The Neighborhood is Central's Synagogue's fully virtual online community,
designed to help people from anywhere in the world connect to Judaism
and each other through our special online platform.

We hope to build a vibrant and diverse community of Jewish households across the country—and beyond! While the community is primarily geared towards those living outside New York City, there are no geographic restrictions for joining The Neighborhood.

All of our worship services will continue to be livestreamed and available to the public.

As a Neighbor of Central you will continue to hear and learn from Central Clergy as you do today through our livestream, classes, and programs. You will be able to join special member programs such as our High Holy Day Boot Camp where congregant and journalist Abby Pogrebin interviewed guest teachers who helped us dissect core prayers recited for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, among many others. We are not currently staffed to be able to provide pastoral attention or officiation. This type of one-to-one work is best done locally. We encourage you to remain at (or consider joining) your local synagogue or prayer community for more personal services. Alternatively, we can connect you to local clergy whenever possible.

We are pleased to share that we have a wonderful rabbi, Andrew Mandel, who also happens to have a doctoral degree in adult learning and leadership from Columbia, and experience building online communities. Along with the Central Clergy and our professional team, Rabbi Mandel will be developing additional opportunities for Neighbors to deepen your experience of Jewish life.

The Neighborhood is still new, so we are keeping an eye on the number of participants to ensure that we can provide the best possible experience for our Neighbors. We have paused adding new Neighbors at this time. We will next be adding new Neighbors shortly before the High Holy Days in fall 2023.

Click any of the "Pre-register to join our next cohort" buttons above to be added to our list. As soon as we reopen to new Neighbors, you will be notified and provided with the necessary information.  We will next be adding new Neighbors shortly before the High Holy Days in fall 2023.

We anticipate that Neighbors will be meaningful participants in our online community. This means engaging regularly in programming alongside your fellow Neighbors.

Participation looks like:

• Building relationships with fellow Neighbors through online discussions.
• Engaging in community conversations online when topics pique your interest.
• Giving feedback to us on your experience.
• Committing to and upholding our Community Guidelines.

Yes, if you are seeking further connection to the Jewish community in addition to what your home synagogue offers, we welcome your participation in The Neighborhood. The Neighborhood is offered as a complement to, not a replacement for, local synagogues and clergy relationships. If you are looking to find a local Reform synagogue, we can help.

We are a proud Reform Jewish congregation and a member of the Union for Reform Judaism, and members and visitors from all Jewish denominations find their spiritual home at Central Synagogue.

Our hope is that you will remain—or become—a member of your local Jewish community because there is no substitute for in-person community, prayer, social justice and pastoral care. We are proud members of the Union of Reform Judaism, and we can help you find a Reform synagogue near you.

Whatever your current affiliation, we welcome you with open arms. We believe strongly in expanding the Jewish tent, and saying yes to more Jewish engagement, whatever shape that takes.

We believe finances should never be a barrier to joining our community.

To contribute an amount that works for you, indicate the dues you'd like to contribute when joining as a Neighbor.

Please email neighborhood@censyn.org and we'll find the right person to answer your question.