Our Next Masterclass:
Assembly offers quarterly, two‑part, virtual Master Classes designed to sharpen the real, human skills of Jewish community building. These workshops are low‑cost, high‑impact, and unapologetically practical. Participants don’t just leave inspired — they leave with concrete techniques they can apply immediately in their work the very next day.
Assembly Master Classes are designed for:
In our first year alone, hundreds of community builders have joined us to learn the skills, practices, dispositions, and techniques that help communities actually grow — relationally, sustainably, and with soul.
This isn’t theory from a distance.
Assembly teaches relationship‑based community building from inside the work. Everything we offer is something our faculty is actively practicing — that very week — in homes, synagogues, classrooms, fellowships, and neighborhoods.
We’re not here to teach frameworks we don’t use. We’re here to share operational intelligence from the field — where the rubber meets the road.
You’ll learn:
Techniques that honor human dignity and complexity
Practices that turn fleeting moments into lasting relationships and belonging
Skills that scale without losing intimacy
Ways to move people — thoughtfully, ethically, and with care
Each Master Class is a focused, two‑session learning experience built around one core area of practice. Click through to explore each one more deeply.
Recruitment is a sticky subject in the Jewish community. We all want people to come to our programs but, when we’re being very honest with ourselves, what we really want is for them to magically show up just because they love our _________________ (Torah, services, singing, program, lecture, coffee, you name it) so much. Of course, the truth is that getting people to show up for us takes planning, thought, and technique. We are in the people business, and as much as we’d like to say it doesn’t matter how many people come, and that “tushes in seats” is a reductive metric, we all know in our heart of hearts that we would like to have full rooms and people clamoring for more.
In this Master Class, we explore the skills, concrete practices, and tools needed to facilitate people’s presence in our communities.
Crickets. People milling around awkwardly, unsure of what to do. No one says hi to people they didn’t come with. Middle school cafeteria levels of social anxiety. Fluorescent lighting. (This last one may just be our particular nightmare).
As a Jewish community builder, you have put tremendous effort into getting people in the room — now, how do you seize your power as a host to make everyone feel connected to each other? How do you ensure that once people arrive, the experience makes it worth showing up?
In this Master Class, we explore the skills and concrete practices for developing programs that are “Relational by Design” — creating stronger social connections, fostering a sense of belonging, and leaving people yearning for more.
Ever found yourself leading a group conversation that flatlined before it even began? Maybe you asked a beautiful question… only to be met with crickets. Or someone took your prompt and sprinted in the opposite direction. Or folks offered a few words, then sat back, leaving a sea of glazed eyes and awkward silences in their wake.
These moments can feel defeating—but they’re also incredibly common. The truth is, guiding a dynamic, inclusive, and participatory conversation isn’t magic—it’s a skill. And like all skills, it can be learned.
In this Master Class, you’ll gain practical tools for asking better questions, setting the right tone, navigating tricky dynamics, and sparking energy that spreads. Whether you’re leading a small circle or a full room, you’ll leave equipped to cultivate conversations that are lively, grounded, and full of connection.
Ever found yourself wishing you had the perfect Jewish teaching in your back pocket—something short, powerful, and relevant—that could illuminate a moment, deepen the experience, or help people feel more rooted in tradition? Too often, opportunities slip by: the program ends with a whimper instead of a flourish, or a beautiful question goes unanswered because the Jewish piece just isn’t at hand.
In this Master Class, we demystify the art of drawing on Torah in ways that feel natural, resonant, and alive. This isn’t about jargon or performance — it’s about cultivating your own voice as a Jewish leader, no matter your role or Jewish background. You’ll leave with practical techniques, new confidence, and your own go-to teachings ready to share.
You grab coffee. The conversation is warm. It’s meaningful. You part ways thinking, That was great — we should totally do this again sometime.
And then… nothing. They don’t come to the program. They don’t follow up. They don’t quite find their way in.
As a community builder, rabbi, educator, or lay leader, you’re probably already very good at connecting with people one-on-one. And yet, so many of us feel quietly stuck at the same question: How do we turn genuine relationships into real participation without being pushy, transactional, or weird about it? And once people do show up, how do we invite them into responsibility in a way that actually feels meaningful — and lasts?
This Master Class is about the bridge from relationship, to invitation, to shared ownership.
You have a vision. Maybe it’s a new Shabbat dinner community, a learning circle, a volunteer cohort, a parent network, a young adult initiative, a neighborhood project, or a whole new ecosystem waiting to be born.
Or maybe the community already exists. People are showing up, the calendar is moving, the thing is real — and still, you can feel the next set of questions pressing at the edges. How do we deepen commitment? Where is the momentum? What needs to be refreshed, tested, named, grown, or handed off?
So you make the graphic. You write the email. You reserve the room. You put the thing on the calendar.
And then… the real work begins.
Because communities do not usually appear fully formed, wearing name tags, holding tote bags, and asking where to sign up for the steering committee. They have to be built — person by person, experiment by experiment, invitation by invitation, story by story. And while “build it and they will come” is a lovely fantasy, most of us have learned the hard way that the people do not come pre-installed.
In this Master Class, we’ll zoom all the way out and look at the lifecycle of building a community: how to find your people, listen deeply, test small experiments, grow momentum, create visible proof of concept, and discern when to begin again — or hand the work to others. This is for anyone who has ever looked at a big communal dream and wondered: Okay, but what are the actual steps?