Synagogue 3000

Synagogue 3000 is a catalyst for excellence, empowering congregations and communities to create synagogues that are sacred and vital centers of Jewish life. We seek to make synagogues compelling moral and spiritual centers – sacred communities – for the twenty-first century. Our offices in Los Angeles and New York direct a national congregational leadership network and a synagogue studies institute. Sacred communities are those where relationships with God and with each other define everything the synagogue does; where ritual is engaging; where Torah suffuses all we do; where social justice is a moral imperative; and where membership is about welcoming and engaging both the committed and the unaffiliated. We wish to change the conversation about meaningful Jewish life in our time.We accomplish our mission by challenging the existing assumptions of synagogue life in North America; by networking creative synagogue leaders to push their experimental vision ever forward; by showcasing their work to others in the field who can apply the principles of what they do in their own congregations; and by supporting those who are creating new "emergent" spiritual communities and advocating for the transformation of current models of synagogue life. We stand for spirituality beyond ethnicity, Judaism as a life-long journey beyond the pediatric and the geriatric; community beyond corporation; and commitment beyond consumerism. Success for us is when synagogues develop deeper relationships with their members rather than simply offering more programs.We have two main venues for our work: a leadership network and a synagogue studies research initiative. Our S3K Leadership Network is a trailblazing group of synagogue innovators on the cutting edge of congregational life. These are rabbis, cantors and artists across the spectrum of Jewish life, including challenging and promising alternatives to traditional synagogue structures. Our synagogue studies research initiative supports our work with synagogues by linking scholarship to the work in the field. We convene consultations and collaborate with congregational studies colleagues in other religious traditions; and then disseminate the lessons learned so as to continue "raising the bar" for synagogue excellence. Our website features honest critiques of synagogues as we know them and reports in progress on innovative solutions.