Clarity of Purpose Through Covid-19

As a result of changes necessitated by COVID related restrictions and concerns, the mission and values of Congregation Beth Tikvah are now more aligned with our programming and processes. As a result, membership, giving, and participation are all up. Congregant connections to the Holy are up. The sense of community within the congregational family is palpable, with no in person programming. It is often in moments of change and transition when Jews look to Judaism to help guide them along the way; seize this opportunity to do that just that. For the people you serve, for those whom you do not yet serve, for your organization, God, Torah, and the Jewish people.

Once COVID-19 struck, synagogue leadership immediately recognized an opportunity to increase our impact within and beyond the congregation. COVID-19 enabled us to better communicate our vision and direction as a small and vibrant Kehila Kedosha, a sacred community. It seemed to place our small shul on equal footing with big shuls to articulate our core values, get those values into the larger communal conversation, and reach previously unreached Jews who are seeking community during this time of separation.

Below are some of our approaches and successes. Should you find them helpful, we welcome you to utilize them for your community. They are divided into seven areas of focus.

ESTABLISHMENT OF COVID TASK FORCE: Immediately upon shutting down our physical gatherings, the synagogue president established a COVID task force to address all aspects of synagogue life. Led by our immediate past president and consisting of our Vice-Presidents, our rabbi, and our synagogue administrator, this group began meeting weekly. The president tasked this group with identifying the values that would drive our decision making, and then to put those values into practice. While we had functioning committees and a monthly board meeting prior to COVID, meetings with executive leadership were haphazard at best. By regularly bringing together top leadership, we were not only equipped to manage COVID related questions and concerns, but we began collaborating across department to increase communication and improve overall functionality. All areas of synagogue life came to function more consistently in accordance with our values. We set guidelines for reopening and metrics for health and safety standards. We examined our budgetary priorities and limitations, established a phone tree (below), quickly set up processes for examining Jewish practice (below), saw to effective communication with congregants about the state of the synagogue, and then some. Most importantly, all questions, requests, and complaints about our decisions were funneled through this group. Throughout, this group remained thoughtful, compassionate, honest, and transparent.

CARING MINYANIM AND CONGREGANT CONTACT: It is a core value of our congregation to know each congregant individually and deeply. Immediately upon our physical closure, our Rabbi began a process of calling each congregant to check in. Those calls revealed that there were congregants with resources to offer and others with acute and ongoing pastoral and personal needs. We then took action to meet those needs by pairing congregants when appropriate. Further, our COVID task force established a “Caring Minyan,” a team of volunteers to make weekly calls to each congregant to check in. The Caring Minyan was tasked with ensuring that every congregant had safe access to food and medication, and that everyone heard from a friendly caring voice each week. As a result, relationships among members, and between members and the synagogue, were strengthened. Despite a closed building, we maintained near 100% of our members, and giving has also increased. Many congregants expressed that they feel more connected to the shul now than they did before COVID struck.

HIGH HOLIDAYS AND HIGH HOLIDAY TASK FORCE: In late Spring, in collaboration with the Ritual Committee, the COVID Task Force established a separate High Holiday Task Force. This group brought together a wide cross-section of leaders from various synagogue committees and subgroups to vision and implement our High Holidays. It was imperative to all that these High Holidays not just be a suitable substitute for an in-person gathering, but would instead provide deeply meaningful high holiday experiences in their own right. Rather than just “good enough,” High Holiday services and experiences needed to be reconstructed to serve our community's spiritual lives in this moment. The task force organized a synagogue-wide survey that had an over 70% response rate. The survey results drove our planning, which subsequently increased congregant buy-in. The result was a series of high holiday services and experiences that represented our values, were well attended, and were meaningful, innovative, and resonant. Dozens of volunteers felt personally committed to bringing the services and experiences to life, and they continue to feel more deeply passionate about our community as a result. The response has been overwhelming.

MOBILE SUKKAH AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: Since COVID hit, we have increasingly utilized social media to do both inreach to our members and outreach to non-members. Among other programs, we initiated a weekly Facebook Live check-in, a weekly virtual healing service, and a weekly Tot tuck-in. These programs are free and open to anyone. During Sukkot, we brought our message beyond the computer screen to each neighborhood in a safe, fun, and memorable way. We partnered with a local car dealership to borrow a pickup truck in which we built a mobile Sukkah. Our Sukkah made 19 stops throughout the community and served over 400 adults and children, more than half of whom were not members. Each participant said the blessing for sitting in the Sukkah, shook the lulav and etrog, and had their picture taken in the Sukkah to be tagged on social media. Four local news channels covered it, and thanks to the generosity of the car dealer, the project cost us less than $50. Many unaffiliated Jews met us, asked questions about who we are, developed a positive association with our community, and a few even joined.

SOCIAL WORKER AND CONSTITUENT SUPPORT: We support the full emotional, spiritual, and practical lives of our members. We learned from our Caring Minyan phone calls that families with children at home were particularly struggling. In response, our Religious School leadership contacted the local Jewish Family and Children's Service (JFCS) to inquire about contracting with a social worker to meet with our families. The social worker could connect families in need with appropriate resources and supports. The conversation with JFCS opened the door to a larger partnership with them to employ an MSW candidate to work with all CBT members as a benefit of membership. As a result of this collaboration, we have begun an Isolation Support Group, individualized meetings for families with small children, 15-minute mindfulness sessions for congregants of all ages, socio-spiritual support gatherings, monthly mindfulness articles, and more. Our social worker, an MSW candidate, cannot be paid while receiving her clinical hours. The synagogue serves as her “site,” and she receives supervision and oversight from the JFCS. Dozens of congregants have already taken advantage of these services, and we hope to be able to support the full spectrum of needs expressed by our congregants during COVID. This is remarkably inexpensive to do and our members deeply appreciate having the resource available to them.

SUMMER MITZVAH BRIGADE AND YOUTH PROGRAMMING: When the local JCC camp and the Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist movement camps announced that they would not have in-person camping during the summer, we saw an opportunity to bring children and families into meaningful engagement with Mitzvot and with our community. We offered the entire community, for free, a brief weekly teaching and story about a particular Mitzvah on Monday afternoons. We offered practical ways for children to put that Mitzvah into action during the week, and collected photos and stories of the children doing the Mitzvot to publicize their accomplishments on social media. We had strong non-member participation and felt that we provided a program that added a sense of community, value, and purpose for our families over the summer. We received coverage in the local media and cultivated new relationships in the community. Most importantly, we cultivated new relationships between children and Mitzvot. After a total restructuring, our school continues to meet virtually.

SHABBAT SERVICES, RITUAL, AND ALIYOT: During the shutdown, our ritual committee opted to hold full, traditional services with a Torah service, including reading from the Torah, over Zoom. We understood that this is not comfortable for all communities, or even for all our members, but it felt most appropriate for our committee's and Rabbi's approaches to Jewish expression. We became the only congregation in our area to be conducting a full service from our Bima with a traditional matbea both on Friday night and Saturday morning, and have attracted participants from all over the country. Our rabbi and cantor lead from the bima with appropriate PPE, streaming via Zoom. Further, a volunteer agreed to invite congregants celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, and other simchas to join us for an Aliyah, bringing increased joy to our gatherings. More than ever, Shabbat is anchoring our congregants' week, and more people are actively participating. A group of congregant volunteers even began leading a virtual Havdalah each Saturday night. There is a lay-led virtual morning Minyan twice a week, after which congregants share a meal over Zoom. Through engagement, volunteerism, and a clear articulation of our values, our spiritual life is stronger than ever despite a closed building.

from USCJ https://uscj.org/blog/clarity-of-purpose-through-covid-19
via USCJ

Why Synagogue Collaboration Matters Now More Than Ever

Nine years ago, when I first began working as a Synagogue Consultant at USCJ in the Metropolitan New York (METNY) District, collaboration was a familiar and important topic. In fact, it was so important, that the first conference that we held was on collaborations and mergers. With the current pandemic creating greater pressures on our congregations, we are holding our fourth conference on collaborations and mergers in November.

Collaborative work in METNY can be a model for synagogues in the rest of the country, as it is a building block for greater synagogue and Jewish communal vibrancy.

At first blush, the proximity of METNY congregations might seem to make collaboration more difficult, as synagogues worry about losing members to each other. While this is a concern for some, many more have realized that it is critical for long-term success. What follows is the “secret sauce” of METNY’s congregational successes, and ideas as to how others can replicate this success.

Factors that Led METNY Congregations to Collaborate

Proximity

I like to say that METNY is like a string of pearls, with a synagogue every few miles. As far back as twenty years, collaborative work in METNY began with religious high schools and youth groups, and has since expanded into other areas such as programing and religious services. Specialty programing is one of the newer forms of partnerships. For example, one congregation has been bringing together six local Conservative congregations for a very successful Yom Hashoah program. They now also partner with the local JCRC and local government to increase their overall outreach and impact.

Demographics

It is no secret that changes in affiliation patterns, aging of our communities, and couples starting families later in life are and have been deeply affecting synagogue membership in recent years. A couple of years ago, some of our senior congregations recognized that young families were no longer moving into their areas so they stopped focusing on outreach only to them. These synagogues began to explore relationships with new adult communities in their neighborhoods and teamed together with them for adult learning and programing.

Leadership/Volunteer Burnout

Over the last twenty years there has been an explosion of Jewish organizations that all vie for the same pool of volunteers. Synagogues, are no longer the primary “adult” volunteer experience. USCJ has created several educational and programmatic experiences, like Sulam for Current Leaders (SCL), Sulam for Emerging Leaders (SEL) and Sulam for Purposeful Living (SPL) to help our synagogues recruit, engage and train volunteers and leaders.

Financial Issues

Aging buildings, declining membership, lost income from catering/renters, and donor fatigue, all create situations that make sustainability ever more challenging. It is not uncommon for Conservative synagogues in METNY to explore combining religious school programs for cost saving purposes. It is now also becoming more common for Conservative and Reform synagogues to rent space from each other, share buildings, or combine religious schools providing more flexible learning options.

Why Efforts Have Been Successful in METNY

They see it as a learning process

Partnering with other synagogues affords METNY congregations the opportunity to work with different types of leaders and different congregational cultures. Varied partnerships create a learning process for both parties; they have the opportunity to get better at it or determine that they are not a “good fit”.

Frequent and Transparent Communication.

Good communication is critical in garnering support for partnerships and ensuring success. Creating relationships and excitement are key to collaborative accomplishments. The METNY District has had a long history of bringing synagogue leadership together to network, share information, and give support to each other. The pandemic brought forward a greater desire to hold METNY leadership roundtable gatherings more frequently and move in-person meetings to an online format, creating a good model for congregations.

Lots of Practice

As in any new venture, there is a learning curve. Synagogues in the METNY district of USCJ have been collaborating and partnering for years. It’s work that is familiar and comfortable. But they have not become complacent. Our synagogues continue to ask themselves and each other, “What’s working? What’s not? What can we improve?”

Perseverance

Not all collaborations work right away. Timing may not be right, bandwidth issues very often get in the way, egos, and inertia can all create barriers. One congregation became more open to collaborative work when founding synagogue members no longer held leadership positions. Transitions can create new opportunities. It’s important to be persistent, and to look for openings and recognize those transition points.

What You Can Do in Your Community

• The virtual world has blurred lines and given all communities the ability to reach people differently than they had in the past. Individuals from all over North America (and the world!) have been Zooming into Shabbat and holiday services like never before. While some may decide not to become synagogue members, they may still make donations, help with making a minyan, and can add to overall synagogue vibrancy.
• Shared programming can create financial savings through joint staff, curriculum and materials, and offer synergies for family, youth or adult programming that did not exist independently. A hybrid of in-person and virtual classrooms or programs creates new opportunities to allow synagogues to expand their viable partner options where proximity issues would not have previously allowed.
• What were once obstacles to working with more physically distant communities and more varied organizations have now been reduced by the ability to hold virtual meetings and gatherings. This in turn allows for more exploration of synergies. These new virtual relationships can develop into a desire for more in-person work. Some communities even feel that virtual programming gives them the ability to be more inclusive for a population that cannot otherwise participate.
• Use technology as a collaboration tool. Online schmoozing, cooking classes, and book clubs have helped to create meaningful connections in new ways. Zoom break-out rooms for “sharing” Shabbat dinners and fundraising through virtual galas have made us consider how we can engage our communities more deeply even if we cannot be physically together.
• Look for collaborative partners in places you may have never considered before. A transition point, such as a change in leadership or a financial setback can often be a signal for opportunities that can facilitate the possibility of creating a new relationship. Continue to reflect on your community’s work with an eye toward new and different partner(s) which can be a springboard for new ideas and hopefully new relationships.

Why Synagogue Collaboration Matters

It takes vision and courage to consider partnering with other congregations to make a synagogue into a stronger community. Synergies of collective congregations can create a vibrancy for the future that will benefit not only individual congregations, but the larger Jewish community. As you decide to explore to collaborations and partnerships, approach the venture from mutual positions of strength and with the hope of creating a kehillah kadosha (sacred community) for current and future generations.

Endnote: Collaborations and partnerships may ultimately lead to mergers, or consolidations which can be complex and emotional. Your community’s first step should always be to build solid relationships and explore shared undertakings. Merger and consolidation will be the topic of my upcoming article.

from USCJ https://uscj.org/blog/why-synagogue-collaboration-matters-now-more-than-ever
via USCJ

Ned Gladstein: 5781 High Holiday Message

Dear Friends,

Nothing tests leadership like crisis. Looking back to a year ago, none of us could have predicted the challenges the year 5780 would bring. Our synagogue leaders have faced difficult decisions at every turn, how to protect and enhance the lives of our congregants, how to create new meaningful experiences and connections, and how to ensure our congregations thrive.

As we go into 5781 we do so with a sense of hope, mixed with loss and uncertainty.

We feel the loss of praying together and kibbutzing at kiddush. We feel the anxiety caused by so many disruptions -- postponed or transformed life cycle events and celebrations that could not take place. We grieve for community and family members whom we've lost this past year, including those who fell victim to the virus.

We feel uncertainty about what the new year will bring. How will synagogue life continue to be transformed? How will we manage financially? How will we balance our personal, professional, and volunteer responsibilities when, at times, they seem so overwhelming?

And yet, we feel hopeful when we look back on a year in which so many of our synagogues have transformed themselves. We have discovered that our congregations are not about our buildings, but about the relationships that we build with our people and our communities. We have reached out to our members to keep them connected and cared for by adapting new rituals at home and taking prayer experiences, education, fundraising, and social experiences online. We start this year with a sense of confidence as we continue to overcome the challenges in front of us, and emerge strong, connected, nimble, and even transformed.

Through it all, I am proud of the role that USCJ has played, as we seek meaning together through our connections to resources and to each other. We are travelling this road together, treating one another with kindness, taking risks, sharing ideas, learning from our successes and failures, and giving each other encouragement. We are truly a united synagogue community. In the coming year USCJ will continue to offer that same support, connection, and training. We will continue to engage our teens. And we will deepen our partnership with the Rabbinical Assembly and other movement partners to continue to become a truly united movement.

Meanwhile, I am grateful to all who lead our congregations and met the challenges of this past year. Thank you for all you do, and please accept my wishes to you and your family for a Shanah Tovah -- a year of blessings.

Sincerely,

Ned Gladstein

from USCJ https://uscj.org/blog/ned-gladstein-5781-high-holiday-message
via USCJ

Rabbi Jacob Blumenthal: 5781 High Holiday Message

Dear Friends:

The sound of the shofar calls to us to listen! But our tradition teaches us that salvation only comes when we open our eyes to suffering and take action towards solutions. Indeed, in both our Torah readings for Rosh Hashanah, an angel calls out, and Hagar and Abraham discover that what is needed to save a life was in front of them all along.

In both these Torah readings, the stakes could not be higher. A child’s life is in imminent danger. On the first day we read of Hagar and her son, Ishma’el, who were banished from Abraham’s household. As they wander in the wilderness, their water runs out, and Hagar sobs as she sees her beloved son dying of thirst. On the second day we read of Abraham preparing to fulfill what he believes to be God’s command, offering his own beloved son Isaac on an altar. We can imagine his own tears as he raises his knife.

And as each child endures terrible trauma and the possibility of death, an angel calls out to pause the action, and when Hagar and Abraham each look more clearly, the agent of salvation is near at hand. For Ishma’el, “Then God opened [Hagar’s] eyes and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin with water, and let the boy drink” (Gen. 21:19-20, JPS). For Isaac, “When Abraham looked up, his eye fell upon a ram, caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son” (Gen. 22:13).

In our world, some lives are threatened by natural forces of disease, hunger or thirst. And some are threatened by human acts of violence, racism, antisemitism, and bigotry. Suffering and injustice abound.

This Rosh Hashanah, the shofar is the call of the angel who tells Hagar, “Come, lift up the boy and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him” (21:18). And it is the call of the angel who tells Abraham, “Do not raise your hand against the boy, or do anything to him. For now I know you fear God” (22:12).

This year, let’s hear the sound of the shofar as the call of that angel. Let go of the knife. Reach out a virtual hand. Lift up one another. Heed the angel’s voice -- God’s voice -- commanding us, “Do not turn away from suffering. See it clearly, and look for the solutions that God is providing you. The well of water. The ram in the thicket. It is there, right in front of you! Seize it, save a life, save a child, save a world.”

Indeed, isn’t this what we have been doing in our synagogues and communities over these past few months? I have been inspired by the creativity, talent, passion, flexibility and incredible energy of our clergy, synagogue professionals, and lay leaders who have shown us that strong communities are not about buildings, but about people, relationship, connection, and spirit. And I’m grateful that USCJ has been able to play a partnership role in inspiring, connecting, training, and facilitating those connections and achievements.

May we hear the call of the shofar this year. May we see the world with clear eyes and a pure heart. And may we continue to act with love and compassion, with partnership and care.

Please accept my warmest gratitude for all that you have done this year as a leader of your community, and for all that we will do together in the year to come.

L’shanah Tovah Umetukah -- With Wishes for a Good and Sweet New Year,

Jacob

from USCJ https://uscj.org/blog/rabbi-jacob-blumenthal-5781-high-holiday-message
via USCJ

Shabbat Shalom: Say it with a "Shabbat-o-gram"

Observing Shabbat at Jewish summer camp is an incredibly powerful experience—from the creative outdoor services to the energetic singing and dancing with friends. So when it was announced that in-person camps would remain closed this summer, one Jewish couple was inspired to replicate a piece of the experience virtually—first for camps and now for synagogues, religious schools, preschools, Hillels, and others in the Jewish community. Rabbi Shayna Golkow of Temple Aliyah in Woodland Hills, California, and her boyfriend Ben Zauzmer, a coder with the Los Angeles Dodgers, created Shabbat-o-Grams. The website keeps people connected virtually by enabling them to create and send digital Shabbat greetings—at no cost—to friends, family, staff, alumni, etc. every Friday. “Ben and I grew up going to Jewish summer camps and loving the experiences we had,” shares Shayna. “Upon hearing the news that camps were going to be virtual all summer, we felt so sad for the campers, staff, and other community members who were missing out on those experiences. We wanted to create something that would help bring people together and make them feel like they were getting to bring the magic of camp home in this virtual world.” While in-person campers might cut cardboard and use markers, tape, and photos to create good wishes and notes of appreciation for Shabbat, Shabbat-o-Gram users digitally choose fonts, add color and text, and upload photos and drawings to customize their greetings to arrive by email. They can even designate Shabbat-o-Grams for entire communities, which are then shared on Instagram with links to those communities’ donation pages.

“We’ve seen some beautiful Shabbat-o-Grams with amazing drawings and collages of friends and family,” shares Ben. “We’ve also seen so many sweet, kind, and supportive messages.” In fact, over 1,000 people from 35 Jewish summer camps have received Shabbat-o-Grams so far. The Friday it launched, Ben awoke to his email filled with requests. “That was a real pinch-yourself-type moment,” he says. “We really had no idea if this would be something that would catch on but we had advertised to every camp letting them know this was available to them. A few came in Monday through Thursday, and then I awoke on Friday before the deadline to my Gmail so filled I had to click to the next page. That never happens.” Since then, the couple has received requests from several synagogues to make Shabbat-o-Grams available to their communities for Shabbat as well as the High Holidays—and that’s exactly what they’re doing. “We have received such nice messages from people letting us know they feel supported by this project,” says Shayna. “We hope that will be the same for congregations and others in the Jewish community who are struggling to keep people engaged and connected in this virtual world.”

Click here to visit the website and start sharing it with your congregation.

from USCJ https://uscj.org/blog/shabbat-shalom-say-it-with-a-shabbat-o-gram
via USCJ

USCJ's #BlackLivesMatter Statement in The New York Times

On Friday, August 28, 2020, The New York Times published a letter signed by over 600 Jewish organizations, including USCJ, expressing Black Lives Matter. The process used to sign on to this letter was consistent with current policy regarding issuing statements, and was reviewed by Rabbi Jacob Blumenthal along with Leslie Lichter, USCJ’s COO, and Ned Gladstein, USCJ’s president.

The letter reflects the mission and values of USCJ, and we are therefore pleased it has received a good deal of attention. The following additional information/ context might also prove helpful:

1. We believe that this letter represents the mainstream point of view in the Jewish community. Among many others, both the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), which represents Jewish Community Relations Councils across the US, and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) signed on, as well as hundreds of synagogues, Federations, and other organizations.

2. #BlackLivesMatter is a broad-based idea linked to a wide range of institutions and leaders initiated by the Black community in its struggle to seek justice and to eliminate systemic racism. There is no one organization responsible for its thinking. Much as the Jewish community is extremely diverse (even our Conservative movement is quite diverse!), that is also the case in the Black community.

3. Leaders in the Black community have spoken out forcefully against violence and antisemitism, and have been important allies to our own community in the face of the increase in antisemitism (including leaders who do not agree on all of our community’s positions).

4. #BlackLivesMatter is sometimes erroneously linked to the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) organization, and concerns have been raised about its links to BDS and anti-Israel sentiment. I strongly urge you to read this analysis by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, which pushes back on those initial assumptions that were made 4 years ago and also brings it up to date based on their draft 2020 platform statement to be released soon. We agree with the JCPA’s conclusion: “To counter antisemitism and to live out our Jewish values of equity and justice for all, that the Jewish community should not abandon the largest movement for racial justice in decades because of fear of a position, even one as objectionable as that included in the M4BL platform in 2016, taken by a small faction also participating in that fight.”

5. It is very important to note that BLM is a movement by and for Black Americans, including many members of our Jewish community. There may be times when we need to take a step back from the Jewish community’s immediate concerns and, when we see fatal results of prejudice and systemic racism, give priority to those efforts. As we form closer alliances, we will also find opportunities to talk about our own concerns.

6. Many of our constituents have expressed gratitude for taking this position as allies of BLM. From those comments I note especially that our younger generation is passionate about this struggle, and many times they can be our teachers on issues in which unfortunately, a generation after the civil rights movement, we have not made sufficient progress. In fact, USCJ’s Board of Directors will have a chance to have a multi-generational, multi-perspective conversation about the issue of racial justice at our board meeting on September 13.

7. We are proud that USYers are in the midst of an “18 Day Learning Challenge'' to educate themselves further about racial injustice in America. In addition, USYers will engage in challenging conversations with peers surrounding these issues. We also invite our synagogue leaders to participate in a voluntary cohort of congregations engaged in our upcoming Kol Tzedek racial justice initiative.

Part of our goal as we Seek Meaning Together at USCJ, is to improve a very flawed world, and this statement expresses our desire to be allies in the struggle to eliminate racism, seek justice, and affirm that #BlackLivesMatter. Real change is never easy, demands that we take risks, and is rarely comfortable. Particularly in the month of Elul, as we approach Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Jewish tradition requires that we look at both ourselves and our society -- own our challenges, biases, and imperfections -- and act to correct them.

from USCJ https://uscj.org/blog/uscjs-blacklivesmatter-statement-in-the-new-york-times-1
via USCJ

Encouraging Our Congregants to Be “Counted”

In the first chapter of Bamidbar (Numbers), the Bible tells us that God commanded Moses to count all of the members of Am Yisrael. Perhaps that’s why the United States Constitution requires that every decade the federal government count the number of people residing within our national border.

For 230 years, the United States has conducted a Census. The process plays an important part in influencing policies and decisions that personally impact us all, including our congregants, as well as in framing the conversation of who we are as a country.

Here’s how:

• The Census determines how many Congressional representatives and electors a state receives. However, urban areas and large metropolitan cities are historically under-counted, which can mean not enough representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives where many urban Jewish communities exist. Moreover, the number of Congresspeople who represent a state are the same number of electors the state has in the electoral college for the election of a President. Accordingly, a community that wants to see its values represented in the presidential election needs to actively participate in the Census.
• The Census determines where federal funding goes. The Census determines which programs and systems that are critical in our local communities and states will receive federal funding and in what amount. An under-count in our communities means that tax dollars paid by our community members might be distributed elsewhere. Things like local health care, housing, child education, and public transportation can be affected. Additionally, the law requires that information provided to the Census may not be shared with any other governmental agency for any purpose. Accordingly, if your community is supporting immigrants, their participation in the Census may not be used by immigration authorities.
  
• The Census helps show where and how businesses can flourish. It’s no secret that businesses were hit hard as a result of COVID-19. It is going to take a while for them to recover. The data collected during the Census helps inform better decision making around business expansions, closures, hiring strategies, and other business practices in order to decrease perceived risks and increase return on investments. These informed decisions mean that, again, resources can reach our local communities and those who may need them most.

This year, the federal government has decided to shorten the period of time in which the Census is counted -- this year, the Census is collecting data only through September. Please consider encouraging your congregants to be counted as part of the broader U.S. community this year by filling out the Census -- it takes just 10 minutes! God’s mandate to Moses did not only mean that he had to do the counting, but that the people of Israel had to participate and be counted. Similarly, our synagogue members need to participate and be counted in this years United States Census. Please include a reminder in your synagogue newsletter, mention it in your programming, and highlight it on social media.

from USCJ https://uscj.org/blog/encouraging-our-congregants-to-be-counted
via USCJ