What is a synagogue website actually for?
The obvious answers are practical ones.
It tells people when services are held. It promotes upcoming events. It provides information about religious school, adult learning and membership. It gives people a way to register for programs, make donations and contact the synagogue.
All of those things matter.
But a synagogue isn’t fundamentally a collection of programs, services and information.
It’s a community built around relationships.
And perhaps our websites should reflect that.
Thinking About the Website Through the Lens of Relational Judaism
Dr. Ron Wolfson, author of Relational Judaism: Using the Power of Relationships to Transform the Jewish Community, has written extensively about the importance of moving Jewish institutions from a primarily programmatic model toward one centered on relationships.
It’s an idea that has interesting implications for synagogue websites.
If relationships are at the heart of a thriving synagogue community, then the website shouldn’t simply tell visitors what the synagogue does.
It should help them understand who they’ll meet there, what kinds of relationships they might form and what it could feel like to become part of the community.
That’s a very different way to think about a website.
Your Website Is a Front Door
Long before someone walks through the physical doors of your synagogue, there’s a good chance they’ll walk through the digital one.
They’ll search for synagogues in the area. They’ll click on your website. They’ll look at some photographs, explore a few pages and perhaps read about your clergy or upcoming programs.
And they’ll begin forming an impression.
Does this place feel like somewhere I could belong?
Are there people here like me?
Does the community seem active and welcoming?
Is there anything here that makes me want to take the next step?
Your website can’t create a relationship with someone by itself.
But it can open the door to one.
Show People, Not Just Programs
Synagogues naturally organize much of their communication around programs.
Here’s our upcoming speaker.
Here’s the next Shabbat dinner.
Here’s an adult education class.
Here’s what’s happening for Purim.
Programs are important because they create opportunities for people to connect. But the program itself isn’t necessarily the most compelling part of the story.
The relationships are.
Instead of only showing a photograph of the speaker, show people engaged in learning together.
Instead of only promoting the Shabbat dinner, show people sitting around a table talking and laughing.
Instead of telling visitors you have an active religious school, show children learning with teachers and building friendships with one another.
The program provides the occasion.
The people provide the story.
Tell the Stories of Your Community
One of the most powerful ways to communicate what makes a synagogue distinctive is through the stories of the people who belong to it.
Not necessarily testimonials.
There’s a difference between:
“This is the greatest synagogue. Everyone is so welcoming!”
and:
“We first came for Tot Shabbat when our daughter was three. Ten years later, some of the families we met that morning are among our closest friends.”
The second tells us something.
It gives us a glimpse of what membership in that community actually meant in someone’s life.
Consider incorporating member stories throughout your website. Why did someone first walk through your doors? What made them stay? Where have they found meaning? How have relationships formed? How has their connection to Judaism changed?
These stories don’t necessarily need their own dedicated section.
They can appear throughout the website, alongside information about worship, learning, social action, membership and community life.
Let the people who know your synagogue best help tell its story.
Introduce Your Clergy as People
Clergy biographies often read like résumés.
Rabbi So-and-So was ordained here, received this degree, served this congregation and sits on these committees.
That information has value.
But if someone is considering joining a synagogue, they may be wondering about something much simpler:
What is this person like?
Would I feel comfortable talking to this rabbi?
Would I want to learn from this cantor?
Would I feel comfortable calling them during a difficult moment in my life?
Your clergy pages are an opportunity to begin building that connection.
Include credentials and professional backgrounds, but also give visitors some sense of personality, interests, approach to Judaism and relationship with the congregation.
And then make it easy to get in touch.
A clergy page shouldn’t simply say, “Here’s our rabbi.”
It can also say, “We’d like you to meet.”
Help People Connect With Each Other
This is more difficult for a public website, but it’s worth thinking about.
A relational synagogue isn’t simply a place where congregants have relationships with clergy and staff.
Members have relationships with one another.
How can the website help make those connections visible?
You might highlight small groups, chavurot, affinity groups, volunteer opportunities or social gatherings. You might tell stories about friendships that began at the synagogue. You might explain how newcomers can find people at a similar stage of life or with similar interests.
Even the way programs are described can make a difference.
Compare:
“Join us for our monthly young adult dinner.”
with:
“Meet other Jewish young adults from across the community over dinner and conversation.”
They’re promoting the same event.
But one focuses on the program. The other focuses on the connection the program is designed to create.
Use Photography to Answer an Important Question
When someone unfamiliar with your congregation looks at your photographs, they’re gathering information.
Who are these people?
Would I know anyone here?
Are there people around my age?
Are there families like mine?
Could I see myself being part of this?
That’s why authentic photography matters so much on a synagogue website.
Show people of different ages and stages of life. Show interactions rather than just posed group photographs. Show people learning, praying, celebrating, volunteering and simply spending time together.
And yes, your sanctuary may be beautiful.
But an empty sanctuary can’t show someone what community feels like.
People can.
Don’t Make Membership Feel Like a Transaction
Synagogue membership inevitably involves money.
There are dues or commitments, forms to complete and administrative details that need to be explained.
But that’s not what belonging to a synagogue is ultimately about.
Your membership page shouldn’t read like a pricing page.
Before explaining the mechanics of membership, explain what someone is joining.
What does it mean to be part of this community? What opportunities are there to participate? What relationships might someone build? What responsibilities do members have toward one another and toward the larger community?
Membership isn’t simply an exchange in which someone pays dues and receives services.
At its best, it’s an invitation to become invested in a community — and for that community to become invested in you.
Your website can communicate that distinction.
Make the Next Step Personal
Many synagogue websites end pages with calls to action like:
Learn More.
Register Now.
Join Today.
Those have their place.
But not every visitor is ready to register or become a member.
Sometimes the best next step is simply to begin a relationship.
Come to Shabbat.
Meet our rabbi.
Visit us.
Ask us a question.
Join us for coffee.
Think about how your website can provide low-pressure opportunities for people to move from looking at the congregation online to interacting with actual people.
That’s when the website has done its job.
From Transactions to Relationships
It’s easy for a synagogue website to become transactional.
Find a service time.
Register for an event.
Pay your dues.
Make a donation.
Download a form.
Those functions are important. Current members need them, and a good synagogue website should make them easy.
But they aren’t the whole story.
A synagogue is ultimately about people — people praying together, learning together, celebrating together, supporting one another and creating Jewish community together.
A website can’t replicate those relationships.
What it can do is reveal them.
It can show someone who the people of your congregation are. It can tell their stories. It can introduce your clergy as human beings. It can demonstrate that programs aren’t simply activities filling squares on a calendar, but opportunities for people to connect.
And it can give someone who’s standing outside your community an easy way to take the first step inside.
That’s what a truly relational synagogue website can do.