In an e-mail age, some synagogue bulletins go the way of the town crier

by Johanna Ginsberg
NJJN Staff Writer
also edits a synagogue bulletin

"Tikvah Talk,” the bulletin of Congregation Beth Hatikvah in Chatham, no longer exists in hard copy form. Rising costs of printing and mailing are among the factors that have pushed it on-line and out of print, as of August.

Congregation Beth El in South Orange offers its members an e-mail-only option for its bulletin.

Temple B’nai Abraham in Livingston is exploring the feasibility of a similar move — the synagogue is conducting a survey to assess what members prefer.

Synagogue bulletins, those heavy lifters of congregational communication, aren’t disappearing. Most congregations still mail them out to announce service times, share news of weddings and b’nei mitzva, and update members on clubs and activities.

But in the ongoing quest to cut synagogue expenses, some communities are scrutinizing bulletin budgets and regarding the regular mailings as a cost to be contained.

Temple B’nai Jeshurun in Short Hills wrote to nonmembers on its mailing list this month asking for voluntary contributions of $30 to cover the cost of printing and mailing.

“We’ll still mail it if people don’t want to pay,” said executive director Alice Lutwaks. “We just hope people realize that we’re mailing bulletins all over to people who have moved away and resigned but said they still want the bulletin. We’re sending them to Vermont, California, Florida — all over the place.”

Temple Beth Shalom has taken another route: contracting with a for-profit printer of church bulletins.

Since September, the Livingston congregation’s bulletin has been printed and mailed by Liturgical Publications, a 35-year-old private company headquartered in Milwaukee. The company prints 4,000 weekly and 600 monthly publications, mostly bulletins for houses of worship. For 98 percent of their customers, printing is free, according to Tim Potrikus, regional manager. The company collects advertising revenue, which generally covers the cost of printing (and the company’s profit margin).

Although the company began working strictly with Catholic churches, synagogues now comprise 8-10 percent of the company’s business, according to Potrikus. Eight of those synagogues are in New Jersey.

Before the switch to Liturgical Publications, revenue from ads did not meet the bulletin expenses at Beth Shalom. Now, said executive director Lisa Harris Glass, “we’ve saved between seven and eight thousand dollars a year.” And the congregation barely noticed. “It was seamless. The bulletin looks the same.”

You’ve got e-mail

For many synagogues, however, going on-line appears to be the most appealing option. “There are tremendous costs involved in printing the bulletin. If people read it on-line, we wouldn’t have to mail it. That’s at least a couple thousand dollars a year,” said Gail Milchman, executive director at Temple B’nai Abraham. “If it can be more fiscally responsible, it’s worth at least exploring.”

Although a few synagogues have held off with on-line editions altogether, citing issues of privacy and the use of children’s names and photos, many synagogues already have versions on the Internet; for them, it’s just a question of whether people are using that option. At Beth El in South Orange, only a handful of members have chosen the on-line-only option.

And executive directors say an on-line-only edition is unlikely at large synagogues where there are plenty of members who are not technologically savvy. “We have a significant number of members without computers or who use them as dust collectors. We don’t want to cut those people off,” said Glass.

That’s one reason B’nai Abraham has sent out its survey. “The goal is to see how many people are actually reading it on-line,” said Milchman.

But she is skeptical. “Having hard copy in front of you is different from reading it on-line,” she said.

Glass agrees. “People like to read it on a coffee break or in bed. I’m 40 and I love getting my synagogue bulletin in the mail. I sit in front of a computer all day, and I never turn it on once I get home.”

Beth Hatikvah, on the other hand, with just 130 members, already conducts much of its synagogue business via e-mail. “We have a congregation that’s fairly tech savvy,” said Arleen Soldati, communications chair and bulletin editor. “We found that people find it very convenient.” So far, the synagogue has identified just one person who will not have e-mail access for several months. Going on-line is about to save the congregation $4,000, and Soldati is willing to download, print, and mail the one copy.

Soldati said she sees other side benefits as well, from the convenience — “I just put the newsletter together as I always do; then just ‘pdf’ and I’m done” — to the trees saved. “It’s eco-friendly. People just print out the pages they want.”