Why Every Synagogue Should Have a Members’ Podcast
Help your community capitalize on membership opportunities with a carefully curated podcast!
I’ll be honest, I’m one of the weird people who reads my synagogue newsletter, and my rabbi’s e-Dvar, and the President’s monthly messages. So I feel like I know what’s going on most of the time. Still, all I know is the community’s headlines, and unless I’m regularly attending in person, it’s hard to get past those headlines. I’ve been attending this shul for about a decade now, and in that time I’ve gotten really comfortable, but it took a while for me to learn the in’s and out’s of the community. That’s why I started reading the newsletters. But there’s a better way, one that could have given me a new way to engage deeper with my community than a newsletter ever could.
A limited series podcast provides new and existing members with a fresh way into synagogue life. Across 4-6 short episodes, your synagogue’s podcast can tell the oddities of your congregation’s history that no one remembers, keeping the lore alive for a new generation. You can introduce clergy, educators, and staff in an intimate, private setting, where by they nature of podcasting they can speak directly to congregants. And you can educate people about the in’s and out’s of your congregation’s culture–like whether or not people should wear kippot, what to do if you can’t afford synagogue dues, and where to look for more resources on young adult community. Plus, you can make it private, meaning it’s only accessible to your members or those you choose to share it with, and they can still listen to it on their phone, in their regular podcasting app.
Take for example, the prayer pasted in the back of our synagogue prayer book. It’s Sephardic, but the synagogue isn’t It’s pasted onto the inside back cover, and we flip to it during the Torah service, but for a while not every siddur had a copy in it. One day, a member organized folks to fix that problem. She printed new copies and pasted them in the books that were missing one, but even she didn’t know the history of why our Ashkenzi synagogue included a Sephardic prayer in the Torah service, one that wasn’t even printed in our prayer book. If I were making a limited series podcast for my own synagogue, I’d include an answer to this mystery, and a short explanation from our rabbi about why it’s important to us, what it means for our community. Then, I might feel more ownership, and even pride, over this oddity of my synagogue’s life. That episode might go on to explore our synagogue’s tradition of lay led services, and offer an invitation to join that work either as a leader or a learner. Because if I’ve learned one thing from synagogue newsletters, it’s that we’re always looking for new service leaders.
Podcasting only continues to grow as a medium. Last month, Nielsen released a new report, showing a 68% increase in podcast audience size in the United States alone over the last five years. Every synagogue should have a limited series podcast aimed at helping folks deepen their engagement with synagogue life–either as new members, or freshly invorgated members. If you’re interesting in bringing a podcast to your synagogue community, I’d love to help. You can reach me at njv@nathanjvaughan.com.
