USCJ: Guide for Board Members

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The United Synagogue and You: A Guide for the Synagogue Board Member

This publication has been prepared as a guide for the synagogue board member. It outlines the history, structure and programs of The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the association of 760 Conservative congregations in North America. As you will see, our departments, committees and commissions are the source of ideas, standards, and materials intended to stimulate and guide the work of your synagogue. Membership in the United Synagogue carries with it the privilege of drawing upon all these services. As a leader in the Conservative Movement, you are in a unique position to guide and enrich your congregation by making the most of the resources available to it.

Historical Background

On Sunday, February 23, 1913, twenty-two congregations representing Jewish communities in Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, Montreal, Newark, New York City, Norfolk, Philadelphia, Rochester, and Denver met in New York to form a new entity -- The United Synagogue of America. Their delegates, together with a number of other laymen, rabbis, and faculty members of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, created a voluntary association of synagogues to strengthen the individual congregation and to foster common goals.

The Preamble to the constitution of the newly created organization gave expression to their concerns:

One of the great concerns of our founders was the danger of spiritual isolation, of divided energies. They feared lest American Jewry become splintered into many tiny units, losing sight of larger goals and the needs of klal Yisrael, the entire Jewish people. They realized that their basic goals -- expressed in the Preamble -- could be met only by united action. They were moved by the recognition that the relation between the individual congregation and the newly formed United Synagogue must parallel that of the individual member to his or her own congregation. In the decades since 1913, much growth has taken place. North American Jewry now numbers some 6 million people, and the United Synagogue (now "The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism") consists of 760 congregations ranging from small to very large. The programs of the organization and of the congregations of the Conservative Movement have grown accordingly. Nonetheless, the basic interrelationship has not changed.

Present-Day Structure

The United Synagogue is a grassroots organization representing affiliated Conservative congregations in North America. The work of the USCJ represents a creative partnership between the congregation, the region and the central organization. Volunteers and professionals work together to plan and implement all programs and initiatives. Our central office, located at Rapaport House in New York City, houses our professional staff as well as our departments, commissions, and committees. The boundaries of our regions, which extend throughout North America, have been determined with an eye toward providing timely and efficient service to our affiliated congregations. Access the United Synagogue website (www.uscj.org) for a current listing of central and regional officers and professional staff.

The United Synagogue works in close cooperation with other arms of the Conservative Movement: the Jewish Theological Seminary, Rabbinical Assembly, Women's League for Conservative Judaism, Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs, Cantors Assembly, Jewish Educators Assembly, North American Association of Synagogue Executives, and Jewish Youth Directors Association. The United Synagogue also cooperates closely with the Masorti Movement and continues to give high priority to matters pertaining to klal Yisrael, the entire Jewish people. It is an active member of the World Council of Conservative/Masorti Synagogues and works closely with MERCAZ, the Zionist organization of the Conservative Movement. In addition, the United Synagogue exercises a vigorous role as a member of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and Jewish Council for Public Affairs.

Vision and Mission

The following Vision and Mission Statements were adopted by The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism in June 2001.

The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism promotes the role of the synagogue in Jewish life in order to motivate Conservative Jews to perform mitzvot encompassing ethical behavior, spirituality, Judaic learning, and ritual observance.

The mission of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism is to strengthen and serve our congregations and their members.

USCJ Departments, Commissions, and Committees

(The following select list highlights those groups that offer direct service to our congregations.

The Department of Education, oldest of all the departments within the United Synagogue, was formed in the teen years of the last century and today boasts a substantial and creative program of supervision, standards, textbooks, curricula, and more. While providing quality resources for the schools of affiliated congregations, the department has also -- since the late 1950s -- overseen the development of the Solomon Schechter Day School system, with some 75 such schools throughout the continent (including 6 high schools). The Commission is the educational policy-making body of The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. Made up of representatives of the United Synagogue, the Rabbinical Assembly, the Jewish Educators Assembly and the Jewish Theological Seminary, it sets the overall educational direction for our congregations, their schools, and the Solomon Schechter Day Schools. Operating within the policies formulated by the Commission, the Department's mandate is to enhance the educational effectiveness of the congregations and schools affiliated with the United Synagogue. In 2001, the Commission adopted the Framework for Excellence in the Conservative Synagogue School as a new standard for congregational schools. (See Standards for Synagogue Practice, Article V.)

The Department publishes curricula and educational materials such as children's books, texts and workbooks, videos, lesson plans, and family activity booklets. Through a variety of bulletins and newsletters, it disseminates information and ideas about Jewish education to the lay and professional leadership of our synagogues. It also maintains an active presence on the USCJ website in the “Lifelong Learning” section. The Department offers consultative services to congregational and day schools and operates a call-in service for principals, teachers, and members of educational committees. It offers seminars and conferences for principals, teachers, and lay leaders as well as a variety of staff development programs. The Department also advises congregations on the development of adult education and family programs and works with synagogues to enhance their effectiveness in early childhood education. Long a pioneer in Jewish Special Education, the Department was instrumental in the establishment of the Tikvah program at Camp Ramah and has published materials and guidelines in the area of special education for synagogues and schools.

A second department that had its origins in the earliest years is the Department of Youth Activities, reflecting the United Synagogue's total commitment to Jewish education, even beyond the classroom. The Department reaches over 25,000 young people through its Kadima program for preteens and United Synagogue Youth (USY) program for high school students. Through informal education, the message of Conservative Judaism is brought to our youth. The key element in the total program is the Kadima and USY chapter within our affiliated congregations. In the context of developing future youth directors/advisors as well as lay leaders, the Department offers programs such as NATIV, the year-long program in Israel, which gives high school graduates an opportunity to earn college credits by studying at Hebrew University in Jerusalem or at the United Synagogue Conservative Yeshiva. Students also receive leadership training and benefit from the experience of working on a kibbutz. The Department publishes special training material, provides helpful seminars for Kadima and USY personnel, and offers advisor training programs. It helps increase the involvement of laity in our youth programs by offering training for youth commissioners at the synagogue and regional level. Over 1,000 youngsters from all over North America come together each December at the USY International Convention. USY Israel Pilgrimage and USY on Wheels are highlights of our popular summer programs. A mid-year USY High program – offering school credit -- features a two-month experience in Israel. Regions sponsor kinnusim, encampments and conferences.

Working closely with Hillel, KOACH encourages students to explore Judaism and Jewish life and to use these gifts in creating and solidifying Jewish identity. The KOACH Creative Grants Program supports religious, cultural, educational and social programs for Conservative student groups on a wide variety of campuses. The KOACH On Campus website is edited and written by and for students, with features on contemporary Jewish issues and Jewish campus life. The KOACH listserv engages students in ongoing conversations with others across the continent and across the world. KOACH publications include A Guide for the New Jewish College Student, Shabbat: An Oasis in Time, Kashrut: Connecting the Physical to the Spiritual, Meeting the Needs of College Students: A Guide for Congregations, and Lekh Lekha: A Ceremony of Going Forth. All of these publications are made available, free of charge, to USCJ affiliated congregations. Lekh Lekha is an innovative ceremony that enables congregations to acknowledge a major life-cycle event in many Jewish families: the departure of high school graduates to colleges and universities. An annual International Kallah (conference) brings together students from dozens of colleges and universities for a weekend of sharing, study and friendship. Regional Conferences are rich opportunities to learn from and with students in a more localized setting.

The Department prepares and supplies program materials for use by congregations in the observance of Jewish holidays as well as special events in the life of the synagogue. The Department also offers administrative guidance to affiliated synagogues. In addition, it gathers programs and projects that have been successful in other congregations for exchange and sharing throughout the Movement.

Hundreds of synagogues have benefited from board of trustee training seminars conducted both by the Department and by regional directors. Topics covered include programming, fundraising, committee efficiency, leadership development, membership outreach and retention, volunteer motivation, building an effective board, creating a partnership of lay and professional leaders, and writing a synagogue mission statement. The Department can provide scholar-in-residence kallot to congregations to dovetail with the leadership training. A questionnaire entitled “Heshbon Hanefesh Kehilati” (Congregational Self-Evaluation) is available upon request for congregations to do reflective study and self-evaluation. The SULAM program, which trains synagogue vice-presidents and new presidents to be effective congregational leaders, has proved to be a great success in the field of leadership training. Participants learn administrative skills and study Jewish texts on leadership themes.

The Department of Services to Affiliated Congregations is the central agency of the Conservative Movement for the placement of cantors (for the High Holy Days); educators (educational directors, principals, head teachers) for Solomon Schechter Day Schools and afternoon congregational schools; synagogue administrators (executive directors); and synagogue youth directors. The Department, through Joint Placement Commissions, works in close cooperation with the Rabbinical Assembly, the Cantors Assembly, the Jewish Educators Assembly, the Jewish Youth Directors Association, and the North American Association of Synagogue Executives. It also coordinates regional efforts to affiliate non-member synagogues and to help create new synagogues in Jewish growth areas.

Another vital service establishedby the Department is outreach to the smaller and more isolated congregations of the United Synagogue. In addition to direct communication or visits by the director of the Department, an annual Small Congregation Conference is held, guest "ambassador" cantors are made available for special weekends, and a weekly commentary (Torah Sparks) is provided to enhance Sabbath services. A lay religious leadership training institute (IMUN) is held every summer at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires. Due to its success, additional sessions are now held in Camp Ramah in Ojai, California, and at Ramah Darom in Clayton, Georgia. IMUN graduates are eligible to participate in an IMUN II Study Tour in Israel. “Minhah Moments,” a convenient wallet-sized booklet produced by the Department, makes it easier for members to engage in individual prayer on weekdays.

The United Synagogue Book Service handles publications and resource materials from The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the Commission on Jewish Education, the Rabbinical Assembly, the Jewish Theological Seminary, Women's League for Conservative Judaism, and the Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs. Book Service sells a wide variety of items, including prayerbooks; guides for holiday celebrations; audiocassettes; and life-cycle certificates such as egalitarian and non-egalitarian bar/bat mitzvah certificates, ketubot (marriage contracts), and birth certificates created by leading Judaic artists and calligraphers. It also offers books of Jewish interest for adults and youngsters, software on topics such as preparing for bar/bat mitzvah, reference information, and materials on tracing your Jewish heritage. Order by calling toll free, 1-800-594-5617; on the Web, uscj.org/booksvc; by fax, 212-253-5422. For further information, call 212-533-7800, ext. 2003, or e-mail booksvc@uscj.org.

The Department oversees the regions and works with regional leadership to deliver services to our congregations. Personnel make regular field trips to enhance this effort. In cooperation with the Department of Leadership Development, the Department and regions sponsor congregational leadership training sessions as well as meetings with congregational professionals. The Council of Regional Presidents is comprised of the presidents, the immediate past presidents, and the presidents-elect of all regions. Among other activities, the Council, through the provision of grants, motivates regions to undertake and pilot creative programming. The Department provides professional support to the Council.

The Department has a continuing interest in domestic issues and an active concern for Jews in vulnerable situations around the world. It serves as a resource for formulating United Synagogue policy and programming in the area of social action and develops programmatic materials for the implementation of resolutions adopted at the Biennial Convention. The Department also represents the United Synagogue in national Jewish umbrella organizations and reviews positions relating to issues such as homelessness and hunger, reproductive choice, anti-Semitism, health care reform, domestic violence, cults and missionaries and the environment. The United Synagogue participates in the preparation of the Jewish Public Policy Agenda, a guide to social action programming published by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, of which the United Synagogue is a member. It is available upon request. Israel-United States relations is an important issue for this Department. Through the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the Department joins with other organizations in voicing concerns and educating constituent congregations. It also assists synagogue committees in developing programs in their congregations and publishes pamphlets on timely issues, with Jewish sources on each subject. Publications include “Judaism, Courtesy and Civility,” “Judaism and Smoking,” and a “Voter Registration Guide.”

The Department of Operations was established to guide and strengthen administrative practices in all areas of congregational life. Among other services, the Department oversees insurance programs for congregations and congregants, offering group rates in the following categories: Term Life Insurance, Excess Major Medical Plan, Comprehensive Major Medical and a plan for members without coverage. Plans for congregants include a Cancer Plan that helps defray expenses of cancer treatment, as well as a Medicare Supplement Plan. We also offer a Long-Term Care Insurance policy to USCJ members, spouses and extended family members. Our Property & Casualty Insurance Plan for congregations is comprehensive and competitive. The Department is also prepared to help congregations purchase equipment (i.e., telephone, copying, fax equipment, etc.) through national purchasing agreements.

One of the primary responsibilities of this Department is publication of the United Synagogue Review, a major vehicle of communication for the Conservative Movement. The Review publishes feature articles, reports of newsworthy projects from the congregational and the regional level, information on services and activities of the central office, and news of the professional and lay leadership of the Movement. It also carries advertising of products and services of interest to Conservative Jewish families. The Review currently reaches nearly 250,000 families, who receive the magazine as a tangible benefit of membership in affiliated congregations. In addition, the Department has produced a video, “Building Strong Congregations for the 21st Century,” which describes the mission and activities of the organization. The Department coordinates the United Synagogue website, www.uscj.org, to ensure that congregations can easily access the program and policy initiatives of the USCJ. The Public Affairs Department is responsible for maintaining and updating congregational membership lists and producing and distributing organizational publications such as We are the Serve in Conservative Judaism, Questions and Answers about the United Synagogue, News-in-Brief, and The Next Step, a newsletter which appears four times a year and is mailed to synagogue leaders. The Department has developed a series of holiday leaflets that congregations may replicate to reprint in their synagogue newsletters or distribute to members.

The Department of Information Technology (IT) was created to bring the power of the personal computer to the synagogue. Its two primary projects have proved most effective in providing direct service to our affiliated synagogues: These are free Internet hosting services and the Congregational Database Project (containing pertinent information that can be shared anonymously). The Department can also offer guidance to individual congregations in the area of purchasing hardware and software.

Shirley and Jacob Fuchsberg Center for Conservative Judaism in Jerusalem; United Synagogue Yeshiva

The Fuchsberg Center is an important presence for North American Jewry in Israel. It offers religious and educational activities for USCJ members visiting Israel as well as for the Jerusalem population, the Masorti Movement in Israel, and the Movement worldwide. Our programs include the following:

The Committee on Congregational Standards is a standing committee of the United Synagogue. It includes members appointed by the International President and representatives from each of the arms of the Conservative Movement: Cantors Assembly, Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs, Jewish Educators Assembly, Jewish Theological Seminary, Jewish Youth Directors Association, North American Association of Synagogue Executives, Rabbinical Assembly, and Women's League for Conservative Judaism. The Committee formulates standards and guides for affiliated congregations and their members, which are also used by other arms of the Movement. As a major part of its activity, it responds to questions on, and processes complaints about, noncompliance with our standards. It supervises the resolution of controversies that arise among affiliated congregations, or between a congregation and professional. Through mediation and arbitration, the Committee seeks to resolve differences in a Jewish manner through a process of derekh eretz, at no cost to our congregations.

The Committee publishes Standards for Congregational Practice, which sets out binding rules for operation of an affiliated congregation, and A Guide to Congregational Practice, which offers guidance for provisions that are recommended for inclusion in contracts with the congregation's professional staff. The Committee issues A Guide To Funeral Practices and A Guide to the Hevra Kadisha, which provide recommended customs and practices in matters dealing with death. F.Y.I., “For Your Input,” is designed to guide a congregation in areas delegated to the congregation but assisted by the USCJ.

The Committee was established in 1986 to encourage congregations to raise the level of Jewish observance. To develop a Movement-wide approach to this issue, the various arms of the Conservative Movement participate in this Committee. Among other endeavors, the Committee has prepared a kit to facilitate building a sukkah; the Mazel Tov series on the importance of kashrut at weddings and bar/bat mitzvah celebrations; and the Friday Night Home Shabbat Program to encourage congregants to share Shabbat with others.

The goal of this Committee is to sensitize congregations to the need for synagogues to be accessible and help them eliminate physical barriers in their synagogue. The Committee is charged with obtaining information and ideas from synagogues that have become accessible by means of ramps, elevators and other means, and will promote the installation of infra-red sound systems and the purchase of large-print and Braille prayerbooks. A directory of accessible congregations is available.