What Supporters Teach Us About Jewish Marketing

Most Jewish organizations use marketing to promote events.

Post the flyer. Share the reel. Fill the room.

While attendance is important, it should not be the sole focus of our social media accounts.

We must remember one fundamental truth: strong Jewish communities are not built by attendance alone. They are built when people understand why the space exists and who they are within it.

I was reminded of this while walking through the Great Park in Orange County.

There’s a stadium there, and one section is clearly marked: Supporter Section.

These aren’t the players. They aren’t there for a single game or season. They are the people who made the space possible, and long after teams change and seasons pass, their place remains visible. Permanent. Honored.

That distinction matters.

Good marketing doesn’t just tell people what’s happening next. It shows people what they belong to.

And in Jewish life, belonging is not a feeling. It’s a responsibility.

The Jewish community has never been transactional. It exists because people carry it together. The Rebbe demonstrated this clearly and without compromise. If you knew an aleph, you were responsible for teaching it. Not because help was needed, but because Jewish life thrives when individuals recognize their responsibility for it.

This must show up in how we market Jewish life, especially on social media, because when our marketing only promotes events, we have to ask an uncomfortable leadership question:

Are we leading people to attend—or to carry?

This distinction was evident in a Home Depot Menorah event I helped promote. The obvious story was the activity itself: children building menorahs.

The message we chose to highlight was deeper. Yes, they learned how to build, and through that experience, they discovered they had the power to brighten the world. Through simple acts of kindness and goodness they could serve as a menorah and bring light. That framing wasn’t about the event. It was about identity.

It quietly said, You are not just attending Jewish life. You’re an integral part and helping sustain it.

That is the difference between filling seats and building stewards.

The supporter section in that stadium makes this visible in a powerful way. They could have added a sign. Instead, they gave supporters a permanent place.

A reminder that no matter who plays on the field, the space exists because people cared enough to build it.

Jewish marketing, at its best, does the same.

It doesn’t chase attention. It honors people by making their role visible, by reminding them that Jewish life does not exist for them, but because of them.

This is the empowerment the Rebbe lived and taught. When people know they matter, they step forward. When they feel entrusted, they take responsibility.

When marketing reflects that truth, something shifts, and we don’t just have an audience. We build ambassadors. Partners. Stewards of Jewish life.

People who don’t just attend events, they strengthen what they’re part of.

When someone feels like a supporter and believes the space cannot exist without them, a sense of ownership develops. This ownership nurtures the community's shared purpose and instills a collective responsibility to advance Jewish life together.

So here is the marketing standard this leaves us with:

If your social media only answers what’s happening, you’re filling a calendar.

If your marketing helps people understand why they matter, you’re building a community.

This is the vision the Rebbe lived and taught: Jewish life grows when people are entrusted with it. When individuals see themselves as responsible, not peripheral, they step forward.

When the Jewish people stood at Sinai, the guarantors of the Torah were not the elders or the leaders, but the children. Not because they had power then, but because they would carry it forward.

That idea has always shaped Jewish continuity.

Jewish life endures when people don’t just participate, but feel entrusted and see themselves, and their children, as guarantors of what comes next.

That is the responsibility of Jewish marketing today: not just to promote Jewish life, but to empower the people who will carry it forward.