How We Can Strengthen the Reform Movement with Streaming Video
October 26, 2011 
8 Comments
by Marv Kaminsky
Okay, I’m an oddball: single, never been married, no children, live alone. I’m not even a doctor or a lawyer. My late father survived three concentration camps and went on to fight in Israel’s War of Independence. My brother’s an Orthodox rabbi. My Judaism – Reform Judaism – is the most important thing in my life.
And I spent this high holiday season attending Reform services entirely online.
There’s no Reform in the small city where I live; very little of any kind of Judaism. The nearest Reform congregation, 41 miles away, is ailing. I’m a member, at least for the moment. So, I took a chance on the emerging phenomenon of live, streaming services. They were wonderful.
Making the most of time differences, I split my time between Central Synagogue in Manhattan, Temple Israel of Memphis, Community Synagogue in Port Washington, NY, and the West London Synagogue in the UK[where, coincidentally, distant cousin Hugo Gryn, z"l, held the pulpit for 32 years]. A bit of classical Reform, contemporary and more”traditional,” all in one place: my computer. Each provided meaningful, beautiful worship. Surprisingly, I felt just as connected as if I was there in person, very much part of a community; in fact with a better sense of how large, diverse and expansive our our Reform family is.
What I did not find were huge crowds, an hour’s drive to temple,papers to consult about where and where not to park, someone checking tickets (I understand why this has to happen, but it’s still awkward and uncomfortable). Unlike the two previous years, I did not have to heed a rabbi’s pleas to “scrunch” together more because of the”gezunte tsuris” (good misfortune) of a too-large crowd. Nobody sneezed on me, I wasn’t repeatedly asked if “that seat” is taken. There was no gauntlet to the bathroom. I was free to worship, to ponder,to weep, and to take notes, something we – am ha’sefer, people of the book, and I, an educator, broadcaster and former librarian – do a lot of.
Central even provided PDF versions of the machzor, the High Holiday prayer book, on their streaming web page for download. On a beautiful autumn day, I listened to the Yom Kippur morning sermon from Memphis on my Android smartphone as I took a walk around the neighborhood.
This is not just for oddballs, shut-ins, or a futuristic, geek thing.YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix – among many others – are wildly popular now, reaching all kinds of people at their convenience in places where they’re comfortable. At a time when we’re getting grayer, with numbers shrinking and hands wringing, the online streaming of services sure seems be an incredibly easy, effective way to expand our communities, reach out to the hard to attract demographics, make new friends, and enhance interfaith understanding and dialogue.
We majorly messed up in not being the aggressive promoters we should have been on North America’s college campuses. That should be us with the high visibility, enthusiasm, joy, and Sushi Shabbat dinners, not Chabad.
Here’s our chance to shine, show how relevant, how cool Reform Judaism is. URJ and WUPJ should be working with every congregation[that wants to] in setting up the technology for reliable, uniform web streaming of services. Why not have a traveling crew doing a different, more elaborate, two or three camera production (“URJ Shabbat Live”?) every Friday evening? Show the variety, the personalities, the opportunities to learn from our great minds around the world. Studying Spanish at high school or in a continuing ed classat night? It would come alive to see Shabbat services from Argentina or Spain.
Create a real directory of streaming services: one web page with a full schedule. On Friday evening, there should be someplace around the world where you can click right now to “go to shul.” Archive the services for playback at other times. Put a “Donate” button on every congregation’s streaming page. Make it clear that visiting in person is even more fun, there’s [usually] no discomfort, we really are “warm and welcoming.” Offer an Internet only membership rate for people who live more than 100 miles away.
Let’s take the lead here, show the dynamism we do every day in liturgy, inclusion, relevance, social action, and become the organized promoters we must be in competing with Jon Stewart and Pandora. We have what so many people are seeking; they just don’t seem to know it.
Marv Kaminsky lives in Oswego, NY, where he is an Adjunct Instructor of Broadcasting at SUNY Oswego. He is also a part-time Master Control Operator at WCNY-TV, the PBS affiliate in Syracuse. Since 2006,even after moving away, he has been producing audio of sermons and other material for Congregation Beth Torah in Overland Park, KS.
Mr. Kaminsky says, We majorly messed up in not being the aggressive promoters we should have been on North America’s college campuses. That should be us with the high visibility, enthusiasm, joy, and Sushi Shabbat dinners, not Chabad.
Agreed, but not sure it’s germane to the technology issue. But Mr. Kaminsky is right that WE can do things with technology that Chabad can’t, at least until they figure out the halacha for using technology on Shabbat. And we are already doing things with technology that enhance the synagogue experience for our members. But until we figure out how to make those streamed services inter-active, and to make sure those Donate buttons are being pushed, we may have succeeded in bringing Judaism to Jews, but not necessarily in bringing Jews to Judaism. As those of us who have been involved in synagogue governance know only too well, im eyn kemach, eyn Torah. Without material substance, there can be no Torah.
I’m sure there’s a way to monetize our use of technology — I just don’t know what it is. Going back to where I started, maybe if we were doing more on college campuses, we’d trigger one of our kids to figure it out. ShulBook? JewTube? TempleSpace? Tomorrow’s Mark Zuckerberg, we’re paging you!
I’m not a Chabadnik, but FYI, Chabad actually does live webcast some religious services. Havdalah, Chanukiyah lighting, there are times when they do Jewish things that aren’t on shabbat or yom tov, when broadcasting can’t be done.
Aish Ha Torah also makes prodigious use of the Internet.
There is a humanistic Jewish group that I think has some interactive component to their Friday night online services.
That all being said – so much of Jewish life is focused around community. It’s nice to have friends online, but it’s not an adequate substitute for face-to-face human interaction.
The URJ is currently conducting a strategic review of all our programs, as well as identifying new programs we should commit to if we can get funding for them. As part of this process, we are considering ways to help congregations learn to stream their services, and to connect them to resources that can help them, but we haven’t considered entering into the venture ourselves to stream on their behalf. Thanks for sharing your thoughtful comments and ideas!
- Barbara Saidel, COO, Union for Reform Judaism
For those who don’t know…you can find a listing of URJ congregations that stream their services on our Shabbat page: http://urj.org/shabbat (and if your congregation is not listed and should be, send us an email to web@urj.org and we’ll add you.)
– URJ Web Team
Being touched by religious worship and able to participate in well-run and meaningful prayer services while hundreds (or thousands) of miles away, or unable to leave the home, or reaching those who are without a satisfying religious community, are all reasons to consider this method. The challenge to the synagogue is to be and remain a place where the community matters and where showing up is more gratifying than tuning in from a distance. Mr. Kaminsky’s points are well taken, and worthy of consideration.
This is a wonderfully personal piece with broad implications. I love every sentiment (except, to be honest, the superfluous knocking of Chabad), and hope that religious leaders will take heed.
I encourage you to check out services that are not just streaming, but participatory, such as those held by Punk Torah through OneShul: http://oneshul.org/. It’s another level that may suit you!
@MiriamJayne
Mr. Kaminsky is hardly “knocking” Chabad; au contraire, he is pointing out an endeavor that has been successful for them where we in the Reform movement have essentially abandoned the field (campus outreach).
The fact is that Chabad have been brilliant marketers, leading the way in aggressive use of the Internet, aggressive salesmanship and outreach, and especially in positioning their product as if it were the only authentic Judaism.
Insofar as we let them get ahead of us in technique, and do not strongly articulate our different brand of authenticity, shame on us.
Bring on the sushi!
@Misnogid
I appreciate your point and ultimately agree with your point about Mr. Kaminsky’s intentions, but the choice of words is poor – “That should be us with the high visibility, enthusiasm, joy, and Sushi Shabbat dinners, not Chabad.” It feels like he is exacerbating the already prevalent feeling of us/them, and that “it should be us…not them.” In the midst of such a genuine and important article, I guess it just rubbed me the wrong way.