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Synagogue Publicity: The Congregational Bulletin

Synagogue newsletters are produced in a wide variety of formats. Some are produced on word processors, some on desktop systems, and others are professionally printed. No matter how your congregational bulletin is produced, it is necessary to address the following issues: How are the articles presented? Are they all "in-house" items, or do they vary in range and content? Are they thrown together or grouped under an appropriate heading? Is there an attempt at artistic presentation? Interestingly, it's just as easy to create uniform columns and an attractive "block" effect as it is to run articles one after another without any attempt at a more consistent layout.

Getting Started

Before we proceed, it might be valuable to discuss how to go about creating a synagogue bulletin if you do not already have one. The following guidelines may be helpful even if you already have a newsletter.

Layout and Production: Some Helpful Hints

Even using the simplest means of production, it is possible to produce neat, visually interesting material, with simple graphics or logos integrated into the text. For those who "cut and paste," there are wonderful clip art books available, with both Jewish and standard images. For those who prefer to access graphics from a computer program, there is also a fairly large selection of vendors and packages available. (See Appendix for lists of clip art and computer graphics vendors.)

If you can afford it -- and you really use a lot of graphics -- buying a scanner may be a consideration. This will allow you to add virtually any item you see into your collection. A scanner will also help you with reprints.

Remember: Unless you're only reproducing a small amount of material, it's necessary to get permission to reprint, and you are required to give appropriate credit.

For those of you who have not yet taken advantage of this, there is a very valuable resource available to you from our Education Department called Dapim l'Mishpahah. These are sets of camera-ready materials containing lively, illustrated holiday pieces presenting family activities and specifically designed to be inserted into synagogue bulletins. It is well worth the cost. Another product you ought to be receiving is "What¹s Happening?" a camera-ready page sent from the Department of Public Affairs, to the attention of your rabbi. Be sure to ask for it.

One relatively easy way to enhance the appearance of your publication is to create a distinctive title, logo, and masthead. Not only will this add an interesting graphic element but it will also provide an "identification tag" so that people will recognize the bulletin immediately upon receiving it. While the variety of potential designs is endless, they should be kept clean and simple, and the masthead of your bulletin should never be cluttered. All you really need is a logo (or that of the United Synagogue, if you haven't got one), the name of the synagogue and the name of the publication itself. This might be finished off by adding a horizontal line, below which you can insert the date and the volume number.

I suggest that you lay out the articles in "block" fashion, each story constituting a unit, with carry-over kept to a minimum. While column size should be uniform, some stories might be run over a two-column space, with single columns appearing next to and beneath it, for variety. You might also want to box some stories for emphasis or for graphic interest. If you can afford to print in two color, you might consider adding a "screen" to some boxes, running a light shade of your second color as the background to the text.

When you are dealing with relatively cheap paper, it is safer to stick with very light screens, such as 10%. Even if you are printing only in black and white, you might consider adding a gray tint to some of your items. Another inexpensive technique is to use the element of reverse, so that the text runs white on a colored background. No matter what graphic elements you use, make sure there is plenty of white space so that the eye is not overloaded with images.

You can reduce your costs by submitting the text of the bulletin to your printer on a computer disk (ascertaining first, of course, which word-processing programs are compatible with his or her system). I would suggest using photographs only where you can afford to have the bulletin professionally printed. Where bulletins are offset, photos generally appear too black and too grainy. Remember, if you have photos, leave room for captions and submit the captions at the same time you submit the text to help you better gauge the available space.

Content

As in all publications, some kinds of articles are more interesting than others. However, most bulletins contain a standard mix, including a note from the rabbi and a schedule of services, as well as information and guidelines for upcoming holidays and some hands-on ritual information. But there is much more that can be done. Properly selected, bulletin articles can go a long way toward helping to define and promote the image of the synagogue.

Many congregational bulletins include the following kinds of material:

While there is no hard and fast prescription for what to include in your bulletin, the items you choose should all consciously reflect the image of the synagogue that you are seeking to project.

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