The Recent Success of Touro Synagogue

Reform Judaism has struggled during the last couple decades. Synagogue dues revenues have fallen, seminary enrollment has dropped, and congregations are closing or merging to survive. Yet Touro Synagogue, a 198-year-old Reform congregation in New Orleans, has grown from about 570 member families to nearly 750 since 2019, with its religious school more than doubling in size. [Insert link to article here.]

A number of factors are cited as contributing to the congregation's strong growth:

• New Orleans experienced demographic changes, with many younger Jewish families moving into the city.
• The Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans ran a program, through 2012, that covered moving costs, subsidized day-school tuition, and offered a free first year of synagogue membership for newcomers. According to the federation, hundreds of people took part, and about one in four ended up staying long-term.
• The congregation discontinued the standard Jewish practice of charging membership dues and replaced it with voluntary donations instead. It actually saw an increase in giving from many families.
• It continued many in-person operations (moved outdoors) during the COVID pandemic, rather than shifting everything online.
• Rabbi Katie Bauman took over as spiritual leader in 2019, and nearby Tulane University — where an estimated 25-30% of undergraduates are Jewish — has served as a steady pipeline of young adults into the community.

Notice how these factors sort into different economic categories. The demographic influx and the federation's incentive program are both demand-side forces: they increase the number of people who want to participate in Jewish congregational life, and lower the effective cost of doing so for newcomers. Staying open in person during COVID is a cleaner supply-side story: while many congregations effectively shut down their "product" during the pandemic, Touro kept its capacity available, just outdoors.

The switch from dues to voluntary giving is particularly interesting as it is a move that makes Touro Synagogue more like Christian congregations in which voluntary giving is typical. Having no dues means that those who cannot afford the dues can still attend, while those with the means and desire to give more can give much more than the dues asked them to give. This will increase the spread of giving across members of the congregation, but the average giving can actually increase.

Even as national Reform Judaism numbers decline, Touro's story shows that when the right demand, supply, and pricing align locally, a congregation can break with the broader trend.