Submission #15717 by Temple Israel Men'S Club - Charlotte, NC (1709)
I have read the 2021 Torch Awards Program Guidelines.
World Wide Wrap 2019
World Wide Wrap
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Our goal was to get participation from clergy, education leaders, lay leaders, and the religious school to explore the mitzvah of Tefillin. In addition to teaching the young and not so young to wrap we wanted to make this an both a community and participatory learning opportunity for our students.
For many Conservative Jews the lack of ritual and other knowledge often acts as a barrier or impediment to a greater level of involvement by parents and their children and has undoubtedly been one of the contributing factors in leaving our shuls post bnai mitzvah. Our goal is to slowly reverse that alarming trend by providing an interactive, fun and intimate forum to teach.
By offering this program our club, and therefore our region and FJMC benefits from bringing clergy, schools, young families, lay leaders and Men's club together in an informal, intimate, learning session enjoyable by over 100 people. As such, Men's club by being a sponsor of this event is seen as an integral part of Temple learning.
Our target audience was mainly school age children and their families although the event was open to all members. The interaction played a key role as we gain more visibility into what we bring to the Temple and was instrumental in establishing and building relationships.
The program involved Jewish men (and women) into Jewish ritual. For many in attendance, they never learned any of this when they were in religious school. What this brings is the beginning of growing confidence in attending services as we hope to run more learning events in the future.
We have traditionally run this program only focusing on wrapping without the educational components. We have found that many if not most members do not come to Temple outside the Days of Awe. For them it is incumbent upon us (not only Brotherhood, but Temples at large) to deliver value to them for their dues and other payments and introducing them to learning opportunities in a family format to encourage attendance on a more frequent basis so we don’t lose 75% of them post bnai mitzvah.
This year featured an unintended and pleasant surprise which we gladly incorporated. The WWW on Sunday culminated the end of the weekend for a Rabbinic candidate. His energy in teaching and inspiring was I believe a key ingredient in the programs' success. He led many parts of the service and taught many how to wrap. Another key difference was involving many of the students in leading various parts of the service (See attachment in next section).
By offering this program our club, and therefore our region and FJMC benefits from bringing clergy, schools, young families, lay leaders and Men's club together in an informal, intimate, learning session enjoyable by over 100 people. As such, Men's club by being a sponsor of this event is seen as an integral part of Temple learning.
Our target audience was mainly school age children and their families although the event was open to all members. The interaction played a key role as we gain more visibility into what we bring to the Temple and was instrumental in establishing and building relationships.
The program involved Jewish men (and women) into Jewish ritual. For many in attendance, they never learned any of this when they were in religious school. What this brings is the beginning of growing confidence in attending services as we hope to run more learning events in the future.
We have traditionally run this program only focusing on wrapping without the educational components. We have found that many if not most members do not come to Temple outside the Days of Awe. For them it is incumbent upon us (not only Brotherhood, but Temples at large) to deliver value to them for their dues and other payments and introducing them to learning opportunities in a family format to encourage attendance on a more frequent basis so we don’t lose 75% of them post bnai mitzvah.
This year featured an unintended and pleasant surprise which we gladly incorporated. The WWW on Sunday culminated the end of the weekend for a Rabbinic candidate. His energy in teaching and inspiring was I believe a key ingredient in the programs' success. He led many parts of the service and taught many how to wrap. Another key difference was involving many of the students in leading various parts of the service (See attachment in next section).
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Original Program