Role of Synagogue Committees

• Adult Education Committee
• Budget Committee
• Bulletins/Publications Committee
• Cemetery Committee
• Financial Obligations Evaluation Committee
• Israel Affairs Committee
• Committee on Jewish Observance in the Home
• Library Committee
• Membership Outreach/Retention Committee
• Planning Committee
• Public Relations Committee
• Religious School Education Committee
• Ritual/Religious Committee
• Social Action Committee
• Committee on the United Synagogue and Conservative Movement
• Ways and Means Committee
• Youth Committee

Introduction

By its nature, a synagogue is a community. To be most effective, a congregation must be inclusive and welcoming. An excellent way to do this is to have committees with specific roles, defined duties and important functions, answerable to the board of the synagogue. In addition to helping the synagogue do its work, a functioning committee structure provides a training ground for future synagogue leadership. This list is not a roster of required committees, nor is it exhaustive. It provides suggestions for duties of nineteen committees often found in congregations. We know that there can be other valuable committees in each synagogue. While we have suggested staff members to work with each committee, the appropriate staff member may vary in different congregations.

You will note the refrain: “to keep minutes of committee meetings and to report regularly to the Board on the work of the Committee.” This is important as it provides history for the committee and information to the governing body of the congregation as to what’s happening. Contribute your time and energy, your talent and excitement to assure that Judaism thrives in your community.

Adult Education Committee

Works in conjunction with Rabbi, Hazzan and/or Educator.

Purposes:

1. To encourage large numbers of members to commit themselves to the goal of allotting time to the mitzvah of Torah each day of their lives; including Perek Yomi and Mishnah Yomit.
2. To arrange classes for adults in Bible, post-biblical Jewish classics, the Hebrew language, Jewish history, Jewish belief and practices and other appropriate subjects; to continually evaluate programs and classes to determine evolving strategies to make adult education more effective.
3. To arrange study-discussion groups, or havurot.
4. To arrange Oneg Shabbat programs on Friday evenings in conjunction with services and Shabbat dinners, or on Sunday afternoons, or similar sessions on holidays.
5. To cooperate with area synagogues and other Jewish organizations in sponsoring adult education programs and classes.
6. To make use of the Synagogue Bulletin to bring Torah regularly to the home.
7. To work with the Library Committee in encouraging the ongoing use of the library and the regular reading of Jewish books and periodicals.
8. To aid in the distribution of Jewish educational pamphlets in the Jewish Living Now series to all families in the synagogue.
9. To encourage congregants to become members of the Jewish Publication Society and other Jewish book distributors/clubs in order to build up their own Jewish home libraries.
10. To keep minutes of committee meetings and to report to the Board on the work of the Committee.

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Budget Committee

Works in conjunction with Executive Director or Administrator.

Purposes:

1. To obtain from each committee and department of the synagogue (at a specific time on an annual basis) a detailed estimate of the anticipated expenses and income for the coming fiscal year.
2. To draft, on the basis of the estimates, a global picture of the projected budget for the coming fiscal year, including suitable amounts for contingencies and for reserve for long-range building upkeep and maintenance.
3. To enlist the Ways and Means Committee for additional sources of revenue if the estimated budget shows a prospective deficit, and if necessary, to ask the Planning Committee or Board for instructions as to priority of expenditure.
4. To monitor income and expenses on a monthly basis.
5. To refer to the Board circumstances (other than the above-mentioned hardship) where all reasonable efforts have proven unsuccessful and to recommend a specific pattern of action to be taken which can alleviate the problem and resolve the situation.
6. To keep minutes of committee meetings and to report regularly to the Board on the work of the Committee.

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Bulletins/Publications Committee

Works in conjunction with Executive Director or Administrator.

Purposes:

1. In consultation with the synagogue leadership, rabbi and executive director, select those publications that are most appropriate for your congregation to produce, whether a regular newsletter, affiliations brochure, holiday booklet, etc.
2. Ensure that personnel are in place to produce the selected publications: editors, writers, designers, photographers, printers, desktop publishers, etc.
3. Establish an information-gathering network to collect information for your publications (e.g., committee liaisons, rabbi, pre-school director, etc.).
4. Ensure that materials selected for publication accurately represent the views and interests of the congregation and promote a positive public image.
5. Ensure that the congregational bulletin accurately conveys the scope of synagogue activities, contains news about the Conservative Movement as a whole, and is tasteful in layout and design.
6. Accesses USCJ material, i.e. News in Brief, Press Releases, High Holy Day mahzor inserts, for wide distribution to all congregants.

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Cemetery Committee

Works in conjunction with Executive Director or Administrator and Rabbi.

Purposes:

1. To arrange for adequate layout care and upkeep of the synagogue cemetery.
2. To maintain an up-to-date and accurate set of accounts for the financial operation of the cemetery, including a separate cemetery checking account and a savings account for perpetual care monies; to assure that all state/province laws governing cemeteries are upheld.
3. To maintain an up-to-date and accurate set of maps and records of the cemetery.
4. To present to the leadership any desirable changes in the cemetery rules and regulations and, upon approval, to enforce all rules and regulations.
5. To engage in an appropriate campaign for the sale of graves designed to yield an amount adequate for (a) the amount indicated in the synagogue budget; (b) the annual cost of running the cemetery; and (c) setting aside a reserve for future improvement of the cemetery.
6. To plan for the improvement of cemetery land owned by the synagogue but not yet in use; to propose to the leadership specific steps towards such improvement; and, upon approval, to execute such plans.
7. To report any long-range needs not able to be covered by cemetery funds.
8. Using the USCJ Guide To Jewish Funeral Practice as its basis, and in consultation with the Religious Services Committee, to set principles and standards for the conduct of funerals; to present same to leadership and upon approval to enforce such standards.
9. To keep minutes of committee meetings and to report regularly to the Board on the work of the Committee.

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Financial Obligations Evaluation Committee

Works in conjunction with Executive Director or Administrator.

Purposes:

1. To inform the membership concerning the costs for maintaining the program and services.
2. To encourage members to assume their fair share of the total costs and to consider the additional obligation that comes with being blessed with material means above the average.
3. To review the entire membership list annually before the beginning of the new fiscal year and to review individual cases at other times, as occasion requires, with a view to adjusting increases/decreases in financial obligations in keeping with a principle of “fair share.”
4. To authorize the financial office to bill members as appropriate.
5. To set up a procedure based on Jewish justice and sensitivity for hearing members initiate or respond to the decisions of the Committee.
6. To inform the Dues Collection Committee of refusals to accept the Committee’s decision after an appeal.

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Israel Affairs Committee

Works in conjunction with Rabbi, Hazzan or Educator.

Purposes:

1. To maintain an ongoing educational process designed to cultivate a strong connection between individual members of the congregation and the people and the State of Israel.
2. To encourage individual and congregational trips to Israel, stressing that Israel is not only a wonderful place to visit for historic, religious, and educational reasons, but is also a desirable place to celebrate a simha such as a bar/bat mitzvah, birthday or anniversary.
3. To communicate the views of members of the congregation to national lawmakers regarding policies towards Israel and aid to Israel.
4. To communicate concerns about the rights of Conservative/Masorti Jews in Israel to Israeli officials.
5. To encourage teens to participate in Conservative Movement programs in Israel.
6. To make congregants aware of United Synagogue projects and programs in Israel and to generate support for the Fuchsberg Center for Conservative Judaism.
7. To organize a program for Yom Ha’atzmaut.
8. To encourage members of congregations to buy products made in Israel.
9. To inform members of the ongoing activities of the Masorti Movement in Israel and to encourage support for the Masorti Foundation.
10. To promote membership in MERCAZ, the Conservative Movement Zionist organization.

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Committee on Jewish Observance in the Home

Works in conjunction with Rabbi, Hazzan or Educator.

Purposes:

1. To encourage, through all appropriate means, the observance in the personal lives of members of the traditional pattern of mitzvot.
2. To engage in a continuing educational process designed to deepen the personal commitment of members to such observance, in breadth and depth, maintaining at all times a recognition of the voluntary nature of such commitment and a respect for individual approaches to personal prayer and ritual observance.
3. To make certain that the congregation provides the resources to enable the community and the individual observance of mitzvot.
4. To keep minutes of committee meetings and report regularly to the Board on the work of the Committee.

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Library Committee

Works in conjunction with Rabbi, Hazzan or Educator.

Purposes:

1. To maintain on synagogue premises a library of Jewish books, music, videos, websites and periodicals open to the membership and public.
2. To stimulate the use of the library by all age groups, stressing the personal enrichment that comes from fulfilling the mitzvot of learning through books and resources of Judaic content.
3. To encourage individual contributions of funds for the support of the library.
4. To purchase worthwhile books of Jewish interest—especially those of permanent value—attempting to strike a proper balance among reference works, books for home study, books for light and serious reading or periodicals and Judaica software programs.
5. To oversee the operation of the library and to share in the actual work—periodically taking complete inventory.
6. To secure the necessary supplies and furnishings for proper maintenance and display of the library.
7. To keep minutes of committee meetings and report regularly to the Boards on the work of the Committee.

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Membership Outreach/Retention Committee

Works in conjunction with Executive Director or Administrator.

Purposes:

1. To seek out new arrivals to the community, as well as residents who are not affiliated with any local synagogue; to acquaint them with the various aspects of the synagogue program, and with the synagogue’s particular approach to Conservative Judaism; and to extend to them a warm welcome to the synagogue and an invitation to join.
2. To encourage unaffiliated Jews to consider formal affiliation, stressing both the privileges and responsibilities that come with synagogue membership, and to embrace and orient new members to the congregation.
3. To present to new members appropriate documentation of membership including a statement of the purposes of synagogue membership and a gift to mark their formal association with the synagogue.
4. To maintain an ongoing program of education that is designed to encourage personal participation by all members in the synagogue, and to foster a feeling of genuine warmth in the synagogue as a second home and family.
5. To seek out marginal and inactive members and to renew their interest and participation in the synagogue family, program and religious life of the congregation.
6. To call upon any member who resigns while maintaining their residence and seek to correct situations that have resulted in the resignation.
7. To bid farewell in an acknowledged manner to members who relocate from the city and to advise the congregations in their new community of their arrival in order to encourage a transfer of membership.
8. To present to the leadership for formal action, applications for membership and statements of resignation.
9. To keep minutes of committee meetings and report regularly to the Board on the work of the Committee.

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Planning Committee

Works in conjunction with Executive Director or Administrator.

Purposes:

1. To receive from the Board or from committees, suggestions or projects which, because of their complexity, novelty, size, or long-range character, are not yet ready for official consideration; and to clarify them sufficiently so that they may be referred to a standing committee or to the Board.
2. To take the initiative in seeking out and identifying new synagogue needs and new areas of possible service for study, clarification, and referral to a standing committee or to the Board.
3. To work out, and present to the Board for approval, a scale of priorities and a timetable for new projects that involve extensive financing, unusual expenditures of time, or long-range planning.
4. To keep minutes of committee meetings and to report regularly to the Board on the work of the Committee.

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Public Relations Committee

Works in conjunction with Executive Director or Administrator.

Purposes:

1. To work closely with synagogue leadership, professional staff, and all committees to ensure that all communications going out from the synagogue accurately represent the views and interests of the congregation and work to promote a positive public image.
2. To be available to consult with the above groups on how to get their message out in effective, tasteful ways.
3. To sensitize synagogue leaders, committee members, professional staff, and office personnel to the importance of demonstrating courtesy and responsiveness to all those who visit, telephone, or e-mail the synagogue for help or information.
4. To make certain that needed publicity is prepared and distributed in a timely fashion.
5. To work to promote a positive public image through name/logo/icon identification of synagogue with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and the Conservative Movement affiliates, i.e. USY, KOACH, Kadima, Solomon Schechter Schools; Women’s League, Federation of Men’s Clubs, Jewish Theological Seminary, University of Judaism, Camp Ramah as is appropriate.

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Religious School Education Committee

Works in conjunction with Educator, Rabbi and/or Hazzan.

Purposes:

1. Develop educational goals for the school in tandem with the Rabbi.
2. Create a mechanism for ongoing review of existing curricula.
3. Develop a salary schedule for teachers which recognizes appropriate salary scales in the region and includes incentives for in-service education and certification.
4. Provide in the school’s budget support for the director’s professional growth through involvement in professional educational associations.
5. Provide for experiential activities for the students, experimental curricular programs and a library composed of print and audio-visual resources.
6. Recognize the need for continued growth and development of teachers by budgeting for teacher workshops and classes.
7. Develop, with the director, a rotating schedule of class visits—actual teacher observation, however, is under the direction of the director.
8. To keep minutes of committee meetings and report regularly to the Board on the work of the Committee.

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Ritual/Religious Committee

Works in conjunction with Rabbi and Hazzan.

Purposes:

1. To make certain that the religious nature of the congregation is a major agenda concern, continually evaluate the religious growth of the synagogue, and recommend steps to heighten commitment.
2. To educate the committee itself—and then the leadership and membership—to the essentials of tefillah, Jewish worship, synagogue religious practices, and the Conservative approach.
3. To arrange for regular worship services for adults and children on weekdays, Shabbat, holidays, and special occasions, that will meet the religious needs already acknowledged, or as yet unrecognized, by the congregation.
4. To present to the leadership for action any proposals that would involve significant changes in synagogue ritual.
5. To pay continuing attention to raising the level of performing the mitzvot of public worship, both increasing attendance (through means in keeping with that end) and deepening the level of the worship experience, i.e. daily minyanim, reciting HaMotzi-Birkat Hamazon.
6. To present for the leadership’s consideration the guidelines for religious services in the synagogue and the standards for Shabbat, holiday and kashrut observance on synagogue premises or the conduct at synagogue gatherings.
7. To confer with the synagogue school board on those aspects of synagogue service and ritual which involve the participation of school children.
8. To arrange for and conduct interviews with candidates for vacancies in the religious staff and to present to the leadership recommendations for filling such vacancies.
9. To keep minutes of committee meetings and to report regularly to the Board on the work of the Committee.

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Social Action Committee

“Mitzvah Goreret Mitzvah” - Works in conjunction with Rabbi, Hazzan, Educator and Executive Director.

Purposes:

1. To carry out the mission of fulfillment of mitzvot through direct service, education about Jewish tradition and community issues, and advocacy.
2. To involve as many people as possible in a variety of ways, and to keep participants active. Recruit through activities, not meetings. Keep programs limited in scope so that success can be measured. Structure decision making to enable timely action, so that projects are not lost to bureaucracy (see USCJ Program Suggestions 5762 Mitzvah Day and Beyond).
3. To keep minutes of committee meetings and to report regularly to the Board on the work of the Committee.

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Committee on the United Synagogue and Conservative Movement

Works in conjunction with Rabbi, Hazzan, Educator and Executive Director.

Purposes:

1. To maintain direct contact, on behalf of the congregation, with the international and regional offices of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
2. To have ongoing contact with the many other arms and organizations of the Conservative Movement, among them: The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, University of Judaism, Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs, the Women’s League for Conservative Judaism, the World Council of Synagogues, MERCAZ, Camp Ramah, the “Assemblies” (Rabbinical, Cantorial, Educators), JYDA, NAASE, Masorti Olami (representing Conservative Judaism worldwide) and the Masorti Movement in Israel which will further communication between the synagogue and the international Conservative Movement through the synagogue’s local group.
3. To maintain an ongoing educational process designed to increase awareness on the part of individual members of the goals, programs, and services of the Conservative Movement; to further a sense of personal involvement in the Movement and a concern for determining its direction and future.
4. To arrange through budget allocation for wide congregational representation at biennial conventions of the United Synagogue, at regional conventions and conferences of the Movement, and at the IMUN and SULAM leadership programs annually; and to provide for reports on such meetings to the Board and to the membership-at-large.
5. To encourage individual and group participation in Conservative Movement activities including the KOACH Kallah, NATIV, Perek Yomi, Mishnah Yomit, USY on Wheels, USY Israel Pilgrimage, Camp Ramah, USY Convention, Solomon Schechter Day School Convention, Wagner Institute, USCJ Compact for Conservative Commitment & Movement-sponsored Limud programs.
6. To cultivate a sense of loyalty to the United Synagogue and the Jewish Theological Seminary (also the University of Judaism in Los Angeles and Machon Schechter in Jerusalem) as the centers of Torah which speak directly to us as Conservative Jews.
7. To advocate for the interests of Conservative Judaism in recognition of our contributions to a pluralistic Jewish community.

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Ways and Means Committee

Works in conjunction with Executive Director or Administrator.

Purposes:

1. To disseminate the idea and implement the conviction that it is desirable, vital, crucial and possible to increase the synagogue’s financial resources and its ongoing fiscal stability.
2. To formulate for the Board’s consideration a set of standards for fundraising appropriate to the synagogue.
3. To explore the possibilities for increasing income from existing and new sources.
4. To present to the Board specific proposals for increasing synagogue resources.
5. To implement proposals when approved by the Board and to see to their development, implementation and execution.
6. To keep minutes of committee meetings and to report regularly to the Board on the work of the Committee.

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Youth Activities Committee

Works in conjunction with Rabbi, Educator and Youth Leaders.

Purposes:

1. To arrange, in cooperation with the Synagogue School Committee, a Kadima program of extracurricular activities for elementary school children, which shall feed into the USY Program.
2. To arrange for high school youth a program of activities that is suitable and appropriate to a synagogue, focused on a chapter of United Synagogue Youth.
3. To adopt suitable means of maintaining contact with college-age students of synagogue members while away at school and while home on vacation in association with KOACH.
4. To interview candidates for vacancies in the position of leader for such youth groups and to recommend to the Board proposals for the filling of such vacancies.
5. To advocate for and manage a budget for youth programming in the congregation including salaries and subsidies.
6. To involve the parents of the youth participants in the programs and goals of the youth community.
7. To keep minutes of committee meetings and to report regularly to the Board on the work of the committee.

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