OU LEADERSHIP WEBCAST, MARCH 31, WITH RABBI EINHORN, TO EMPHASIZE THAT SHULS’ FUTURE VIABILITY RESTS WITH THEIR YOUTH GROUPS
What is the best practical way of bringing parents into a synagogue? Bring in their children. The parents will follow. The synagogue will grow as a result.
This truism will be the subject of an Orthodox Union webcast, “Synagogue Leadership Seminar: Why the Future Viability of Any Shul Is with Our Youth Groups.” A program of the OU Departments of Community and Synagogue Services, the webcast will be seen online at www.oucommunity.org beginning all day Thursday, March 31, directed toward synagogue presidents, rabbis, officers, board members, executive directors, and of course, youth professionals.
The presenter will be Rabbi Shlomo Einhorn of the rapidly growing West Side Institutional Synagogue – Manhattan, who has transformed his congregation into a vibrant youth and family –centered shul. Rabbi Einhorn is the creator and founder of the OU’s new synagogue consulting initiative, WINGS: “We Inspire New Growth Synagogues.”
“At the OU conference for youth professionals last summer, and again in Los Angeles earlier this month, as well as in a variety of other Community and Synagogue Services programs, it has been emphasized that a major effort must be made to bring children into the synagogue, through diversified programs for all age groups,” declared Frank Buchweitz, OU National Director of Community Services and Special Projects. He noted that youth professionals at the OU conferences developed a list of best practices – youth activities that can be shared by synagogues everywhere.
“For the very young, parents will often stay with the child,” he said. “Even as children get older and more independent, the fact that a child takes part in a shul’s youth program means that the parents will almost inevitably involve themselves with the synagogue in some manner,” Frank Buchweitz said.
In the webcast, Rabbi Einhorn will discuss the kind of youth programming that will attract both children and adults. Youth activities have played a large role in the growth of his congregation and have led to a major increase in attendance and membership.
For further information, contact Frank Buchweitz at frank@ou.org, or 212-613-8188.
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