National Director of Community Services and Special Projects, and Andrew Goldsmith, OU Director of Financial Resource Development, two OU experts who have traveled across the continent to give presentations intended to strengthen synagogues and their communities.

As part of the OU’s synagogue kiruv (outreach) program, which is now in the final stages of planning, the seminar will include a session, Increasing Membership Through Outreach, to help synagogues reach out to their communities and beyond.

According to Stanley Weinstein of Miami Beach, OU Senior Vice President and Chairman of the Synagogue Services Commission which oversees the Leadership Development Seminar, “The OU takes pride in the services it provides to its member congregations to help them achieve success and growth. Frank Buchweitz and Andrew Goldsmith bring with them years of experience and the ability to convey their expertise to shul leadership. We look forward to synagogue leaders, both rabbinic and lay, coming to the seminar. It will be a day well spent, and those who attend will be filled with ideas for improving their current synagogue operations and for adopting new strategies. This has been our experience in the past and there’s no doubt that it will be the same in Atlanta.”

The program in Atlanta is as follows,

•Developing Volunteers within the Synagogue, with Frank Buchweitz;

•Fundraising and Development, with Andrew Goldsmith;

•Increasing Membership through Outreach, with Frank Buchweitz;

•Panel Discussion of Your Synagogue Needs and Orthodox Union Programs.

The program is free for leaders of OU member synagogues and $18 for leaders of not-yet member congregations. For further information contact 212-613-8351 or cohena@ou.org.